ESXi VMs die after 24 hours and VI client becomes very slow

[eger]

I am trying to figure out why my new ESXi server is freezing and locking up after about 24 hours running. What is happening is that suddenly the VMs (only 2 running) will stop responding, the VI client will work (though VERY slowly), and when I try to open a console for a VM it says "Virtual machine config file not found". It seems like the datastore is suddenly being lost. I will try and get a monitor hooked up to this machine as it is currently running headless and I am unable to see the host console.

What are some things I can check from the console that might indicate where the problem is?

The hardware:

Motherboard: Supermicro X7SBA (ICH9 / PXV-H)

CPU: Xeon 3000 (E3110)

HD: 500GB WD RE2-GP

ESXi seemed to install fine and works with all the hardware out of the box (researched the hardware before purchased). The VI client is VERY slow. But I can get the machine to reboot by the menus and after rebooting it works for a long while again. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

[eger]

I was able to get some info from the console. This is one of the errors showing up:

Nov 3 15:59:14 vmkernel: 0:08:50:23.918 cpu1:105617)<3>ata1: translated ATA stat/err 0x51/84 to SCSI SK/ASC/ASCQ 0xb/47/00
Nov 3 15:59:14 vmkernel: <4>ata1: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error 0:08:50:23.922 cpu1:105617)}
Nov 3 15:59:14 vmkernel: <4>ata1: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC 0:08:50:23.926 cpu1:105617)}

How can I find out which host bus adapter is ata1?

[eger]

It looks like this was related to the drive and not ESXi. I used the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diganostics tools to write zeros to the entire drive and then installed and it is not showing any more errors. Looks like these new RE2GP drives may be more sensitive to bad sectors...

[remark]

I have the same problem with my new server running VMWare ESXi 3.5 update 4.

Server config is 2xQuadcore Xeon 54xx, Intel 5000V platform, 8 Gb RAM, 3 x 250 Gb Seagate ST3250310NS SATA drives.

Users complain on periodic VM "freezes" (every 5-20 miutes), and I also have "DriveReady SeekComplete Error" messages in system log and "Virtual machine config file not found" message in VI.

All HDD has been tested, no badblocks found.

Any ideas on it?

[EugB]

Remark:

Any update on your situation? Did you find out what the cause was?