ESXi reboot loop after "Loading VMware ISO" screen

[N2Training]

Machine: 4GB RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz, SATA RAID 0 with 2, 1TB WD RE3 drives. NO SCSI

Can anyone tell me why I am stuck in this continuous rebooting cycle? I put the iso CD in, wait for the "Loading VMware ISO" (photo attached) bar to go across the screen and then some wierd cahracters show up at the end of the bar for nonosecond and BAM a reboot. It happens so fast I had to capture with a video/phone and frame by frame through it to see what the message said.

If I remove the CDduring the post, the machine tried to boot to the HDs and since there is nothing on them, I get an error. I reinstall the CD rom, re-boot and "Loading VMware ISO" bar to reboot cycle continues.

I removed all RAID features and tried to install to one SATA drive - same thing. I even installed an IDE drive and again, no joy.

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you!

[michelb · Accepted solution]

1st guess - controller/s in your machine are not compatible, I had the same thing on an old Abit board. Have you checked the HCL & http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php

[Sh0nuff]

I read this post and checked my controller against the list, it was compatible but I was getting the same issue. On a hunch I changed the boot sequence to place the hard drive before the CD-Rom.. The cycle was broken and I have now happily installed@ ESXi 3.5 on my Dell PowerEdge 2850. Hope this helps someone!

~Sh0nuff.