Quick status update. ESXi 3.5 U3 still recognizes the SATA controllers and allows you to run VMFS on them. Oddly enough, ESXi 3.5 U3's simple.map has the 27c0 entry for the ICH7, but strait ESX 3.5 U3 doesn't.
I am trying to install ESXi 3.5 U3 on my SC440 but it errors out telling me:
Unable to find supported device to write the image to
The server has E2180 processor with 2gigs of ram and bios 1.5 ...
It has two sata drives in it but no hardware raid card.
My apologies. I run ESXi off of PXE, so i didn't realize there were installation issues (VMFS volumes are recognized fine). I believe the following post will help you get ESXi 3.5 U3 installed on the SC440. http://communities.vmware.com/message/1108108#1108108
Hi, My name is Ron and I need some help to install ESX 3.5 Update 4 on a Dell SC440. Would it be possible for you to email me instructions on how you were able to create storage usung the onboard SATA Controller. My email is pokerty@earthlink.net.
/Thanks