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1,385 Views 6 Replies Last post: Nov 23, 2010 3:48 PM by markzz RSS
markzz Enthusiast
markzz
100 posts since
May 6, 2005
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Aug 20, 2010 5:14 AM

ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

We are currently building a new ESX farm with a number of DL585 g6's.

Currently we are in test so still some room to play around.

As we are also implementing 10Gb etc, we were originally intending on installing ESX 4.0u1. This was installed on all servers successfully and testing has progressed.

As ESX 4.1 is now available it was decided to install this on one server.

Although the hardware configuration is identical on all servers and ESX4.0u1 installed fine, ESX 4.1 hangs during driver installation at 29% "loading 32.networking-drivers" .

It doesn't progress past this point although on one occasion the server did hang for about 10 minutes then rebooted. I suspect this was more an ASR event.

 

A little about the hardware.

DL585g6

256GB RAM

4x Hex core CPU's

2x internal 72GB SAS HDD

2x Emulex LPe11000

2x NC364T quad port NIC's at 1Gb

2x NC522SFP duel port 10Gb NIC's

 

I Early days 2x of the NC 522SFP 10Gb NIC's were not supported. This has been supported since early this year.

I've also applied HP Firmware CD 9.1 but have the same issue.

I have also attempted the same installation on an identical server with the same result, but when I installed ESX4.1 on a DL385g6 is installed fine.

 

Any assistance would be appreciated.

markzz Enthusiast
markzz
100 posts since
May 6, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
1. Aug 20, 2010 8:55 AM in response to: markzz
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

Although I have spent far too much time getting to this point I have solved the issue.

As expected the 10Gb NC522SFP cards were the issue.

It is as simple as loading the QLogic drivers during install.

 

If you want the details read on.

 

Read this article.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1017401

Promptly ignor it.

I have tried to install via ILO using the remote media, I can't change the CD mid install, it refuses to recognise the Qlogic Driver CD.

If you simply stand at your server in your cold noisy datacentre and use the physical CD-ROM/DVD-ROM everything works fine.

If someone get it working please share.

 

Read this.

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=3913537&prodTypeId=329290&objectID=c02069256

 

Download this. (I have used the driver package 4.0.560 for ESX4)

http://driverdownloads.qlogic.com/QLogicDriverDownloads_UI/SearchByProduct.aspx?ProductCategory=325&Product=1089&Os=167

Of Course you'll need to burn it to a CD unless you can get the ILO bit working)

 

From a firmware perspective.

I'd use HP's firmware CD Ver9.1 as it has a much later NC522SFP firmware version than the QLogic site has and the method of applying it works a treat..

(boot the host hardware off the Firware Update CD)

 

Thanks guys and gals.

 

OH if I do find anything odd I'll report back..

markzz Enthusiast
markzz
100 posts since
May 6, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
2. Aug 20, 2010 9:45 PM in response to: markzz
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

A few hours on.

I've completed the installation but have very intermittent response from the 10Gb ports.

On first boot the esx Server successfully negotiated one NC522SFP's ports. This was odd as these 2 ports were connected to a Cisco 49xx switch over copper. The 49xx switch is running IOS .50 which has been a very troublesome IOS..

BUT

Both ports were down on the second NC522SFP card.

 

I shut down the server checked the hardware was seated correctly recabled and brought the server up again.

This time the second NC522SFP negotiated port 1 but the other port won't come up..

Checked cabling etc.. NADA..

rbergin978 Lurker
rbergin978
2 posts since
Nov 17, 2010
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3. Nov 17, 2010 6:50 PM in response to: markzz
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

I ran into the same issue - but my ESX 4.1 won't recognize the file on the CD or the ISO burns as a CD - says its an invalid Driver CD.

 

I am going to try and check the firmware - maybe its a combination of firmware and drivers???

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

ckulchar Novice
ckulchar
7 posts since
Sep 6, 2007
Currently Being Moderated
4. Nov 23, 2010 7:15 AM in response to: rbergin978
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

 

Hey Guys,

 

 

I was able to unmount my esx installation media and

mount the qLogix media, select the driver, then after setting the root

pwd re-mount the esx media (it prompted me to do so) OK.   Install is

trucking along.

 

 

 

 

 

Markzz, thank you for this thread, it was spot on.

 

 

 

 

 

Chuck

 

 

rbergin978 Lurker
rbergin978
2 posts since
Nov 17, 2010
Currently Being Moderated
5. Nov 23, 2010 7:19 AM in response to: ckulchar
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

HP Firmware DVD 9.1 fixed it for me.

 

Once I did the Firmware on the Server - the ESX 4.1 install media recognized the driver CD that I had made from the VMware download site.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

markzz Enthusiast
markzz
100 posts since
May 6, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
6. Nov 23, 2010 3:48 PM in response to: markzz
Re: ESX 4.1 hangs during Install at "29% loading 32.networking-drivers"

Thanks for your responces.

A few weks ago  rbergin978 emailed me with the same issue.

This is the responce I sent him

 

 

G-day rbergin978

The solution is a little complex but it works.

This should really all be posted.

 

The basis is there are a few considerations.

Hardware

In my case I am using DL585g6 servers.

Even after I'd fixed everything else I was experiencing an issue where I could only get 3 of the 4 10Gb ports to activate. This ended up being an a dependancy on which slots the 10Gb cards were installed in. I had to use slots 9 and 7 in the end or all 4 ports would not activate due to a hardware resource issue. Unfortunately PCI slot 9 is only a PCIe x4 slot, this means the performance of the port in that slot will likely be limited to about 6Gb. There's only so much you can do.. I accepted this and moved on.

 

Once you have installed the NC522 10Gb duel port cards in the right slots.

Get the HP firmware CD 9.1 or later (it's actually a DVD now). reboot the server with the DVD installed and flash the server including the NC522 cards.

Once everything is flashed with the latest HP firmware reboot again.

Go into the BIOS and disable ONLY the HP 522 cards.

Reboot again.

Now install ESX as you normally would.

Once ESX is installed Reboot again.

 

1.Via ILO Mount the ISO image

Mount the file vmware-esx-drivers-net-nx-nic_400.4.0.560-1.0.4.00000.266514.iso (available from qLogic or VMWare) (of course you can burn it to a CD)

Via the service console Use the following commands to mount and install the driver package.

mount /dev/cdrom

cd /mnt/cdrom

cd offline-bundle/

esxupdate --bundle=ntx-nx_nic-4.0.560-164009-offline_bundle-266514.zip update

Reboot again

Go into BIOS and Enable the NC522 cards.

Reboot again into ESX

Your done.

What a mission hey? 

 

Hope this helps..

 

Regards

Mark

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