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7Tigers
Contributor
Contributor

HP DL 360p + ESXi 6.X = Failure to launch

We're trying to modernize the infrastructure and this server series is fighting back, I think some guy named Murphy built it and we may have to threaten early retirement on it to get it to behave.

Anyways, installing ESXi on a USB drive:

Other test computers install/boot just fine, on this server it does not.

Vanilla or HP ESXi with or without the installmbr command on bootup will return - Error System Disk Not Found

Put in the current ESXi 5.5 drive and there's no complaints, it boots perfectly!

Using VSphere to upgrade to 6.5 will fail due an issue with the partition map with the VMFS - Available disk space appears to have shrunk, can't have partition outside the disk!

What is the secret to eradicate the haunts of Murphy from this server?

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Dave_the_Wave
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Always use HPE builds of ESXi. Best case scenario of a vanilla ESXi + "drivers" will always make you wonder if you missed something.

Make sure you are using the correct pre-Gen9 version, which I believe is correct for your ProLiant.

Get a late SPP and update all firmware.

Boot with a late Smartstart, and use the Array Configuration Utility to destroy any present array, kill the NVRAM, as well as the "System Erase Utility".

Reboot a few times with Smartstart and confirm you have completely reset your ProLiant.

Use ACU again to build a new array to taste, now try booting with the HPE ESXi.

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7Tigers
Contributor
Contributor

Server has no storage array, only two flashdrives (ESXi install + ESXi Run)

SPP is a paid package

iLO4 is a paid upgrade

Server has no problem booting to flashdrives, it works great for all installers I try.

I suspect something in ESXi 6 run has changed and the server does not recognize the boot sector correctly.
I need to know what install commands allow me to run the ESXi in a compatible mode that the server recognizes.

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Dave_the_Wave
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Are you using the latest builds?

VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-Update3-5050593-HPE-600.9.7.0.17-Feb2017.iso

Not the same as:

VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-Update3-9313334-HPE-preGen9-600.9.8.5.4-Sep2018.iso

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