Hello Jason It sounds like all of your problems were caused by the system BIOS update. BIOS updates will commonly change voltages throughout the system. I am curious as to what the original problem was that prompted the OS reinstall. The first thing I would do is drain flea power and clear NVram. It is not uncommon for old settings or process threads to remain in volatile or non-volatile memory. With the wide sweeping changes a BIOS update can make, this data left in memory can cause any number of odd issues. Disconnect power from the server for about 1 minute, move the NVram jumper to the reset position, reattach power cables, power up until it stops posting, shut the server back down, disconnect power for about 1 minute again, move jumper back, and then power up normally. If that does not do the trick then I would rule out issues with add on cards or external devices. The BIOS update may cause compatibility issues with components in the system. If disconnecting/removing an add on device corrects the problem then I would recommend updating the firmware on that device to see if that corrects the issue. There is also the possibility of bad media. All of the lockups you mentioned occur when the system is attempting to read from the OS DVD. There are no lockups mentioned when booting to alternate media and running tests. I would recommend trying another DVD. Let me know how it goes. Thanks
Server: PowerEdge R510 BIOS: v1.9.0 OS: Windows 2008 R2 (Release and SP1) Hard drive configuration: 2 SSDs for OS, 6 spinning disks for RAID 5 (have tried removing and recreating all RAID arrays, doing a long initialize each time. have tried removing all disks but one SSD for the install, have tried both SSDs in a RAID 0 and a RAID 1, similar results every time) We were previously running Windows 2008 R2 on this server and needed to wipe and reinstall. I attempted to use the Dell SBUU, which would not install as it could not find the OS Driver Pack. I used the SBUU to update the firmware. After this, having the following issues:  Attempted to install OS using Dell SMTD - server stalls at "Expanding Windows files". Left here for over an hour, did not proceed, hard reset server. Attempted to install OS using USC - server stalls at creating partitions. Left here for an hour, did not proceed, hard reset server. Attempted to install OS using USC (retrieving drivers from FTP) - after clicking Next at the Insert OS disc screen, server stalled for 2 hours. Could not proceed or go back, hard reset server. Attempted to install OS using OS DVD - Server stalled at setting up your computer for the first time screen for over 2 hours, hard reset server. Was able to get to the logon screen, after attempting to logon, server stalled at the "Please wait for the Local Session Manager" screen. Left at this screen for 23 hours, hard reset server.  Called Dell support, who lead me through a bunch of troubleshooting steps (safe mode, turning off all services, etc). After every boot, still encountered issues with the server. Some of these were, non-responsive mouse/keyboard, server stalling (mouse appeared to move, but server would not do anything). Usually this would occur within 10-15 seconds of booting up. They had me try ALT+E then F while in the BIOS settings screen to clear the BIOS, and this appeared to make things better, but would not last more than 2 minutes after booting up. Call was closed while server was in this state.  Booted with Linux Mint LiveCD and ran benchmarks on drives, all appears to work fine. Booted with CentOS Live CD and reflashed BIOS to 1.9.0. Went into BIOS and performed BIOS clear (ALT+E and F). Booted to Windows, same problems as before, server worked for a minute or so, then appeared to stall.  I've been working on this server for over a week now, and Dell support doesn't seem to want to help. Any ideas? (I have some other things I'm going to try, but getting frustrated here and soon to run out of ideas.)
PowerEdge R510 Troubles