Local datastores missing after Bios upgrade

[michaeldaly]

Hi

Used to have two visible datastores, each on its own local HDD, one of which contains the vmware 5.5.0 OS

But neither are visible since a bios upgrade, which was done using a liveCD and with both HDD's unplugged (ie SATA cables unplugged)

Can see how it manages to boot  this way.

Syslog repeats multiple times:

jumpstart: VmkCtl: Boot device not available as in:

Any advice anyone?

Thanks

MD

[michaeldaly]

Here is another pic, advising 'mount point /vmfs/volumes...not restored' Looks like a serious problem. Tried downgrading to the earlier BIOS but the motherboard would not let me:

[Abby01]

Maybe if you boot ESXi from a USB stick and access your datastore and back-up your VM's, at least that way you can mout your datastores.

[michaeldaly]

have just tried the usb approach, successfully booting 5.5.0 update3. The ' missing mount point' messages as shown above have gone but Storage still not visible even after repeated scanning. The drives are visible in BIOS and the SATA & power cables seem to be intact.

Is there an option to check via the VMware configuration menu at boot time?

Thanks

MD

[Abby01]

When you connect directly to the host are you seeing the Datastores, or are you doing the scan through vcenter

can you also try and execute the following command

vicfg-volume -l

[michaeldaly]

Hi

There is nothing at all in '/vmfs/volumes'

I will run the vicfg-volume -l command later

It may be something to do with the HDD /SSD now no longer being recognised by vmware...

[michaeldaly · Accepted solution]

Hi

It turns out that surprisingly, the SATA controller was not being recognised by vmware. You know this is the case if the ssh command:

lspci -v | grep "Class 0106" -B 1

does not suffix your controller with a name like

vmhba0 (or vmhba1 etc.)

For example the controller is described  as:

Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family SATA Controller [AHCI Mode]

instead of

Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [vmhba0]

The solution is to install the sata-xahci vib, as per:

VMware Front Experience: How to make your unsupported SATA AHCI Controller work with ESXi 5.5 and 6....

and

https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/List_of_currently_available_ESXi_packages

Note that you'll have to change your 'esxcli software acceptance set' to 'CommunitySupport'

Hope this helps!

MD