ESX 3.5 on Dell 2850 hangs during boot up

[Derrick_V]

I successfully installed ESX 3.5 U4 on a Dell 2850 server. However, during the subsequent boot, the ESX startup would hang at the "Initializing USB Controller (usb-uhci)" section. The only way I have been able to get the server to complete boot up is to disable the USB in the BIOS setup. If I do that, it still scrolls by with a bunch of error messages at the USB part, but at least it continues the boot and I can load up some VMs, however the keyboard does not function since it is a USB . This server was running ESX 3.5i without issue and it never had a problem with the USB controller Any idea what is causing this? I am connecting to this server through a KVM, so that may be the issue.

[vinoji2005]

Can you check the BIOS version and if old version please update the BIOS and other firmware.

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Thanks ,

Vinoth.S

[Derrick_V]

I updated the 2850's BMC to 1.72 and the RAID driver to 5B2D. This is the latest from Dell. The BIOS was already current at A07. I can boot directly to the service console and the "Initializing USB controller" step passes, but if I try to boot directly into ESX, I get the same failure. I have tried changing the BIOS USB settings from "USB with BIOS support" to "USB without BIOS support" and neither passes the "Initializing USB controller" step. The only way I can boot into ESX is if I disable USB in BIOS - of course then the console keyboard doesn't work.

Any other ideas?

[vinoji2005]

if you are using DRAC port in the server . please send the error screen short

[Derrick_V]

Regrettably, this server was not purchased with a DRAC. Is there any log file I can access on the server that may help with this?

Regards,

Derrick.

[vinoji2005]

can you tel me what is error messaging showing .

[Derrick_V]

I have spoken with Dell about this issue because it's becoming more apparent this is related to the hardware instead of the VMware installation. I'm going to do some more hardware troubleshooting and may end up with Dell replacing the MB. I'll look in the log files as well to see if I can get more out of this.

Thanks for your help on this.

Derrick Vandekraats

direct: 250 962-3684

fax: 250 962-3619

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to ESX 3.5 forum.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst[/url]
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