ESXi 5 on Lenovo W520

[jyhshing]

Tried to boot ESXi 5 on a Lenov W520 that has an Intel i7-2720QM processor and it booted and saw the SATA disk.

However, it was not able to utilize the network chip, Intel 82579LM, with PCI ID of 8086/1502.

After looking up the internet, I found out that in the Linux driver e1000e, the PCI ID of 1502 and 1501 are both supported by that driver.

In ESXi 5, the e1000e driver only lists the ID of 1501 and not 1502.

Is there a way to get around this issue by adding an additional PCI device ID by ourselves?

If so, what are the steps?

If not, can the ID 1502 be added in the next update or driver update so the Lenovo W520 could be used for ESXi 5 testing as it supports up to 16G RAM?

[fnorerom]

I have the same issue,  have you solve this problem

[Techstarts]

Use VMWare workstation, that is what most of us do.

[DaleAmon]

So there is no way to make ESXi 5.0 run on a W520 then? I need it as a means of working

my way up the learning curve on this product while I am travelling (which is all the time).

[Leathal]

Install Windows again on your W520 then install VMWare Workstation, then create an VM and install ESXi onto it. This way you can learn how to use it both from the console and vsphere CLI and Gui.

A.

[DaleAmon]

Since I have no MS licenses around (I've been in the Unix world for 30 years), I presume the same

technique would work on top of Ubuntu Natty?

[admin]

Yes, if you have an appropriate CPU.  See javascript:; for more information.

[jerrylin949]

Hi,

  I just saw your post about a year ago on installing ESXi on W520.  Were you ever successful?  I like to do the same with a lab W520 that I have.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Saltshaker]

Ive never put this on a laptop before but I have worked on them quite a bit. Just curious though, have you tried the installing the IBM custom ESXi iso to see if that would work? In fact they finally released 5.1 , not sure if their iso would help or work but it would be worth a try if you havent installed it.

[jerrylin949]

Hi,

  I did try to install the latest ESXi 5.1 posted early October.  The issue with the W520 is still the same where there is no recognizable NIC card.  Bummer...

Jerry

[Saltshaker]

Ahh, ok...no NIC found on the install?  Hhmm, well that sucks. Im afraid I may not be that much help other than perhaps trying and external USB Nic adapter or something else like that it may see. Just a thought.

[marcedwa]

it is august 2013 and I stumbled upon this for same reasons. Anyone know if there is a fix to this?