ESXi 5.5 Changes in USB controller support?

[FruitCake]

Trying to upgrade my home lab to 5.5 to test out some of the new features before getting it rolling at work and I've run into a problem with installing it.

I have a pair of hosts running 5.1 installed to a USB key with an internal SSD for use as a host cache disk (prob to be swapped to vCache if i can ever get 5.5 to install).

5.1 and 5.0 before it recognised the USB key and installed to it with no problems, 5.5 however does not see the USB key at all. In fact as far as I can tell half way through the boot (at the yellow top half point) it seems to turn the USB subsystem off entirely as the usb keyboard plugged in turns off at this point. It does however continue booting off the USB cdrom drive

My best guess is that the UEFI boot is keeping the usb controllers in legacy mode and presenting them to the boot evironment, then ESXi starts the drivers for the USB controllers attempts to take them over from the UEFI bios and shuts them down/fails to load/who knows.

Wondering if anyone else has seen this and has a workaround?

My systems are:

ASUS P8H61-I R2.0 motherboard

i3-3220 cpu

USB key plugged into usb2 ports NOT the usb3 ports

[zXi_Gamer]

Are the USB devices connected via any hub to the server?

[FruitCake]

The usb keyboard was attached through a usb kvm originally, but disconnected that and plugged in directly as soon as I started trying to diagnose the issue. The usb key been trying to install to and the usb cdrom/key install media have only been connected to the onboard usb ports.

The motherboard can boot from the usb key/cdrom install disks with no issues in either the USB2 or USB3 ports, its only when vmware takes over that usb stops working.

[precisenetworks]

I have an Intel P4304BTLSFCNR server system with a single Xeon E3 1220 v2 CPU.  I have a USB DVD drive with the installer CD and a USB keyboard.

Although the hardware compatibility guide doesn't list the server system, I can boot the the installer.  The keyboard works in the BIOS and boot loader.  However, after loading the installer CD, I am unable to continue.  No lights appear when pressing the Caps lock key.  I've tried 3 different keyboards, both directly connected to all of the USB ports (no hubs) and through a Belkin KVM.  I disconnected other hardware in the system.  I tried to change the applicable BIOS options such as legacy mode, interrupt settings, etc.  No luck.

Intel doesn't have any VMware driver packages on their site that I could build a custom install CD.

VMware: please advise.

[zXi_Gamer]

FruitCake precisenetworks Just to confirm, are you booting via UEFI or Legacy BIOS.

[FruitCake]

Yes mine is UEFI.

[zXi_Gamer]

Could you please try with Legacy BIOS for a change ?

[FruitCake]

Sure I'll give it a go this evening, assuming I can get the board to boot in legacy mode, I've never tried it on these systems.

[zXi_Gamer]

Roger that. I have seen a number of users complain that in UEFI bios, the ESXi booting drops back to Boot Menu on loading the yellow + black screen, no loading screen and "no keyboards detected "

[FruitCake]

Nop, ESXi installer doesn't start at all on these boards in legacy BIOS mode, that is the bootloader on the install cd/usb doesn't even start. I'm not getting any errors about keyboard not detected, it boots and gets to the installer just fine just nothing attached to any of the USB ports is usable.

[paul_stanbury]

Im experiencing the same issue. Im using an intel S1200BTS server board (no PS2 ports - requires USB keyboard)

Keyboard works fine when I install 5.1 booting from the cdrom.

Keyboard works initially when I boot from the 5.5 cdrom ( I can specify boot options), but does not work once I get to the installation screen.

I updated to the latest firmware - no change.

I upgraded to 5.5 with the esxi 5.5 offline bundle - I uploaded it to a datastore and ran:

esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/local.datastore/ESXi-5.5.0-1331820-standard.zip -p ESXi-5.5.0-1331820-standard

The upgrade completed and behold the keyboard did not work. I could login over the IP network.

When I rebooted the server again, it automatically rolled back to 5.1

In the CMOS, the USB controller is obviously enabled.

