How can I get ESXI 4 to work on a HP z800 workstation

[mntdoo]

I have a HP Z800 with 16 gig of memory that I have tried to install ESXI 4 on.

I was getting the error message that I did not have any support Nic's, I got past that problem by adding an external Nic.

Now I am getting the pink screen of death with the following message.

PCPU 3 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate (0 others locked up).

cr2=0x12818068 cr3=0x3f8b3000 cr4=0x168

and much more.

I also install ESXI 4 on a USB drive using another machine and then added the Broadcom nic drivers for the Z800, and I still get the error message,

that I do not have any supported Nic's when I try to run it on the Z800.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get ESXI 4 to run on the HP z800?

[golddiggie]

What's the configuration of the z800 system? Processors, RAID controller, etc... Also, I would go to an Intel NIC that's on the HCL over a broadcom NIC.

The error message you show looks like one of the cores/processors is either bad, or has issues.

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[AWo]

This system is not supported, yet.

You can always check that here: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

AWo

VCP 3 & 4

Author @ vmwire.net

\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

[golddiggie]

Neither is my Dell Precision Workstation T7400 but it still works just fine. Of course, I made sure that the SAS RAID controller, processors, storage (SAS HD's), NIC's, etc. were all on the HCL before I even made the purchase. About two days of phone calls to ensure that it all would be, or was. Installed ESXi 3.5 without issue, as well as ESXi 4 and then ESXi 4u1...

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[QucickSand]

what's the on board NIC for Z800 ?

I just made it work with my Z600 workstation.Z600 has an NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe card. It turns out that this card is listed in pci.ids file, but there is no entry in simple.map file. So after I added following line in simple.map file and repackagd everything up, I can install esxi 4.0 update 1 successfully on my Z600 workstations.

14e4:1684 103c:130a network tg3.o

The only problem left is that PS2 keyboard/mouse will hang the system , so I used an USB keyboard instead.

[mntdoo]

I got past the network problem by adding a Intel pro 1000 pt gigabit PCIe network card to the z800

The new problem is the LSI sas 1068e Raid controller, It is a software raid and vmware does not like it.

I get the pink screen of death when VMware loads.

I am sure I can get around the problem by adding a new drive controller.

I am going to wait for the next version of ESXi or try another VM solution on the Z800

[gkesoft]

I did some research to get esxi 4.1 working ( network only as I am using external storage via FC card ) with a Z800 I just purchased

From this website http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php I modified the steps for modifying the simple.map

Install esxi 4.1 it will complain about missing network adapters

press f2 to customize and login

go to troubleshooting options and enable local tech support

press Alt-F1 and login then follow the below

1) cd /tmp/

2) mkdir -p oem/etc/vmware

3) cd oem/etc/vmware

4) cp /etc/vmware/simple.map simple.map

5) cp /etc/vmware/pci.ids pci.ids

6) vi simple.map and add 14e4:1684 0000:0000 network tg3

7) close vi - press ESC and enter :wq

😎 cd /tmp/oem

9) chown -R 201:201 ./etc

10) chmod -R 755 ./etc

11) chmod 644 ./etc/vmware/simple.map

12) chmod 644 ./etc/vmware/pci.ids

13) tar -cvzf oem.tgz etc

14) cp oem.tgz /bootbank/oem.tgz

15) cd /bootbank/

16) chmod 755 oem.tgz

17) reboot the host

Help this of help to someone

[dialbat]

Thank you very much!

that really helped!

Would you know a way to modify ISO so it works with broadcom from the install?

as currently i'm using intel card to install, than modify simple.map and than removing intel card.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Take a look at this - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

Now available - vSphere Quick Start Guide

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL.

[dialbat]

thank you! making USB right now.

would you know if there is a way to make ESXi work with soft RAID? i know it' snot supported, but maybe someone made it just for kicks, as i know linux supports it, just needs some tweaking.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I know of one attempt - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2267&p=8502&hilit=softwareICHRAID#p8502. Note sure how well it's worked.




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

Now available - vSphere Quick Start Guide

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL.

[dialbat]

Thanks again!

Dave, it's probably a silly question, but for a light of me i cannot locate oem.tgz file in installation iso

i managed to mod it in running host and got it to see broadcom, but i'm making USB bootable install, so i want it to be available durring install.

i've looked into forum page, but all they say it's in root of iso.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

With 4.x oem.tgz is no longer included in the install process, but isolinux.cfg can be changed to include it.




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

Now available - vSphere Quick Start Guide

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL.