ESXi5 error loading /s.v00 fatal error 6

[AndyTind]

     I've installed Esxi5 on to a usb stick, and I'm getting this error when I try and boot the stick in a Dell server that currently runs 4.1 fine. I decided to try installing to a new usb stick in case of probelms for ease of rollback. Just as well really

So has anyone seen this error and can give any more detail?

error loading /s.v00

fatal error 6

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Communities forums.  I would check the md5sum on the ESXi install CD that you used. The error might indicate a file corruption.

[TK22]

Having the same problem installing ESX5i from CD on a DELL Power Edge 2950 host with latest BIOS.

The installation from CD seems to hangs the server at /s.v00

We have MD5 checked and tested different CDs but the problem persists.

[rlund]

I have esxi 5 on several dell 2950 servers. Raid card? Nic?

[TK22]

Dell PERC 6/i RAID controller.

Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708, Intel 82571EB and Intel 82576 NICs

The system is running both ESX4.0 U3 and ESXi 4.0U3 fine on the DELL servers, but the ESX5i installation from CD hangs.

Maybe we´re gonna try Update Manager instead of the local CD installation.

[continuum]

create a USB-stick by installing ESXi 5 inside a VM - thats AFAIK the easiest way to create a working boot-stick

[marchlam]

Hi all,

Some days before, I saw this KB. 2008817

And I know that the Fatal error code you saw is describing difference symptom/problem.

So, can you put more details about the Fatal code ?

ESXi fails to boot with error: Error Loading /s.v00 Fatal Error: 8 (Device Error)

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2008817

In this KB, the Fatal error is 8.

So, What's your number? please share it here!

MC

(from Hong Kong)

[THC-PGH]

If it's a first-generation 2950, it may not work.  Ran into the same thing today.  That particular unit doesn't support booting ESXi from SD card or USB key.

If you downloaded Dell's .iso named VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.0.0-469512.x86_64-Dell_Customized_RecoveryCD.iso, note it says this in the download description:

"This ISO image should be used only to recover/reinstall the ESXi image to SD Card/USB Key on Dell Platforms."

I downloaded the version from VMware directly, and it worked fine.  That might be your problem as well.

[TK22]

We also tried new CD/DVD hardware but no change. So we skipped the CDinstallation and upgraded the host to vSphere5 via Update Manager instead. That was our solution.

[kcen]

I had the same error on two installations, reboot, it would crash at different points with different errors.  I have also deployed quite a few boxes using the same hardware, so the hardware cannot be the issue.

The fix for me was to go to the BIOS, and turn off the below options

Under CPU Information

          Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch == TURN THIS OFF

          Hardware Prefetcher               == TURN THIS OFF

          Demand-based Power MGMT  == TURN THIS OFF

Reboot, resume the installation

Please let me know if this helps anyone out there.

-Ken

[bmannz]

I had the same on a Supermicro server(X8DTN+-F).

It was returning a error loading /s.v00 fatal error 8

I disabled Adjacent Cache line Prefetch and Hardware Prefetcher and that resolved it.

Thanks for your help.

EDIT:  Actually the problem turned out to be a faulty Megaraid SAS controller.  Replaced the controller and were able to tune all features back on.

-Brent