hth,
Reinhard.

lspci -d 1000:0409 -n -v

03:0e.0 Class 0104: 1000:0409 (rev 07)
Subsystem: 8086:3008
Flags: bus master, stepping, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
Memory at fbef0000 (32-bit, prefetchable) size=64K
Memory at fca00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) size=1M
Expansion ROM at fc9e0000 disabled size=128K
Capabilities: c0 Power Management version 2
Capabilities: d0 Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable-
Capabilities: e0 PCI-X non-bridge device.

05:0e.0 Class 0104: 1000:0409 (rev 07)
Subsystem: 8086:3008
Flags: bus master, stepping, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 22
Memory at fbff0000 (32-bit, prefetchable) size=64K
Memory at fcc00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) size=1M
Expansion ROM at fcbe0000 disabled size=128K
Capabilities: c0 Power Management version 2
Capabilities: d0 Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable-
Capabilities: e0 PCI-X non-bridge device.

The following is my experience in installing an inexpensive VMware solution using a HP A6330f desktop

Please understand, that until this morning, I have not looked at linux since I took the VMware ESX 1
(VCP 1 certification track two years ago) and I really struggled with it then and I am not so smart with the CLI so....
If I have done something that is not necessary or wrong please correct it in a follow-up post, this is what I did to make it work, I tried all the scripts but those just kept failing to solve my problem since the sda2 root was locked???. Logging into troubleshooting console and editing the files directly seemed to make more sense to me anyway once I solved that edit mystery.

If I could also point out that I had virtually no help outside of the 14 pages on this topic. I could award each author of each post a partial point if I knew how but thanks to all and I know that I am not saying anything new on this post, but the request was made to speak-up about what products worked etc. .

1. 60 day license
1. HP A6330f AMD 64X2 with NVIDIA chipset MCP61 $450
1. 4 GB memory added $89

SATA support and NIC card support for A6330 server AKA Asus M2N68-LA

1. Downloaded and installed the ESX 3.5 software following onscreen prompts. Get the "cannot find root" error at the reboot.
2. Booted the server to the service console and logged on as Root using build password
3 Ran the commands for lspci -v -n |less to figure out the PCI ID I needed to add for the PMC61 chipset. Documented this information for PCI items 7 and 8
4. Spent 11 hours trying the scripts and figuring out what everyone means by saying edit in Linux...

5 Hint: edit: when you are in the ESX Troubleshooting console, Edit means type VI and the path to the location of the file. use esc then :q to quit, type :wq to save and :wq! to save and overwrite read only and :q! to quit or cancel without saving

6. Edited simple.map - #vi etc/vmware/simple.map to include support for nVidia by adding

10de.03ef 0000:0000 forcedeth.o
10de:03f6 0000:0000 sata_nv.o

(these may not be necessary, but I added them anyway!)

7. Then I edited #http://vi etc/vmware/pciid/forcedeth.xml with these lines added at the top in numerical sequence- The nVidia driver was already supported so that is why this worked I guess, the HP site says this is a RealTek NIC card, but ASUS says nVidia.... (I retyped the entire device group for one device but you could just change one of the groups to your pciid for your device.)

<device id="03ef">
<vmware label="nic">
<driver>forcedeth</driver>
</vmware>
<name>nVidia NForce Network Controller</name>
<table file="pcitable" module="ignore" />
<table file="pcitable.Linux" module="forcedeth">
<desc>nVidia|NForce Network Controller</desc>
</table>
</device>

8. Edited the #http://vi /etc/vmware/pciid/sata_nv.xml file and added an entry for 03f6, changing the controller name from MCP55 nVidia... to MCP61 nVidia...

<device id="03f6">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_nv</driver>
</vmware>
<name>MCP61 SATA Controller</name>
</device>

9. Run the esxcfg-pciid
10. Restarted the server

results: Server comes up and mounts the root and the NIC now works fine.

attachments

lspci-v.txt
lspci-v-n.txt

Thank you all for your help

I have just got a ML110 too. I have had no trouble installing ESX on to one of the disks (after getting a Intel NIC!). Under VIC it is only showing the 2 port SATA controller for the CDROM drive and not the 4 port where I have my 2 x 250Gb installed.

How do I get the 4 port added and use one of the drives for VMFS?

Thanks in advance

Giles

I did the following to install ESX on the HP ML 110 G5

1. Goto BIOS en reset all BIOS settings to default (F9). Enable Intel VT support for the CPU.

2. Install ESX

3. After the install is ready, reboot and goto BIOS. Set SATA mode to: SATA but do not enable SATA RAID!

4. You know should be able to format your SATA harddisk as a VMFS volume in the VI client

In VirtualCenter I see both controllers and I have two harddisks and one CDRom attached. All are working. See picture below.

Ok, this is what happened. The problem was with the NIC, I bought and installed an INTEL NIC, and the installation went fine. I only hooked up one hard drive, to the mother board, and also left the SATA 300 TX controller in the computer. The system came up fine, didnt have to edit any file. I was also able to create a VMFS partition on the SATA drive hooked up to the onboard controller.

I then added two more SATA hard drives to the motherboard controller, and they too worked fine, no issues, no files edited. I then returned the SATA 300 TX controller, and was issued a refund. Everything worked fine for 1 week, but then, I had an electrical failure, after the server came back up, it halted during boot up after the message, "Updating ESXUPDATE Database", and then nothing happens.

I reinstalled ESX several times, even formatted the hard drive, disconnected all other hard drives, but cannot get past this message. It always stops after "Updating ESXUPDATE Database". I am almost driven to go back and buy back the SATA 300 TX controller, but this would be 120$ down the drain, since I dont really need it.

Please help.

Thanks.