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12 Replies Last post: Mar 13, 2009 8:43 AM by ScottChapman  

Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB posted: Mar 10, 2009 3:35 PM

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ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

So, I have a brnd new ASUS P5E WS motherboard, which has an ICH9 controller.

I can't seem to get ESX to see drives on it though... lspci shows that it recognizes the controller. But fdisk shows nothing.

I ave fiddled around with the BIOS and tried a number of things (compatibility IDE for example) and no luck.

I know the system sees the drive just fine, but the ESXi installer does not.

Anyone figured out how to make this work?

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

1. Mar 10, 2009 3:45 PM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view Lukas R's profile Enthusiast
Lukas R
28 posts since
Oct 13, 2008

Did you uses Intel Matrix Storage RAID or you disabled RAID in bios and use only simple SATA controler (direct access to disk drives)?

Lukas
UAB nSoft
http://www.nsoft.lt
Lukas at nsoft.lt
+370 655 10 655

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

2. Mar 10, 2009 3:48 PM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view khughes's profile Virtuoso
khughes
1,478 posts since
Jan 8, 2008
You can't use the RAID controller on that chipset. If you just connect the drives as just drives connected to the mobo it should work. For non-hcl hardware help you should check out www.vm-help.com

  • Kyle

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

3. Mar 10, 2009 4:05 PM in response to: khughes
Click to view ScottChapman's profile Enthusiast
ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

Nope, I am not using the RAID controller.

I have also read the vm-help.com instructions for installing on IDE with no luck.

Like I said, lspci shows that the controller is recognized. but fdisk -l doesn't show anything.

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

4. Mar 10, 2009 4:06 PM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,943 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
Is it a 6 port ICH9 controller? If so, try port 4 or 5.

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

5. Mar 10, 2009 4:11 PM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view Lukas R's profile Enthusiast
Lukas R
28 posts since
Oct 13, 2008


When you boot from ESXi boot CD should - you should see "wizard" in which you should see all your disk drives, do you see it? It should be the same even if you use Intel matrix RAID (because it is only software RAID)...

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

6. Mar 10, 2009 4:35 PM in response to: Lukas R
Click to view ScottChapman's profile Enthusiast
ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

No luck on port 3 or 4.

Interestingly my MB ports are not numbered per what the manual says.

It should look like:

6 4 2

5 3 1

Mine (so far) looks like:

x x x

4 x x

(x just means I do not currently have a drive attached.)

I do not even get to the point where it shows me my drives, it gives me an error saying there are no drives available.

My BIOS settings are:

  • SATA - AHCI
  • ACPI 2.0 disabled
  • ACPI APIC disabled

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

7. Mar 10, 2009 4:40 PM in response to: ScottChapman
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ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

Never mind about the numbering... The board is indexed by 1 and the BIOS is indexed by 0.

I tried both (as indexed by the BIOS from 0) port 4 & 5.

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

8. Mar 10, 2009 4:41 PM in response to: ScottChapman
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ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

Incidentally, should fdisk -l show the disk even before I have done the IDE -> ISCSI change in the install script?

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

9. Mar 10, 2009 6:19 PM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,943 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
Yes - you'll still see the drive with fdisk prior to changing the file.

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

10. Mar 10, 2009 6:47 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view ScottChapman's profile Enthusiast
ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

Nope, nothing showing.

I don't know if this is related, but I am using an IDE (SATA) DVD drive. I am having to add "noapic" to the boot params in order to boot to a Ubuntu Live CD; not sure that is related either...

Any other ideas?

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

11. Mar 10, 2009 7:25 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
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ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

OK, I had some success by using a USB stick and by passing the CD-ROM all together.

Apparently this MB has a Marvel RAID controller in it that messes with the SATA config. Disabling that works, but also takes out the IDE DVD drive. Not that I need it now!

Re: Help installing ESXi on ICH9 based MB

12. Mar 13, 2009 8:43 AM in response to: ScottChapman
Click to view ScottChapman's profile Enthusiast
ScottChapman
103 posts since
Dec 8, 2008

Incidentally, I am running with my MB in IDE Enhanced mode. When I tried running it in SATA AHIC mode I was getting root mount failed errors at start up.

I have since read how to address this on vm-help.

My question is, now that I have this up and running, is it worth fixing this so I can run IAHIC mode? If so, do I need to be worried about reformatting anything??

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