Any workaround for a mobo that uses a Winbond W83627HF southbridge for SATA I/O?

[sjc4915]

I am trying to build a hobby server to learn hands-on about VMWare products, but hit a snag with the installation. I got the "Unable to find supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to" error. I tried numerous BIOS setting without luck. From reading on this site, I suspect the SATA controller is the problem. Since this is a hobby system, paid for out of my pocket, it can't be a money pit; must be cheap.

Brand TYAN

Model S2912G2NR (this is an inexpensive motherboard, probably discontinued)

Supported CPU

CPU Socket Type Dual 1207(F)

CPU Type Dual AMD Opteron (one 2212, 8GB EC RAM, add second CPU if I can get this working)

FSB 1000MHz HT

Chipsets

North Bridge NVIDIA nForce Professional 3600

Other Chipset Winbond W83627HF Super IO

If there isn't a workaround, are there any good, cheap, low-risk choices? I know that question defies natural principles.

Best regards

[nick_couchman]

You can check the ESX Whitebox sites (www.vm-help.com is a good one) and see if the controller has been reported as working under ESX or ESXi by anyone else. I don't recall seeing a driver for that particular chipset in the installation files, so I think you're probably out of luck. You may be able to pick up a cheap PCI SATA controller and get that to work - check the whitebox sites for recommendations.