ESXi4 IBM ServeRAID Unable to write image to the selected disk

[conner172]

I have an IBM x3650 M/T 7979-E9U with two IBM 136GB SAS drives connected to an IBM ServeRaid 8k SAS RAID controller configured in a RAID 1 array. I'm trying to install ESXi 4.1.0 on this array. The installation process proceeds until the progress bar is up to about 75% and then fails with the error:

Installation Operation Failed!

The installation operation has encountered a fatal error:

Unable to write image to the selected disk. This may be caused by bad sectors on the device or another hardware problem.

The other devices in the system include an LSILogic SAS1068E-IR controller and an IBM ServeRAID MR-10M SAS/SATA controller.

[DSTAVERT]

Make sure the RAID card is on the HCL http://vmware.com/go/hcl Also make sure the RAID card has the correct firmware for ESXi 4.1 if it is on the HCL. Do check the disk(s) for errors. Make sure the server firmware is up to date. You could consider installing ESXi directly to a USB flash disk. Once up and installed it is far easier to troubleshoot problems, add additional drivers, etc.