VMware Cloud Community
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Install ESX 3.5 Update 1 on Tyan S2915-E

Has anyone been able to install ESX 3.5 on this motherboard

Has dual quad core Opteron 2350 B3 stepping

Am trying latest ESX 3.5 Update 1

Installer cannot "see" onboard LSI1068E controller or Broadcom NIC, both of which are connected to the 2nd CPU

Reply
0 Kudos
12 Replies
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This now resolved with motherboard bios update. Running bios 2.05e beta, havent tried the 2.06 yet but hope all should be good

Reply
0 Kudos
yike
Contributor
Contributor

Ceemour ... have you tried ESXi with this motherboard? If so, could you report any problems or issues you ran across?

Thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Last time i tried this with esxi 3.5 update 1 it would not work.

I have not tried esxi 3.5 update 2 as yet as I have a running esx 3.5 update 2 running on this hardware and 30 odd vm's

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ESXI 3.5 Update 2 gets as far as the install screen which Update 1 did not, I will test U2 with a spare disk to see if i installs and runs at some stage (need to find a spare disk)

Reply
0 Kudos
yike
Contributor
Contributor

Great, thanks for the updates. I'm eyeballing a pair of S2915's now so I might go that route.

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ESX 35 and ESXi 35 both work on this board with all on board components ie nics and raid.

Bios 2.07

Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
CorpCale
Contributor
Contributor

Hello All

Even though this question has been answered, I am having a similar error. I have a copy of ESX 3.0 on a CD-ROM, which boots fine however; I encounter an "unable to find HDD error" issue after the initial hardware check and installation begins

The pre-install option require you to select a storage option and (I have a RAID5 config with MBR enabled) so at the selection screen it sees both the NVIDIA and the LSI1068E controller.

I select the LSI option and continue with the setup after selecting the time, licence agreement; keyboard and mouse options, now it looks as it looks for a storage medium to use it is at this point that I get the message unable to locate HDD (storage medium) and the setup discontinues.

Everything up to that point is fine but even though I choose a storage solution it dose not recognise it.

Hardware:

8 Gigs ECC-Reg DRR2

2x AMD 2216 (2000 series)

6x WD raptors (150) 10,000rpm (RAID5 w/ MBR enabled)

2x BFG 8800 GTX 748

Cool master Cosmos 1000

Enermax DDX 1000

BIOS version 2.07 (default)

VMware: ESX server 3.0

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

if you have a raid 5 I am guessing you have the hdd's on the nvraid.

I would guess you need to put the hdd's on the lsi controller and create a raid 0, 1 or 1e

Pretty sure the nvraid is not supported

I have only used esx 3.5 u2 which would advise getting (or esxi 3.5 u2 which is free)

Chris

Reply
0 Kudos
CorpCale
Contributor
Contributor

thank you for the update and advice

one question how can i swap to LSI and not use nvidia as the controller is Nvidi but LSIlogic. i thought the raid is configured using nvidia (onboard chipset) but the interface and config (contoller) is LSI hence when you installed (e.g. server 2003 you can install) the LSI software to manage the RAID as it already setup (F10 to enter RAID setup utility at startup (booting)) and then press CTRL-C SAS configuration menu. Do i have to connect the HDD to the SAS interface and not the SATA?

i have just rebooted my pc entered the LSI Logic config menu and i have the option to "create IS/IME/IM volume" so do i have to created the RAID using Nivida and then Recreate it using the LSI config until or should i just use LSI to create a IS (Integrated Striping Array) as i dont want Mirroring so IM and IME is out of the question.

when you use LSI Logic Config Utility i get the New Array Type as SAS1068E (this is the same name as the nvidia RAID)

thanks for all you help. you can skype me, user name "corpcale"

Reply
0 Kudos
CorpCale
Contributor
Contributor

Update

i have moved all HDD to the SAS controller and created a RAID IS (Intragrated Stripping) using all HDD. the rebooted the computer and used ESX server 3.02 the installation was successfull the controller was found the HDD were regonize however when i rebooted the computer i get the error "Missing Disk" press any key. i will download the ESXi however i was wondering if anyone has a solution for this issue?

Reply
0 Kudos
sjeng
Contributor
Contributor

Does this bord need or support ecc memory??

Because I want to build this system with 2 opteron 2376 and to press the costs it would be great than.

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This motherboard requires ecc reg ddr2 400/533/667 memory

i used this one Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 533MHz DDR2 ECC Registered CL4 DIMM Quad Rank KVR533D2Q8R4-2G 8 sticks for 16GB memory as it was relatively cheap in New Zealand

Chris

Reply
0 Kudos