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gw11
Contributor
Contributor

DL 180 esxi installation failure

Hi everyone,

I have an HP DL180 G5, completely standard with the E200 smart array controller. I have tried to install ESXi update 2, both from USB as well as from an ISO, and every time it hangs at 99% installation.

I have deleted the raid group and re-created it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Geoff Watts

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nick_couchman
Immortal
Immortal

Use the Alt-F1, Alt-F2, etc., key combinations to get to the other output consoles and see if there are any messages that indicate where it's hanging.

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LawrenceTse
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Hi Geoff,

Can you got the ESXi installation successful ? Since I am thinking to have the same machine for ESXi

HP DL180 G5 E5405, HP Smart Array E200/128MB Controller, HP160G SATA HDD x 5 in Raid 5

Thanks

Lawrence

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nick_couchman
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I think Alt-F12 is actually the one you want...

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LawrenceTse
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Dir Sir,

Sorry, Did you got the installation successful on DL180 + E200 ? I have not tried the installation yet since I not yet got the purchase on it ....

It will great if you can provide more information on this

Thanks

Lawrence

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weinstein5
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The DL 180 is not on the HCL so I do not think it will work -

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nick_couchman
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Yes, but it's interesting that it doesn't fail to find disks or anything like that - it almost completes the installation and fails at the end. I'm curious to know why it's failing.

So, how about that Alt-F12 screen??

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nknatter
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just to add to this: i do have the same issue with HP DL150 G5. its not on HCL, BUT:

- stop the installation @ 99%, hard-reset the box

- boot the box from the disk you specified during installation

- press Restart appears,

BUT: then the system hangs, no reaction to kbd input.

there cannot be much left to get this going ... any hints ?

what does the installation do at the very last (100) % (where i hard-reset) ?

does this have any influence at all ?

(i have ENABLED the Intel VT in system BIOS ...)

any input greatly apprechiated, would be a pity to

insert another operating system layer now where ESXi is free Smiley Happy !!

thanks & happy VMing !

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TechFan
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Were you ever able get this to work? I have installed, but getting crashes during operations with CPU not responding messages. . .

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TechFan
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Just an update. Our CPU not responding messages went away after we stopped plugging in the PS2 keyboard and mouse (use USB). We can also install with the first onboard SATA/IDE controller disabled. So, we have been running fine with the E200 controller and using the built-in NIC and an addon

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fa147
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Hi Guys,

Just wanted to let you know that I had similar problem getting ESXi to work with DL180 even though I had followed the suggestions of making sure BIOS was up-to-date, add-on card was used for storage (HP Smart Array P400) and network card, and using a USB keyboard and mouse rather than the PS2 version.

However, after a number of different combinations of raid card and add-on card and disabling this and that I still could get the ESXi to work either from a USB stick, or when installed on the local drives, both old and new version (at the timing of writing this the latest version is 130755). It would basically stay alive for around 1-2 minutes and then PSOD with Exception 14 errors. I even tried ram changes, upgrades and individual module inserted, and trying to virtual copy the USB stick from a perfectly working ML350 G5 with the latest ESXi build. At one point I thought of replacing the single 2.5Ghz Quad Core CPU for 1 or 2x Dual/Quad core 2Ghz to see if that worked.

It was then that I asked TechFan for a hand, as his last post he had mentioned that he managed to get a couple of Dl180 G5's working for the last several months. After a number of emails being sent back and forth he suggested ditching the downloadable ESXi + HP Insight Support, and just using the standard ESXi download, and IT WORKED. Simple really, and i guess it made sense, as the HP tools where probably not designed for the DL180 G5 and as soon as ESXi booted and tried to run the HP Tools, it crashed and gave me PSOD.

I have now been using it for a few days straight and not a single crash. I have installed new VMs, migrated VMs, backed up VMs and made a heap of configurations changes + assigned it to Virtual Center and everything is ticking along nicely.

So for all of you out there wanting to use a DL180 G5, for whatever reason, and mine was for home use to get to know VMware slightly better (as it is a great little cheap server that can easily take up to 12x Hard Disk) make sure you do the following and you should be fine:

1- Disable on board SATA as it does not work well with it on. If you want to use a CD/DVD-Rom then make sure to connect it to the first port and not the second and set the port to non-raid.

- No need to disable onboard Lan as it seems to work fine

2- Download and install whatever version of ESXI (and i think ESX as well) you want but make sure not to use the ones with HP Tools, as for the time being (13-02-2009) that causes the server to crash.

3- Use the USB keyboard and mouse and not the PS2 version, as this also has the habit of making it slightly less stable and prone to crashes.

And you should be fine.

Good Luck and thank you TechFan

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