Legacy USB Support is enabled

Port60/64 Emulation is enabled

Under Boot Options

EFI Optimised boot is disabled

Like others I've tried multiple keyboards which are proven to work fine otherwise.

I was thinking that this must have been a software driver issue, but since I did an upgrade from a working 5.1 installation I would have expected any legacy drivers to be moved across.

I've burned multiple 5.5 CDROMS, and proven they are fine by upgrading my other VMware server (A shuttle SH67H also using USB Keyboard booting off Seagate sata HDD).

I am booting from an external sandisk USB key. I don't think this is contributing to the issue however as I removed it (thinking I'll sacrifice my existing VMFS and reformat if I have to) and the keyboard was still inoperable once at the installer.

[VMMARTZ]

I ran into exactly the same issue. Install and upgrade of esxi 5.5 using an Intel s1200bts motherboard fail with an unresponsive USB keyboard/mouse.

[MDPTS]

Same problem.  S1200BTL motherboard and trying to install ESXi 5.5.  USB keyboard works for BOIS and to launch the install from CD but after the file copy and the ESXi Installer starts up, all USB keyboard function is lost.  Tried all USB ports with different USB keyboards connected - one on front USB port and one on rear.  Both keyboards would work in BOIS etc. but about midway through the Installer screen where it is split black/yellow, I noticed that the num lock light would go out on both keyboards and from then on nothing worked.  Finally, I figured that a USB card with a different controller might work - I have an old PCI USB 2.0 card at home.  I popped off the cover to verify it had the necessary PCI slot (I could have just looked at the Quick Start Guide sitting next to me but for some reason didn't think and popped it open).  Then I saw the internal USB port in the corner by the SATA ports.  Just for grins, I tried one more time.  This time when the num lock light went out, I hit the num lock button again and the light came on and stayed on (coincidentally, the other kb was still connected to the rear - it's light went out at the same time but no matter what, it would not come back on - it was DOA like all the previous times.  Using the internal USB, I successfully completed the ESXi 5.5 install.

[VMMARTZ]

I want to install esxi5.5 on the internal USB like it did before with esxi5.1.

[Gerjan]

Here I have the same problem:

I have a Asus RX700 with a Z9PR-D12/4L Motherboard. USB devices are not working after installing or upgrading from ESXI 5.0 to 5.5 Clean install does also not work

When I boot from the cd, at some point the usb keyboards stop working

The PS2 keyboards works through the complete installation. but after the installation and reboot, none of the USB ports are working.

Keyboards, usb sticks, nothing is reconized

[peetz]

Hi all,

for the sake of troubleshooting can someone who has this issue please do the following:

1. Boot from the ESXi installation ISO

2. Press Alt-F12 on the keyboard as soon as possible to switch the screen to the VMkernel.log message display (This will work as soon as a message like "VMkernel initializing..." is displayed).

3. Wait until the keyboard stops working (on the log screen you can test if the keyboard is still working by scrolling left/right/up/down with the cursor keys)

4. Take a photo of the log screen and post it here.

Thanks

Andreas

[alta3 · Accepted solution]

I had the exact same problem as everyone else, but I am using an Asus ASUS RS700-E7/RS8, Here is what solved the problem for me:

See the attached photo, By default EHCI handoff was disabled, so I selected "Enabled" as shown and rebooted.

The keyboard and other USB devices then continued to be responsive. Some research into EHCI handoff is next on my list unless someone can shed some light on this subject.

[Gerjan]

Enable EHCI is the solution for me!

I enabled EHCI in the bios as suggested , and USB is working fine!

Alta3 Thank you for the sollution!

Best regards,

[varnav]

Solution for Intel S1200BTL motherboard.

Open the server case. Find USB port that is attached directly to the motherboard, it is near SATA connectors. Plug keyboard into it.

Voila, it works!

[mauser_]

Hello,

what to do when my bios doesn`t have the option "ehci".

I have options for IDE/AHCI/RAID , but no option for EHCI.

Same problem with ESXI 5.5.

5.1 is working ok!

Thx