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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Windows XP and LSI adapters wont work (yes i use the correct drivers)

Versions: ESX 3.5 VC2.5

Windows XP SP2 install from ISO

I want to use the LSI adapter, and have created a driver .flp wich contains the correct drivers from the LSI website.

All goes well and after F6, and Pressing "E" for the driver disk it reads the correct adapter/driver details.

However, when i want to specify i want to install using the driver on the floppy (.flp), i have to press "S". The thing is... VI console does not respond to the "S" key, i can only press "Enter" which would use the default windows drivers (as explained in the text on the screen). When i then press "enter" i it shows the driver name and wants to continue, but still no disks found.

I cant see what im doing wrong here and why the "S" key does not respond.

am i missing something?

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TomHowarth
Leadership
Leadership

have you made sure that your floppy is connected? see "edit Setting"

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

yes! the setup even reads from it correctly (driver/controller name is shown after sepcifying the floppy), it just does not respond to the "s" key to use the floppy later on in the setup.

Disks are not found after that.

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khughes
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

You may want to just install it first using the buslogic driver to get things going then upgrade it to use the LSI logic after everything is said and done.

This is an old article but it still might work for you.

-- Kyle "RParker wrote: I guess I was wrong, everything CAN be virtualized "
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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ok i will try that workarround (install with buslogic)

had an issue with that too though...

I chose the BusLogic type and set the vmscsi-1.2.0.2.flp as the floppy image for the buslogic driver and connected it at boot time.

The installation proces saw the disk, and i was able to format it. When the file copy started, it gave an error "unable to copy vmscsi.sys" and just stopped. Tried a number of times, with the .flp on different VMFS volumes (SAN and DAS).

I then took the driver from the vmware tools iso, and integrated them with nlite into the winxp ISO. Now it's installing with the buslogic. I could not get this to work with the LSI driver !

Looks like something goes wrong with reading from .flp images.

I will try switching to LSI after the installation.

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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

could have guessed it Smiley Happy , but i got a nice BSOD after switching SCSI controller to LSI.

Is there a virtual hardware change for this controller in ESX 3.5? LSI20320-R drivers from LSI do not work for me when integrating them with Nlite

Would be great if someone could test this with 3.5 (if it's not already done off course Smiley Wink )

EDIT:

This is what i found. somewhere it says :

"Now is the time to connect your floppy and use S during Windows Setup when prompted to connect to the floppy drive."

Only hitting S does not work! so strange!

Can someone give this a quick test?

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Will_F-1
Contributor
Contributor

I'm experiencing a similar thing with 3.0.2 except I can get the driver to come up but the disk wont get detected.

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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

does anyone else have this problem and maybe solved it?

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Will_F-1
Contributor
Contributor

Found some drivers that work, PM me and I'll email them to you.

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big_blue
Contributor
Contributor

After the upgrade from 3.02 to 3.5 i experienced the same problem. The Nlite prepared iso's don't work anymore (but did work perfectly under 3.02). It seems the virtual lsi scsi adapter (LSI20320-R) changed inside the virtual machines. Can you tell me what drivers you found and/or if you found out in what way the virtual hardware changed? Using the standaard windows 2003r2 server iso still works and finds the disk but when i integate the new lsi drivers from the lsi website even that doesn't work any more.

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Will_F-1
Contributor
Contributor

Hey All,

Had numerous request's for the driver so I've attatched it. It's password protected (get's past virus scanners Smiley Wink ) so the password is password. I havt actually tried this with ESX 3.5 yet and can't remember where I found it, I think it was on the LSI site, however it was an older driver not the most recent one on the LSI site.

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bluestuff
Contributor
Contributor

Verified on both 3.02 and 3.5 this is an issue. All documentation points to the newer LSI drivers named Fusion(oddly enough) GOing to try these drivers provided here. Thanks!

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big_blue
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Will_F-1,

I used the provided drivers to build Nlite images for XP and 2003(r2) and they work perfectly. Apparently VMware didn't change anything but LSI changed something so that the newer drivers don't support the virtual LSI hba any more.

Thanks for the Help.

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xtech13
Contributor
Contributor

I ran into this problem last week. I am running ESX Server 3.0.1 and have loaded a number of XP 32 bit systems without a problem, using the 1.20.18 driver. Then all of a sudden it didn't work. I was able to get around it short term by loading the 64 bit OS, which didn't have any problems.

I tried using the 1.26.05 driver off LSI's web site with no luck.

Then I found this posting and tried both the flp image and the driver version (1.20.18) with no luck. I then tried the BusLogic driver and still had problems.

I have not tried Nlite yet, but that is my next step.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

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JeffST
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Have you tried the driver above that Will F1 provided?

offtopic:

If i think about it, i can not think of a good reason to use the LSILogic adapter instead of the BusLogic (which seems to work more often). I recall a document with benchmarks between the two which showed no performance benefit at all from either types. The document was somewhat outdated. Also, if you search/google it, people tend to recommend LSI, but not really supported by facts.

Anyone got a good reason to use LSI instead of BusLogic?

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xtech13
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, that driver is the 1.20.18, which I already had, but had stopped working.

I finally used Nlite to add the 1.20.18 driver to the Windows install and by-passed the F6 key and it worked like a charm. It seems to be somehting to do with reading floppy images versus any problem with the driver itself.

Thanks for the tip about Nlite.

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benham
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Well, I had the same problem. Downloaded latest driver from LSI site and try to install an XP VM on ESX3.5, and use F6 to input the drivers during the installation. It is not working.

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RS_1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks !

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AWpowell
Contributor
Contributor

Hello

I too am having the same problem.

I have ESX3.5.

I am trying to install WinXP SP2 from a CD as a VM.

I can format the disk (With both SCSI drivers) When it comes to actually copy the drivers from the floppy it says:

"Setup cannot copy the file: symmpi.sys or vmscsi.sys" :_|

I have tried various ways of mounting the floppy - Floppy host device, client device and virtual floppy. None of them work!

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks. Smiley Happy

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fmateo
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I use the drivers I found on LSI web page. To make a virtual floppy disk (flp), i use the "dd" option in linux. Other thing I tried, was to create a physical floppy, It runs ok, I had no problems with that. I only tested on versions 3.0.X.

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