ESXi 4 install does not complete

[skillam]

Hi Everyone,

I'm attempting to install ESXi 4 however I'm running into some issues.

I reach the initial boot loader screen and select the ESXi Installation option. From there, a series of files are loaded on a black screen with many ..... (periods) representing progress. Once this completes, I reach a black and yellow screen with a progress bar at the bottom. This appears to complete on the step: loading dvfilter successful (or something like this). At this point, the server reboots and the install progress begins again at the beginning. Am I missing something with this? Any help is most certainly appreciated.

IBM xseries 346 with 2 x Xeon 3.6GHz CPU

8GB RAM

6 x 73GB SCSI HDD's configured in a RAID 5 with one hot spare.

Thanks,

Scott

[AndreTheGiant]

Is your system in HCL?

Is Intel VT enabled in BIOS?

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. dvfilter is part of this new feature - vNetwork Appliance API. You might just want to check that the NICs are on the list that ESXi can recognise - http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/Hardware_support.php. If you press ALTF1 and ALTF12 during the boot do you see any other errors?

[krishnaprasad]

are you seeing this issue every time? are you using the latest BIOS?

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[skillam]

I just found out that the UpdateExpress CD I was given isn't the correct one, so I will be reattempting with the correct CD to ensure all firmware has been updated correctly.

To answer a few questions, yes, this does happen everytime. If it happens again I will attempt to report any errors that appear by using the keystrokes provided. As far as HCL, I'm actually not sure; I'll try and verify. If all this still fails, I'll follow any advice in this post and respond with results.

Thanks again,

Scott

[skillam]

One of my NIC expansion cards was not on the HCL. Removed the hardware and everything worked great after this. Thanks again to all for the help.

Scott

[lespaulman74]

Hi Skillam,

Im having a difficult time getting ESXi (3.5, 4.0, 3.5 w IBM Customizations and 4.0 w IBM Customizations) to install on my xSeries 346 (8840-11U). I keep getting a VMWARE cannot find supported device to install image error.

Did you have to do any special customizations to your xSeries 346?

I only have two SCSI drives installed (slot 0,1) and the others are emplty. My box is running ServeRAID-7k (firmware 7.12.12 ) - any ideas on what im doign wrong?

Specs:

xSeries 346 - 8804-11U

2 x Xeon 3.0Ghz, 2 x 73GB SCSI 320, 4GB RAM

[DSTAVERT]

You really should start your own post. This question is marked answered so you risk having people ignoring your post.

The ServeRAID-7k is the issue. You server is not on the support list for 4.0 so I would focus on 3.5 to start. The controller is listed in the Hardware Compatibility List with a subtext reference. ips version 7.10.17 which may mean that the firmware level you have is a problem. You need to check to see if the controller is detected. Check at

http://www.vm-help.com//esx40i/esx40_whitebox_HCL.php#Servers to see what you may need to do.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_35_common_issues.php




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

[lespaulman74]

So after a week of tinkering with ESX and my x346, I was finally able to install it properly. Even though the IBM x346 is listed on the HCL, there are a few quirks - apperantly it has something to do with the RAID card it has - ServeRAID-7k - my driver was 7.12.12 and in one of the documentation it says it only supports 7.10.10........so while I was going to downgrade my RAID bios, i found a upgrade to my system BIOS.....to my suprise, one of the changes that this new bios had implemented was support for ESX4. I upgraded it and that was it...its now working, no changes to hw

Thanks again all you guys for the help!!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

So was it ESX or ESXi that you finally got working?




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

[lespaulman74]

Dave,

It was ESXi 4.0 on IBM x346 (884011U). Thanks for all your help.