Black screen after reboot

Boss156 · ‎08-18-2009

Hi All,

I have ESX3.5 and VC2.5 in our environment. I have this one machine when usually restarted shutsdown properly but never comes back again. It will show only black screen with a cursor in the console.

1. I have checked utilization of resources -- all normal.

2. I have tried resetting the machine but to no avail.

3. removed data HDD and tried booting the server but to no avail.

Also if possible can some one tell me how to slow down the boot up process in VM so we could see bios.

Troy_Clavell · ‎08-18-2009

see this blog, maybe it will be useful

http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/PlanetVM/2008/12/01/the-black-screen-of-death

puzzledtux · ‎08-18-2009

I think you need to get to boot sequence to select the correct boot option for the virtual machine to load up. Check the attached screenshot to delay the boot or get to the BIOS.

Boss131 · ‎08-19-2009

Actually the Guest OS never boots after reboot. Help here would be really appreciated.

MauroBonder · ‎08-19-2009

To resolve the problem, I have fixed the speed and duplex of the Vmnic

attached to service console (in my case 1000Mb, Full Duplex).

this machine respond a ping for you ?

you can access with RDP ? if yes, check this kb http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100571...

*If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful"*

*Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. *Por favor, não esqueça de atribuir os pontos se a resposta foi útil ou resolveu o problema.* Thank you/Obrigado

Boss131 · ‎08-19-2009

You seem to not get it...I power on the VM. It does not even goes through BIOS process. The screen is abosultely blank..but in summary page i could see the VM powered on ...

Troy_Clavell · ‎08-19-2009

can you try this.... Power of the VM in question, make a note of what datastore the VM resides on, right click on the VM and choose remove from inventory. Then browse the datastore in which the VM resides on, right click on the .vmx file and choose add to inventory. Once back in inventory, power it back on.

puzzledtux · ‎08-20-2009

As per my understanding you are stuck at a blinking cursor within a blank screen.

What happens when you -

Poweroff the virtual machine, then set the poweron boot delay to 10 and enable force bios setup?

Are you able to get to the BIOS screen? If so can you choose your boot option?