ESXI 5.5 Install hangs and errors at "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel." on Lenovo RD530 with 8.1 BIOS

[spohnj]

Let me start by saying this is the third Lenovo RD530 that I have setup with ESXI 5.5. The first 2 worked and have been running flawlessly for months.  For some reason, this install on the same server model and bios version, isn't working.  When it gets to the "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel." part of the ESXI 5.5 install it hangs for a long time. Eventually it gives a purple/pink screen with some error codes that I don't understand.  I'm not a server expert by any means.  I've attached a picture of both screens.

1. The only thing I did differently with this install was attempting to flash the bios to the 9.1 version. However, after completing that, the BIOS setup options utility would not load (it hung if I selected to go to setup during post).  So I flashed the bios to 8.1 which is what the other servers are running on.  That flash was successful and the setup utility works fine now.

2. hardware seems ok, no other issues noted other than the ESXI install. This is dual CPU setup with E5-2620's (both new, same as other servers) and the RAM seems fine.  I tried installing on 2 sticks instead of all 10 but that didn't help. I tried again on 2 different sticks to rule out any bad ram modules.

3. My ESXI ISO is on a RUFUS formatted bootable thumbdrive (same one used for other successful installations). I reordered the USB boot options to put this drive as the first boot option (this fixes another ESXI hang at initializing ACPI which happened on my other installs). I am intending to install on a MB mounted USB drive (same drive as other servers) but the install doesn't get to the point of choosing the location for the install anyway.

4. There is nothing different about the servers themselves, they are all RD530's purchased from the same reseller.  The CPU/RAM/SSD hardware is the same but from different sellers.

5. In an effort to fix or get around this issue, I tried 3 different versions of ESXI (5.5 U1, 5.5 U2, and 5.1 U2). All had the same issue.

I've read some previous posts about this specific issue but the solution was "adjust video RAM" which isn't an option as far as I know.  Has anyone successfully dealt with this issue and can you provide any guidance for how to fix this?

Thanks!