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darren_wardle50
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ESXi update has killed our server

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can help me.

I have just updated our DL380 G5 with the latest firmware: ESX3350-200805501-O-SG PATCH

Since the update the server will not boot correctly, during startup we are getting an error saying "lvmdriver failed to load with...", I can't see what else is says as it goes off screen. After that message appears the screen goes blank except for the yellow bar at the bottom where the F2 and F12 options are, pressing F2 doesn't work mostly, occasional it does but I can't get further than the login screen.

The VI client can't connect and I can't even ping it.

We upgraded from the 82664 build because the April patch didn't work.

I thought if an update failed it would use the backup copy but it hasn't and I can't see how to do it manually dispite turning it off and on several times.

I can get into the Teck Support mode however I don't know what do with it, I don't have a backup of the USB pen and its only ESX server we have. As it came with the server we do not have a Support subscription with VMware and HP are closed at the moment.

I found the rest of the message lvmdriver failed to load: Invalid Argument along with vmfs3 failed to load: Invalid Argument.

Darren

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36 Replies
darren_wardle50
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Currently we are waiting for a replacement HP USB pen from our distributor but I suspect the same thing will happen and it will also need to go back for a replacement.

After ESXi became free I purchased a 2GB USB pen and used the excellent instructions at to extract the dd image from the installable version, I haven't tried updating via VI update, instead I have just overwritten it with the patched version of Update 2, configured ESXi and added the VMs back into the inventory.

UPDATE: I received a new HP USB Pen today with the 82664 build, once it was configured I put it in maintenance mode and patched it. I got the same error as before, "lvm driver failed to load with...", this USB pen is now going to be returned.

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virg8
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When I bought the VMWARE license from HP with the usb key (may 2008), I also bought the support (for 3 years).

I am now in contact with them... I will let you know what happened.

By the way, do you have the same problem than me? --> when I want to export the diagnostic log with VI client,I get a "a general system error occured"...

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coronaXPP
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FYI,

Did a repair today, and I did lost all settings in ESXi. However,all my VMs were untouched. I could browse the datastore, right click on the *.vmx, and select "Add to Inventory", and I get all the VMs back (19).

The repair procedure claims that it will notify you if it is going to do something "destructive", but you should still backup all your VMs before doing the repair (I did).

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Dave_Mishchenko
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That's expected behaviour for the repair process at it wipes the install partition which contains the file /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml.

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darren_wardle50
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I haven't tried exporting the logs recently and I don't have a working HP USB pen to do it with currently.

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kimono
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Add us to the list. We get this with our 380G5's, with the HP key, updating from 82664 to 110271. One out of 3 has worked.

/kimono/

/kimono/
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AdamSnow
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We are having this same issue with nearly half of our HP 460C blades. They shipped with build 82664. when we try to update to the latest, we often get a server with a 0.0.0.0 IP. We change that and never have any more problems. With the others, lockdown mode is enabled and can't be unchecked no matter what we do. The worst case is the console is all black with F2 and F12 at the bottom.

In the 2 latter cases we are forced to shift-R to load the standby firmware. It usually takes 2 tries as the first time it says it is upgrading. By the second time it lets us.

On top of all this, several of our thumb drives have had hardware issues. We had an issue where the HA agent wouldn't reinstall. We logged in to the console and couldn't delete not CD to /opt/vmware/aam. It was throwing an I/O error on the aam folder. We then wiped the thumb drive, and restored it from the HP recovery Cd. when the install finished, it said there was a checksum mismatch. After booting up and logging into the console we saw that the aam folder had the same I/O error. This has happened on 3 servers. Our best guess is that the blocks/cells ont he thumb drive where the aam drive reside are worn out frome xcessive writes. These thumb drives have a really bad number of writes before they wear out.

We're real close to abandonind 3i entirely. The only thing stopping us is that we bought diskless servers, and it's going to be a hassle to setup 22 servers to do boot from SAN, and then setup and install ESX 3.5 22 times.

