adapters not showing up

[KatGL]

I'm having a rough day. I have a win server 2012 R2 on a stand-alone esxi 5.5.0 server.  It was a test server that was working and then one day I could no longer remote desktop in to it.  Long story short, I rebuilt the server. However, this proved more challenging than it should have.

- first install produced error code OXC000021a  I couldn't find a solution so I tried to reinstall it again.  I'm installing from ISO copy and the storage drive.

- copied another iso into this drive, now I can install it but after I joined the domain, it stopped booting and would stop at the troubleshooting options page.

- I already had a server 2012 r2 running on this esx server so I am assuming that all the default settings in bios and hardware are working ok. only difference was the other server is on the datastore drive and this one is on the storage drive.

- tweaked some settings and eventually I get a working version installed that will join the domain - about 8 hours later

Current problem - server is getting an IP but there appears to be no network adapter. I'm back to the original problem that I cannot remotely connect to the server. When I go to Change adapter settings - it is blank. I added a second nic (while powered down) so I now have an E1000E and VMXNET 3 NIC but neither show up under adapter settings.  I am the administrator, it received updates from WSUS, I can ping outside domains but I can't set a static IP if I can't find the NIC.  Both NICs are getting an IP from DHJCP, but show up in DNS.  Why can't I see them?

If you can help with any of these problems, I would be "MUCH" appreciative.

[cykVM]

Hi,

- I already had a server 2012 r2 running on this esx server so I am assuming that all the default settings in bios and hardware are working ok. only difference was the other server is on the datastore drive and this one is on the storage drive.

what exactly is meant by "storage drive"?

Have you checked the VM's logfile(s) if they contain some hints on possible hardware failures. There should be a <VM Name>.log in the VM's folder.

Are you sure that your physical network adapter(s) are working? What physical hardware the ESXi host is on (server type/model, storage controller, NIC(s))?

Do the physcial adapter negotiate with the correct speed on the associated switch port.

Also check your (physical) switch if that is working and not e.g. hung or even defective.

Is time accurate on the recreated host? If there is a massive time drift between the (new) host and the domain Windows will behave strange...

[DanielOprea]

Hi,

Do you have folowing this steps:

-remove vnic from vm

-uninstall the vmware tools

-reboot the vm

-Look in the S.O. for the old vnic with this commands:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

start devmgmt.msc

Click Show hidden devices on the View menu in Device Manager before you can see devices that are not connected to the computer and delete/uninstall the OLD vNIC.

-reboot the vm again
-add the vnic VMXNET3

-install the vmware tools

-reboot the vm again

-config the static IP

Regards

Daniel

[KatGL · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the replies but I eventually found the solution and I would never have guess it.

Weird problems persisted and it wasn't until a file on a vm server said it was corrupted and I was asked to run a chkdsk.  That arouse suspicion.  I contacted Dell and after about 2 months of working on this, it turned out to be a hardware problem on the physical server.  They replaced the PERC but that wasn't the problem. They ended up replacing almost everything but the case and the hard drives, which they determined were running as expected based on their diagnostics.

In the end, they were right. Something other than the PERC was corrupting data in the RAID.  The first sign of a problem was data in databases becoming corrupted. We had lots of likely potential reasons for that so it wasn't thought of as a clue.

Once everything was reconfigured, I had no other problems.  As far as problems in stalling a new vm server, either the download was corrupted by the RAID or the installation itself.

I am just go glad it was finally resolved and it was not a wmware problem in the least.

[minor22]

I'm not even sure I understand what the question was to begin with?  What file was corrupted and I have never seen ESXi do or ask for a chkdsk.  I guess it makes sense if you were having corruption on your raid and it was effecting your VM's on that datastore.  Your question seemed more like a Windows problem then a ESXi problem.