VMware Cloud Community
MrFord
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi stop loading at boot - VMKernel loaded successfully

I installed VMWare ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a Tyan i7501 S2723 Dual Xeon server, and for some reason, when I boot either from the install CD or the hard drive, the boot loader stop at VMKernel loaded successfully.

Even if I press any key on the keyboard, or let it run for hours, it won't go further. But if I hit the power button on the case (without holding it), the boot process continue and everything start up correctly. After that, I can work with ESXi without any further problem. But next time I'll reboot, the same thing will happen.

I tried reinstalling the hypervisor, changed hard drive, removed the CD-ROM, to no avail.

This is my config:

-Tyan i7501 S2723 Intel E7501 + ICH3 mPGA604 motherboard

-2x Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz Hyper-Threading

-1Gb ECC DDR2100

-1x Seagate 36Gb SCSI

-1x Seagate 73Gb SCSI

-Adaptec 29320 U320 SCSI (non-RAID)

-1 IDE CD-ROM

I tried updating to Update 3, same thing happens.

Any ideas?

Reply
0 Kudos
2 Replies
calexand
Contributor
Contributor

I'm getting the same thing on a couple of Tyan 2723 boxes I have lying around in my lab.

Did you find a work around? I can't get past the Vmkernel loaded screen at all.

Edit: I managed to get it installed by pressing the power button like you said above. Has the same behaviour running off the HDD as well. Must be a work around? What is it intercepting when the power button is pressed?

Reply
0 Kudos
MrFord
Contributor
Contributor

Well I think I finally figured it out!

I had trouble making both my Adaptec 29320 SCSI and 2420 SATA cards together, so I updated the BIOS to the latest V2.02

http://www.tyan.com/support_download_bios.aspx?model=S.S2723

I reinstalled ESXi and now it doesn't freeze on boot anymore.

Maybe give it a try, the BIOS I had before was dated from 2003.

Reply
0 Kudos