Could not format a linux partition...

[Wakey638]

That is the title of my Tale of Woe, late on a friday afternoon.

I'm using compliant hardware, Intel S5520UR board and Adaptec 3805 SAS RAID (I have a number of SAS disks configured as one volume and others in RAID1).

I've made sure the bios and firmwares are bang up to date. Tried putting on ESX and ESXi but get the same problem.

I got through the setup process right to the end (I'm using the default disk setup stuff), it starts to clear the partitions then comes to the format and....

It go bang.

I got a "Could not format a linux partition"

I've tried using different disk partitions in the RAID, I've even slapped on Ubuntu server edition to see if there was something fundamentally wrong but that went fine.

I'm no linux guru but I'm getting to the point where I have nowhere to go.

Is there something I'm missing? Or does anyone have an ideas that I can try out. Do I need a bottle of 12 year old Whisky? (Don't worry, I know the answer to that one!)

Cheers all

Wakey

[AndreTheGiant]

It's strange that you get a similar error message also with ESXi 4 (cause it does not use Linux partition).

How big is your virtual disk? Is smaller than 2 TB - 512B?

Have you tried also with another OS, just to be sure that RAID controller works fine?

Andre

[Wakey638]

Hiya,

Thanks for replying.

Yep, tried ubuntu and that was fine plus Win 2008 and also all was well.

I've config'd the controller as the following (these are all direct attacted storage too):-

1) 147 Gb volume (one disk)

2) 300 Gb RAID1 partition

3) 300 Gb RAID1 partition

tried installing on different partitions but has the same error.

I'm wondering if there's some way of installing the linux part of ESX to simplify things a bit and test.

Is there another linux OS that is similar in build to ESX to test?

ESXi and ESX install differently? Hmm, that does puzzle me then.

Cheers all

Wakey

[AndreTheGiant]

ESXi and ESX install differently?

Yes.

Try to install the ESXi on a USB key, just to see if the problem is with your RAID controller.

Or use the full ESX in evaluation mode.

Andre

[Wakey638]

Installing to a USB key worked but then I couldn't see the drives.

In the end, after searching many forums I found the solution here

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1289027#1289027

It's actually a small switch on the Intel BIOS, disable 'Intel VT for Directed I/O' under the Hypervisor settings and all suddenly is well.

So, nothing to do with Adaptec 3805 which I was suspecting, just a BIOS setting.

Cheers, Andre, for your help, the extra suggestions helped clear up a few things.

Wakey