Dell on Nico Maas

Reworking a Dell Latitude XT in 2024

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:49:47 +0000

Intro

I had an old Dell Latitude XT (first generation) in my posession since… quite a long time. One of the first tablet/convertible laptops by Dell, released in 2007.

It was quite a nice machine, but it suffered from multiple issues. On the one hand, the ULV Core2Duo and internal 1 GB of DDR2 memory are nothing to write home about - but the biggest problem in my opinion - is the used mass memory, a 1.8’ 5400 rpm harddrive. And no, you read correctly - 1.8’. What’s that? Thats basically the size and model of HDDs used in Apples iPods: They are awfully slow and even more prone to break.

How to read out Dell Servicetag on Windows

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 20:37:43 +0000

1.) Open CMD.exe / Command Shell in Windows

2.) wmic bios get serialnumber

Taken from: https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln268357/how-to-locate-system-service-tag-using-command-prompt?lang=en

[Dell] Using the Update CDs to get Dell Servers to latest firmware

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 11:00:58 +0000

Dell has an very comfortable way of getting new firmware to nearly all of its server components: The bootable media / ISO or Update CDs. You can find them on this website and very useful. On a basic level, you pick your server, download the ISO, compare the MD5 checksum and burn the ISO onto a DVD. After that, you should get the Servicetag of your server and check for BIOS and iDRAC updates - these should be installed manually first. After that, boot from the DVD and let it install all the needed firmware. Basically, the DVD will cycle through all firmware of components ever installed in the series of your particular server and installs updates if needed. After another reboot, you’re done :).

[Dell] T30 Intel AMT Blank Screen on Ubuntu Fix

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 13:25:10 +0000

The Dell T30 is an awesome little Homeserver, packing a punch with the Xeon E3-1225 V5 - and being affordable at about 399 €. It also comes with Intels Active Management Technology / AMT which is an extension of the horrible Intel Mangement Engine (which was all over the place months ago when some genius figured out how to stop that Man-in-the-Middle-always-on chip with some simple commands) - but quite useful - nonetheless. The good thing about this, is that it acts like an DRAC (Dell) / ILOM (Sun) / IPMI (Supermicro) card - so it is an KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse, not the virtualization thingy this time, sorry ;)) extension which allows you to control the server via network as if you were plugged in directly.

[Dell] PowerConnect 2824 Switch

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:46:58 +0000

The Dell PowerConnect 2824 is an oldie but goldie 24 port Gigabit Managed Switch (with ports 23/24 being shared ports like on the Cisco 3560 PoE 8 - which have Gigabit Cooper Ports as well as SFP ports - but you can only use one at a time :)).

You can get them for about 80€ / delivered on eBay as used products and they are qualitywise very good and got an reasonable (although ugly) webinterface as well as SNMP and the usual stuff. They can work as managed or unmanaged switch, which can be switched via the “Mode” port on the front (holding it for less than 7 seconds during operation, it switches the Mode, longer than that -> reset).

[Ubuntu] PERC6/i on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:30:11 +0000

To use the PERC6/i i.e. the

03:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 04)

on Ubuntu, megacli is the best tool - but rarely available due to the demise of LSI Logic. Good thing that the guys from https://hwraid.le-vert.net put together a nice repo to host the latest RAID files. And yes, for everyone that does not like the idea of including a foreign repo - sorry to disappoint here :/.

[Dell] BIOS Upgrade on a Dell Precision T1500

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 12:00:39 +0000

Hi there, I just got hands on an old Dell T1500 workstation. It is not the beefiest monster - but still kicking. And I got it for a bargain :). So, while I was refurbishing it, I wanted to do an BIOS upgrade, like usual. Turned out, Dell only offers a combined “DOS/WINDOWS” Upgrade File. I tried upgrading via an FreeDOS USB Stick, created with Rufus, however - it failed. Ok, lets try Windows: I installed Windows 8.1 x64 - and the tool “worked” - however, even after reboot, nothing had changed. Reset CMOS, Load Default in BIOS, nothing. Darn… Well.. All the Dell support stuff for this machine was around Windows 7-ish versions, so I thought “last chance” 😉 - and yes! It worked:

Dell Servicetag on Ubuntu

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 10:02:48 +0000

You can find out your Dell/Sun Servicetag on Ubuntu via:
sudo dmidecode -s system-serial-number

ESXi 3.5 on Dell Optiplex 745

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:07:54 +0000

Exchange oem.tgz on root of ESXi 3.5 Install CD with new oem.tgz
Install with CD with OEM Community Version or IC8 oem.tgz (SATA on Normal Mode)
Boot from Knoppix 5.1, copy OEM.tz onto hda5 / Hypervisor Partition (SATA on Legacy Mode)
Boot, works!

Hints:

Use UltraISO und BurnISO to modificiate / burn the stock ISO
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php