ESX 4i + installation problem [hangs during extract of stage.tgz?]

[jc179]

Hey,

I've got a HP DL580 G2, and I'm experiencing some odd issues during the booting portion of the cd. It follows the usual sequence of events decompressing various .tgz? files and then stops on one and hangs.. I've left it for about 2 hours and nothing. The dvd is ok booting on my laptop, and I've swapped the drive in the machine with another dvd-rom. The machine was running 3.5 previously without issues. Are there any switches I've missed like noacpi or such I need to enter on boot?

I'll get the exact file it hangs on tonight, just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestion in the meantime ?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Hello Jonathan, welcome to the VMware Community forums. Did you check the md5sum for the download? Also, if you were running 3.5 did you try to upgrade (see the sample instructions on www.vm-help.com).

[jc179]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the welcome. I didn't verify the MD5 sum of the disc yet, however it seems to boot ok in another machine. Its a good thought though, and i'll check that out.

I didn't know about the vm-help.com, looks like you've put a lot of work there for a very good resource. The method you've suggested looks like the way to go if I'm still having problems with booting the disc. I'll have to reload vmware 3.5, and then I'm going to hopefully give this a go.

Once again thanks!

Jonathan

[jc179]

Just as a side note, I thought before trying the upgrade by the other path, I'd write down where it stops incase anyone else has seen this before or it should be noted;

..............................................................................

..............................................................................

........................................................

Module: install.tgz

Loading install.tgz..

booting: MBI=0x000100d8, entry=0x00100212

And it just sits there....!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

What sort of storage controller and CPU do you have? Is the machine running the latest firmware / BIOS?

[jc179]

It's a HP DL580 G2, which has 4 x 2.8 ghz intel Xeon MP cpu's with 2 mb cache..

HP Smary array 5i raid controller... I've loaded the latest system bios, ilo bios, and array bios...

Think its worth a go trying to boot without and hdd's installed?

[jc179]

Ah I think this maybe why, I tried the other method you suggested, and got the error message 64 bit cpu is required ... It seems these particular MP are not

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

You can double check here - http://processorfinder.intel.com/

[jc179]

Indeed that seems to be the case... I was there trying to figure out if

the cpu has 64 bit extensions, but all of the "Xeon MP" stuff (pdf file

and technical documentation) links to the intel 7000 series xeon which

is far too new. From googling it appears the Xeon MP doesn't, however

there is a very close one which does called Xeon MP 64, which obviously

does. Sigh.

Anyways I suppose that's why it kicked out on the boot up

process. Since this system only supports 400 mhz fsb, 200 mhz ram, its

not going to be taking anything much faster... maybe in 2-3 years when

the newer stuff drops I can replace it then

sSpec Number:

SL6YL

CPU Speed:

2.80 GHz MP

PCG:[Bus Speed:|http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6YL#]

400 MHz

Bus/Core Ratio:

28

L3 Cache Size:

2 MB

L3 Cache Speed:

2.8 GHz

Package Type:

Micro-FCPGA

Manufacturing Technology:

0.13 micron

Core Stepping:

B1

CPUID String:

0F25h

Thermal Design Power:

72W

Thermal Specification:

69°C

VID Voltage Range:

1.475V

Product Documentation:

Thanks for you help in figuring this out!

Jonathan

[champcf]

I tried the same thing here yesterday. It just hangs after the "booting" line. It was on an older HP DL360 G3, which is 32-bit. I guess the problem is that it's not a 64-bit CPU, huh? I tried booting the ISO on a VM in our live ESX server and it booted up past that line. Then, it told me I didn't have enough RAM (yes, I only allocated 512MB to that VM and it wants 2GB+).

..............................................................................

..............................................................................

........................................................

Module: install.tgz

Loading install.tgz..

booting: MBI=0x000100d8, entry=0x00100212

On another note, I made a USB key the same way I did for ESXi 3/3.5 and it wouldn't boot on the machines I tried so far. They were all 32-bit CPUs. It just wouldn't get past the screen with the white progress bar. Didn't have extra 64-bit hardware to test on.

[ktnit]

Thanks to this post, I found out our Dell Poweredge 2600 server is only 32-bit capable. I'll try ESX 3.5.

[mr_vaughn]

I have the same issue on my new HP DL360 G6 and this is with 64bit CPU.

[alexmilla]

I have had the same problem in a IBM xSeries 346 with an Intel Xeon 2,7 when i wanted upgrade an ESXi 3.5.

The processor arquitecture is 32 bits, not support 64bits. ESXi 4 is 64bits only.