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jeangaud
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I received my HP USB Drivekey today and tried to update it... can't boot afterward. I'm also getting an error with "lvm driver failed to load with..."

Has anyone successfully updated this thing?

I've put another USB Drivekey in the server but now I'm afraid to update it again.

Jean

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kimono
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Jeangard, welcome to the club. This happened to 2 out of 3 keys we had, the other wouldn't update at all. The restore firmware didn't work either...

I was being told by VMWARE SE "you're not supposed to use VMware Updates to Update OEM Keys, you should wait for the OEM to update it". So I opened a support case with VMWARE and HP to get to the bottom of it. HP told me "VUM is supported way to update" and sent me a link to a ESXi restore utility that factory defaults the key to ESX 3.5U2. Note this process wipes the serial number, so you should try and get that serial number out of Virtual Center somehow before restoring it with the HP .ISO, or you'll have to be shipped a new key to use ESXi (or, if you have an enterprise license sever like us, losing the serial number is not an issue.) VMWare support also told me "VUM is fine for OEM keys...."

HP Aus told me they'd heard of one or two others breaking after VUM, so were investigating it internally and with VMware and thinking it was a bad batch up updates. You might like to log a support call with HP - I can give you our case number if you want it.

Anyway, that burnt my experience and we're now not using ESXi on USB...

/kimono/

/kimono/
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virg8
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It happened to my server.

I was finally also to rollback after this "Lvm driver failed to load with" message.

I tried a second time to upgrade on October 5th with a newest ESXi version and it worked well that time... I used the VM Infrastructure update.

Now my server works fine...

Virginie

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kimono
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Even stranger for us. We had 3 identical keys bought at same time, all in Virtual Center, updated all 3. One broke with LVM error, 1 updated perfectly, 1 wouldn't update at all because VUM thought it was already updated... even though it wasn't.

Bodgy Process!

/kimono/

/kimono/
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grhjr
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puhhh...

and I thought I am the only one who has some update problems with ESXi on USB.

Smiley Happy

First I thought it was my fault to believe that you can update a "read-only" USB key and remember to patch via update the DD to a new USB key.

But now I've read that this key has 2 "boot-points" and after patching the "backup-mount" the mount-point is switching at next startup.

And now: what goes wrong there?

I got this error screen, but didn't know the "Shift + r" option.

So my only way was to reflash the USB key with Version 110271.

Now I am ordering more USB keys for testing on a separate machine.

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hudsonmanx
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I have just fallen in the trap and tried to update our VMware ESX3i for our DL380G5, fortunately I Vmotioned the servers to another host.

Does anyone know where to get the ISO to restore it back to factory default?

I am getting the vlmdriver failed error that others have reported here.

Many thanks,

Mark

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s1xth
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Are you using embedded (usb key etc) or installable version of esxi?

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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hudsonmanx
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Our HP DL380G5's came with the USB key installed inside the server.

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raywannathrowhi
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Hi everyone, grrrrrr....ok so I am new to ESX and dont know much about it...please be patient with me...:)

I am trying to install ESXi on a relatively new PC which has a SATA drive and 3GB RAM. The ESXi version is 3.5.0 build-11-271. I downloaded the iso from the VMware site late last year...when I install I see the error everyone is getting about the lvmdriver failed to load...I see this error in the logs too...

When I try to set to IP by seleceting F2(Customise System)>Configure Management Network>and Click >Enter...it goes directly to a screen that says

"Resore Network Factory Settings"

This Option Will reset all your network configuration to the factory defaults...

Are you sure you want to restore your network

<F1> Yes, Reset <Esc> Cancel

There are no other options and I have tried and tried without success...reinstalled quite a few times alrteady too...including deleting all previous partitions ...just can not get it to work...ALL assistance will be REALLY appreciated...

Please Help.....:_|

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Dave_Mishchenko
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What sort of NIC do you have? If it's not on this list then I would suggest getting something like an Intel Pro/1000 GT. http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php

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