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Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

  • 1.  Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 02:58 PM

    Hi,

    My vSphere installation has been running fine for the last few months but this morning I had to reboot my two hosts (identical hardware) and now ESXi doesn't boot on either.  I get the usual BIOS messages and then just a blank screen with a blinking cursor.

    Any suggestions for what I should try?  If I run a repair from the installation disc is there any chance that a datastore will get wiped out?

    Thanks.



  • 2.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 03:01 PM

    looks like it does not detect the disks. can you check if your array is still alive? also you can try booting from ESXi on USB and see if it's due to the disk issue. http://www.techhead.co.uk/installing-vmware-esxi-4-0-on-a-usb-memory-stick-the-official-way



  • 3.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 03:05 PM

    I'm not using an array, just 4 separate drives.  And I've booted one of the hosts with an Ubuntu live disc and all the drives are showing up.



  • 4.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 03:07 PM

    I have a hard time believing this is a hardware issue, since it happened in both my hosts at the same time...



  • 5.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 03:26 PM

    Is it possible that I'm getting the blinking cursor if the host can't connect to the network?



  • 6.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 03:36 PM

    not possible. definitely hardware problems



  • 7.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 04:24 PM

    Hardware problems on both hosts at the same time?

    I have 4 hard drives and the hypervisor is installed on the 4th one.  Does that mean that drive has to be set in the boot order?



  • 8.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 04:31 PM

    with the 4 disks arent they stripped via the raid card? why not boot from a USB key and see if your data is still there or not ..



  • 9.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 04:34 PM

    There's no striping, the RAID is disabled.



  • 10.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 04:46 PM

    What kind of hardware?

    We're seeing a similar issue with BL460c G7 blades in our C7000 enclosures.  A cold power on will bring them back to life but this is happening on multiple blades in multiple enclosures and our current guess is that's a BIOS problem.

       .../Ed



  • 11.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 06:02 PM

    I'm just running a couple of custom workstations.  I've got a call in to VMware support now...



  • 12.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot
    Best Answer

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 06:21 PM

    You may have an issue with boot order. You can try changing the boot order in the bios.



  • 13.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 06:22 PM

    I thought about that, but only one hard drive (I assume the master) is showing up in the boot order, and it's second, after the optical drive, which looks right to me.



  • 14.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 06:39 PM

    After messing with the BIOS some more, I did find the problem.  Somehow the hard drive boot order got changed.  When I moved the drive with my hypervisor to be first and rebooted the machine I booted without any problem.  Now off to the vlient to make sure I can connect... *fingers crossed*



  • 15.  RE: Blinking Cursor after ESXi Reboot

    Posted Apr 25, 2011 08:18 PM

    Glad you are up and going.