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jveliss
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Installation Problem

I finally got my hardware to buld my whitebox.

I did a bit of research because I wanted to avoid mucking around with editing files and I just wanted to put the cd in and have things run smooth.

But now I am getting an error, similair to a previous dicussion.

"UNABLE TO FIND A SUPPORTED DEVICE TO WRITE THE VMWARE ESX SERVER 3I 3.5.0 IMAGE TO.

The type of motherboard I am using is a Intel DG35EC, from what I have read it should just work as the NIC and SATA cont. are both supported. "I hope they are anyway, lol"

I have only started with a simple setup of 1 x 500Gb sata drive.

Can anyone out there give me any suggestions on how to fix my issue.

Thanks,

Guys

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hla
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You may have to downgrade your BIOS to 107. The versions 112 and 113 is not working (in my tests). Even though you set the SATA controller to AHCI, you will see that VMware is only seeing IDE devices.

Download BIOS version 107 for DG35EC

After this go to the BIOS setup and set the SATA controller to native mode/AHCI. You don't have to use any modified installer or oem.tgz, the original ESXi 3.5 U4 will work out of the box.

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13 Replies
satish_lx
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Find you hardware spec with VMware Hardware compatibility list because VMware ESX is hardware orianted and support listed hardware only so please check it out here

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?q=VMware%20HCL%20hardware%20list&aq=f&oq=

- If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Thanks

Satish Patel

  • Journey toward "Virtual world"

- If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!! Thanks Satish Patel - Journey toward "Virtual world"
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satish_lx
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One more URL http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/458

- If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Thanks

Satish Patel

  • Journey toward "Virtual world"

- If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!! Thanks Satish Patel - Journey toward "Virtual world"
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kjb007
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What Update are you trying to install? SATA support was changed slightly. Do you have your controller set to SATA or AHCI? You may have to switch it to get it to work correctly.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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jveliss
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Hi there,

Thanks for the reply,

In the bios under "Configure SATA as" I have 2 options, (AHCI or IDE) there is no option for SATA. I have it set tp AHCI

There was a previous discussion with the exact same board and problem. I have move the sata cable to all connectors, but still no joy.

Any ideas?

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kjb007
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Try changing to IDE, and see if it works.

-KjB

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vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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jveliss
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Yes, Just tried that and still no luck.

not sure, will have to see if someone here can assist.

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kjb007
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It may still be the updated drivers. If you have the image, try an older Update 2, and see if that works fine on AHCI.

-KjB

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vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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Dave_Mishchenko
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What's the PCI id of the controller - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php and if you run lspci which driver is loaded for the controller?

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jveliss
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I have downloaded update 2 and tried with this, but still get the same error, while BIOS is set to AHCI

I have downloaded oem.tgz from http://communities.vmware.com/message/1084357#1084357 and copied it to the update 4 ISO file overwriting the original

But still not working. I am not sure if Im even on the right track as there are a few discussions about this motherboard, which people have had working.

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jveliss
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I have made a little progress,

After using my modified ISO and bios set to AHCI, I move my sata cable around to differant connectors and my drive was recognised, then it seemed to go through the install ok

After the reboot I get " PANIC: Faield to find HD boot partition"

Any ideas on this issue.

Thanks

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Dave_Mishchenko
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Did you just update oem.tgz on the root of the install CD? That copy is used just for the install and there's another copy used for ESXi when it boots from the HD. If you have linux there's a script in the tips and tricks forum here - www.vm-help.com/forum that will update oem.tgz in both places on the CD.

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hla
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You may have to downgrade your BIOS to 107. The versions 112 and 113 is not working (in my tests). Even though you set the SATA controller to AHCI, you will see that VMware is only seeing IDE devices.

Download BIOS version 107 for DG35EC

After this go to the BIOS setup and set the SATA controller to native mode/AHCI. You don't have to use any modified installer or oem.tgz, the original ESXi 3.5 U4 will work out of the box.

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jveliss
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Bios downgrade fix all my install issues.

Thanks hla

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