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TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Need help installing ESX

Hi,

I am trying to install ESX 3 on a Sunfire V20Z server. I downloaded upgrade-esx-3.0.2-61618.iso from the web site and burned a CD. I set the server to boot from the CD and although the CD light flashes, nothing happens and finally the server moves onto the other boot options.

I tried re-creating the install CD and when I use Roxio, the machine seemingly boots from the CD but then hangs and says "No operating system found".

At this point I do not know if I have the right file, a truncated download, or if I have a bad CD burn. The file was sent to me by the sales rep as a link. Should I be using an "upgrade" as the initial install? What else could be wrong with the file that would cause the machine to read the CD but to not boot?

Any help is extremely appreciated.

Message was edited by: TedWolfe -- fixing typos

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jonathanp
Expert
Expert

1st you have the good iso image.

2nd.. at this point it is : bad media, bad cd-rom drive or bad iso download...

probably one of the 2 first...

Did you try your cd on another server/computer?

Jon

Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Hi Ted, you'll want the install CD. It's around 544 MB and the MD5SUM is (md5sum:b532310bfd1a785a4a7e9b4bb20b703f) if you want to check the download. If you open the CD on another PC, which files do you see? You should be showing 6 folders and 4 files. If that's the case, you could try to boot the CD in another server / PC and there's a check CD option to pick to verify that the CD is legit.

TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I tried booting two other PCs with the CD, but no success. There weren't any error messages, the machines just thought a bit about the CD ROM then went to the other boot options.

I am re-downloading the iso in case that will help.

Ted

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TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Dave,

Thanks. The installer is around 554 MB and when I view the contents of the CD I have 5 folders and 4 files. I am using Windows PCs to view it. I tried booting 2 other machines (both PCs) with the CD and each time they thought about it, but eventually gave up and went to the next boot option.

I'm re-downloading the .iso file just in case. I'll also try to boot the Sunfire with a RedHat boot CD to make sure that is working.

Ted

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TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I redownloaded the .iso file and created a new CD and got the same results. I booted the Sunfire from a Windows 2000 install CD just fine. I'm willing to admit it is my CD making abilities that aren't right, though I don't know how I am doing it wrong, but I don't have time to play around anymore.

Is there someone I can contact that can send me an install CD? Or has anyone else run into this same problem? How did you get it going? Thanks in advance.

Ted

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Jae_Ellers
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

So you're burning the iso to the cdrom using what program?

You are burning it as an image, not a file, right?

You did run an md5sum, right?

Can you burn other bootable cds from your drive? I have had dvd-rw failures where the drive worked fine, but 50% of the cds were bad.

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TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Jae,

I used a Windows 2003 machine with Roxio. The first time I burned it with hard disk emulation, that got a "Operating System not Found" message. Then I did it with no emulation and that's when the server flashed the cd rom drive, but does not boot. I also tried it on a Vista machine with a different drive using ISO Recorder v3. This gets the same results... the server's CD drive flashes and it waits about 6-7 minutes before it moves on to the next boot option.

I ftp'd the file to a Linux server and checked the md5sum, it matches. I have created a couple of Linux install CDs successfully in the past. Perhaps this is the next step... make sure I can still create the install CDs.

Thanks.

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jonathanp
Expert
Expert

Do you have an ESX 3.0.1 cd available that you may try to boot from?

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TedWolfe
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Jonathan,

Your first response was correct but I was too stressed to think it through... all the CDs that failed were Sony CDRs. I switched to a Memorex CDRW and now the server is booting into the ESX installer.

I'm sure I'll have other issues, but this one is resolved.

Thanks to all for their help.

Ted

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jonathanp
Expert
Expert

Ok.. good to know.. but me 90% of the time it's memorex cd that cause me some problems Smiley Wink

Jon

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