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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

"Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX 3i 3.5.0 image to"

I get this message when trying to install on Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY Econel 100 S2 and I guess it's down to a unsupported SATA controller I'm using in the server. The tech specs list the chipset as "Intel® 3200 +ICH9R" and I believe the ICH9R is supported. I've gone to the command line and done a lspci which find's 2 controllers and gives them the addresses vmhba0 (4 ports) and vmhba1 (2 ports).

Looking at this, I'm guessing ESXi has found the controllers and loaded a driver for them. I've had a look in the BIOS and I get 2 options "SATA RAID enable" (I've tired it off and on with each of the 2 disk's I'm using in its own array) and "SATA AHCI enable" to enabled and disabled.

I'm guessing I really need a legacy option for the SATA controller or is it time to look at a new SATA controller? Anyone suggest something I can try?

Thanks, Rich

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16 Replies
asatoran
Immortal
Immortal

I think ICH9 is not on the official HCL . According to the VM-Help Whitebox HCL , some people have gotten ICH9 to work on some motherboards, but in legacy IDE mode so no RAID. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) But do check out the whitebox HCL for other controllers that can work.

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mike_laspina
Champion
Champion

Hello,

Try just 1 raid 0 disk.

In the HCL doc it reads.

*NOTE IDE RAID and SATA RAID are not supported for the VMFS file system.

*

http://blog.laspina.ca/ vExpert 2009
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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

Well, in a caffine deprived moment I plugged a hard disk into port 6 and it's been picked up by ESXi. It looks like ESXi only like the hard disks on sata ports 5&6 so I'm gussing F-S have done some fliddling with ports 1-4.

My only minor problem now is that the bigger disk of is picked up as disk 0 and I would like it to be the last disk, I hope I won't get any problems!

Thanks for the replies.

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drittnisse
Contributor
Contributor

richwuk:

sorry to hear that you also have used money on a shit bucket as econel 100 s2. im having the same problem as you.

could you please write a walk through? i have tryed everything from turning raid on and of, with or without using the fantastic serverview suite, with one or two harddrives, changing the ports for the harddrives and editing a TargetFilter.py file. i still end up with the same "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX 3i 3.5.0 image to" message..

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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

Hi drittnisse, well it was an EOL special for me, it only cost £100/$185!

Well I used ports 5 & 6, there ones near the back of the machine (If i remember correctly). RAID and AHCI is disabled. I also upgraded to the latest BIOS - 1.08 which is dated 30/06/08. I only get use of 2 hard disk's but that's ok for me Smiley Happy

Let me know how you get on!

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drittnisse
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for a quick answer. I had forgotten to disable AHCI, so now i managed to install. Cheers.

A new problem occured though. Seems like the network card is not supported, or something like that.

"IP Address:

0.0.0.0"

and there is no way to modify the network configuration. I can only "restore my network". If you have a link to a tutorial for greenhorns, it will be appreciated.

And by the way, the £100, they could have been beer money...

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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

Ah yes, forgot to make mention of that - it's a bit anoying and the PCI slot is a 3.3v only (so forget that old network card in the corner collecting dust from 2000 Smiley Wink )

I know there is a way of adding support for some card's - I don't know if it will work - I added a couple of extra card's anyway. App its a Intel® Nineveh 82566DM according to the mobo specs and the model number will return results if searched on this forum but nothing to suggest it could work. I would like to have a go and get it working, but I have pently of other work that I need to get on with.

It wasn't my money luckily, just my choice of cheap hardware :smileygrin:

edited: as part of it wasn't making any sense.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

If you have an Intel Pro 100 / 1000 NIC around, give that a try. Do you have a DHCP server on your network? If not then the 0.0.0.0 is expected and you should set an Ip address for the host manually.

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drittnisse
Contributor
Contributor

I dont have nics laying around. But i do have another server. If that doesnt work, ill guess ill have to buy a rack server Smiley Happy

And yes, i have dhcp, and i know it works (the server was a linux test server before ill tryed vmware).

Thanks for your help, guys.

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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

Supported basic Intel NIC's aren't that expensive - no need to goto the cost of a new rack server unless you have filled up the the PCIe slots and PCI slot!

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KOAL
Contributor
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richwuk
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks KOAL, I'll give that a go!

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dh6
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there, I'm new to this community, but have already been reading offline a lot.

I've exactly the same probs with my Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY Econel 100 S2.

Just trying a bit with the esxi Smiley Wink

Is there anyone around, who got one of the first 4 sata-ports running ?

The system recognizes both controllers:

00:31.02 IDE interface Mass storage controller: Intel Corporation 4 port SATA IDE Controller (ICH9)

Class 0101: 8086:2920

00:31.05 IDE interface Mass storage controller: Intel Corporation 2 port SATA IDE Controller (ICH9)

Class 0101: 8086:2926

But in the vi-client I only see this:

Isn't the controller the same as the one on the HP ML 110 G5 -> http://communities.vmware.com/message/964902#964902 ?

Even my network card ist recognized (after editing the oem.tgz):

00:25.00 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation Intel onboard 100 s2 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Class 0200: 8086:10bd

...

01:00.00 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Class 0200: 8086:105e

01:00.01 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Class 0200: 8086:105e

But it is not fount in the client:

Any other tips, hints or hacks ?

Thanks a lot,

Jan

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chas0rde
Contributor
Contributor

@dh6

did you find any solution for the controller problem?

i have the same problem ( http://communities.vmware.com/message/1138172#1138172 )

greetz chas0r.de

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dh6
Contributor
Contributor

Hi chas0r.de,

sorry for the late answer, but I haven´t found any solution yet.

Still searching ;-(

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el_coda
Contributor
Contributor

Dears,

I'm using Esxi on Econel 100 S2 with a Xeon X3220. I noticed that Esxi is reporting 1 only CPU with 1 socket and 1 core (X3220 is a quadcore).

Have you the same problem with your system=

Many thanks

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