White Papers

6 Configuring server boot options on 14th generation Dell EMC PowerEdge servers
2 Understanding PowerEdge boot mode
The 14
th
generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers supports both legacy BIOS mode and Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode. Legacy BIOS boot mode is used to boot older OSs or diagnostic software
that do not follow the UEFI standard—UEFI boot mode is used for booting newer UEFI-aware software. Note
that the term “BIOS” is often used to refer to the server firmware that initializes the hardware and loads the
OS, regardless of the current Boot Mode.
For more information about PowerEdge support for legacy BIOS and UEFI modes, see the white paper Boot
Mode Considerations: BIOS vs. UEFI available on the Dell EMC TechCenter.
The version-dependent features of 14G BIOS are described hereafter in this technical white paper. To enable
the features below, ensure that your 14G servers are operating by using the following versions:
Minimum required BIOS version for latest BIOS boot sequence features
PowerEdge Model
BIOS Version
R440
1.4.5
R540
1.4.5
R640
1.4.5
R740
1.4.5
R740xd
1.4.5
R940
1.4.5
FC640
1.4.5
M640
1.4.5
T440
1.4.5
T640
1.4.5
C6420
1.4.5
R7920
1.4.5
R840
1.2.0 or later
R940xa
1.2.0 or later
C4140
1.2.6
R6415
1.4.0 or later
R7415
1.4.0 or later
R7425
1.4.0 or later
2.1 Differences in boot mode
In the UEFI Boot mode, the boot loader is stored as an executable file on a .FAT file system. The BIOS can
potentially have multiple boot options, each pointing to different files on the same storage device.
In the legacy BIOS Boot mode, the boot loader is stored on the Master Boot Record (MBR) of a storage
device. From the legacy BIOS Boot Mode point of view, a boot device has only a single boot entry.