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chimanbhai
Contributor
Contributor

Installing ESXi 4.0

Hello All:

I have just started installing ESX i 4.0 on Dell SC1420, this is not on HCL but trying anyways.

I got rid of the error that said "Unsupported BIOS setting (CPUID is Limited). I got rid of error by one of the psoting on this site that advised me on setting the boot options by hitting the TAB key.

The adjusting boot option to "mboot.c32 vmkernel.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit"

Now I have another issue. It loads and then it hangs and gives following message at booting prompt.

booting: MBI = 0x00010120, entry = 0x00100212

I have seen a post on the vmware community when it is possible to load vmware 4.0 esxi. Has any one run with this issue. ANy answer will be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Regards,

Patrick

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

Have you search for similar issue in whitebox configuration?

http://www.vm-help.com

http://ultimatewhitebox.com

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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chimanbhai
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, I have for about a week and have not got any further so i desided to put the post on the thread.

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chimanbhai
Contributor
Contributor

Hello All:

Ok I was able to install esx i 4.0 on my dell sc1420 finaly. Following post helped me lot. I do not get any error and I was to manage via Vsphere Client.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this coomunity, otherwise I would not have been able to do much. Thanks again.

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

"I had to make a couple changes for ESXi 4.0

To get ESX to install successfully on my Precision 370 I did the following;

#1 To bypass the initial "CPUID" error as above;

1. At the initial bootloader screen (when booting from the ISO), press TAB to edit the boot options

2. Hold down the left-arrow key to move the cursor back to the

beginning of the boot options, and add

mboot.c32 vmkboot.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit --- vmkernel.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit ........

3. Press ENTER.

#2 To allow the installer to recognise/install onto the internal SATA disk

In the BIOS (Drives | SATA Operation), changed config from Combination

(SATA/PATA mode) to RAID Autodetect/ATA (RAID if signed drives,

otherwise ATA)

On Reboot

Hold SHIFT+O at boot screen and enter nocheckCPUIDLimit as a kernel parameter

Using vClient

Enter Maintenance Mode

Configuration > Software > Advanced Settings > VMKernel > Disable checkCPUIDLimit

After that everything worked great ! "

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kcpaige
Contributor
Contributor

UPDATE *******************

The solution described above does work with ESXi 4; I tried it and it works without a problem. Still no luck with ESX 4 though

******************************************

I have an old Dell SC 1420 that I was hoping to use as a training platform for ESX 4. I'm getting that same error as everyone else, "Unsupported BIOS setting (CPUID) is limited. Disable 'limit CPUID value' or 'Support legacy/NT4 OS in BIOS"

i have tried adding "nocheckCPUIDLimit" at the beginning and the end of the options list ..with no success.

I get invalid options errors when adding mboot.c32 vmkboot.gz vmkernel.gz to the options list.

**************************

On my version of ESX 4, I press F2 (not TAB) to view the list of boot options. The default options look like this:

initrd=initrd.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M quiet

If someone can clarify the above suggestion I would appreciate it. Did the installation work when you literally added "mboot.c32 vmkboot.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit --- vmkernel.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit" to the front of the boot options list?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

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depping
Leadership
Leadership

I personally always take the easy route. just install linux + vmware workstation and run ESX virtually. works like a charm every time.



Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator | VCP | VCDX

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pchoi94
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I see a lot of posts around the Internet saying that this solution (which supposedly works for ESXi 3.5) also works for ESXi 4.0. Am I missing something here? I'm getting the same issue you're having, i.e. my boot options look like:

initrd=initrd.img vmkopts=debugLogToSerial:1 mem=512M quiet

Is there a different built of ESXi 4.0 that people are using that still has the same boot options as 3.5? Or are they just typos saying that they're using version 4.0?

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