ESXI 6 on Braswell....

[messerchmidt]

I am attempting to assemble a cheap vm box for my amusement and learning. if everything works, it may become the pfsense / xpenology nas / vpn gateway box at my parents house...

Setup is:

Asrock n3150m matx board with 1.10 bios - Celeron n3150 and Onboard grpahics
Onboard audio and ports are off, onboard realtek lan is on
Added 16gb Gskill ddr3 @ 1600 (Had extra here)
Spare 128gb kingston SSD v300
Spare Intel Dual Lan card
Spare Sil3124 pcie card @ 6.6.0.0 bios in SATA (non-raid) mode
Spare 350w antec psu
New Corsair 200R case


As it does not have a comparability module in the bios, I could not get Hyper V Server 2012 R2 or Server 2012 r2 with Hyper modulev to run. Hyper V server 2016 p3 works.

I installed windows 10, VM Workstation 12 works flawlessly with it.

Xen 6.5 works,

I would prefer ESXI 6.0 to the above mentioned units.

Off a usb stick created with rufus 2.3, unmodified esxi hangs on "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel…” and the "shift+o" and entered "runweasel ignoreHeadless=True" suggested here (http://robwillis.info/2014/01/dell-...elocating-modules-and-starting-up-the-kernel/) does not help.

After much screwing around, i figured out how to patch the ESXI iso, but still not luck as it still hangs on the "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel…”

I downloaded the latest iso of esxi 6.0 to c:\exsi (pardon the error) and downloaded the following drivers from here: http://www.virten.net/2015/02/how-to-install-esxi-on-5th-gen-intel-nuc-nic-and-ahci-workaround/ as the nuc has similar specs to my setup (minus the dual intel lan card which is supported in version 6). I then used VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer-PS in Power CLI to patch the iso:


"PowerCLI C:\exsi> .\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.4.ps1 -pkgdir c:\exsi
Script to build a customized ESXi installation ISO or Offline bundle using the VMware PowerCLI ImageBuilder snapin
(Call with -help for instructions)
Logging to C:\Users\messe\AppData\Local\Temp\ESXi-Customizer-PS.log ...
Running with PowerShell version 5.0 and VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.0 Release 2 build 3056836
Connecting the VMware ESXi Online depot ... [OK]
Getting Imageprofiles, please wait ... [OK]
Using Imageprofile ESXi-6.0.0-20150902001-standard ...
(dated 09/03/2015 14:04:26, AcceptanceLevel: PartnerSupported,
For more information, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2124725.)
Loading Offline bundles and VIB files from c:\exsi ...
Loading C:\exsi\net-e1000e-3.1.0.2-glr-offline_bundle.zip ... [OK]
Add VIB net-e1000e 3.1.0.2-glr [New AcceptanceLevel: CommunitySupported] [OK, replaced 2.5.4-6vmw.600.0.0.2494585]
Loading C:\exsi\e1000e-3.1.0.2-glr.vib ... [OK]
Add VIB net-e1000e 3.1.0.2-glr [IGNORED, already added]
Loading C:\exsi\sata-xahci-1.27-1.x86_64.vib ... [OK]
Add VIB sata-xahci 1.27-1 [OK, added]
Exporting the Imageprofile to 'C:\exsi\ESXi-6.0.0-20150902001-standard-customized.iso'. Please be patient ...
All done."

I created another boot usb key with rufus 2.3.

I get the same issue as it starts up and hangs at "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel…”

Any suggestions?

Otherwise I am going Win10 with a connection limit hack and VMWARE workstation 12 for pfsense, xpenology,etc

 

[lopoetve]

VT enabled in BIOS (or is that the compatibility you were mentioning?)
How long did you let it sit at that page?

 

[Rody]

i wonder if it would work if you disabled the onboard gfx. I had the same issue on an evga x58 motherboard and never did figure it out.

 

[The_Moves]

Why not use VMWare Player to install ESXi to a USB drive, then move that USB drive to your system?

 

[Rody]

on the x58 system it would still hang on at the same place.

 

[messerchmidt]

gave up on vsphere and went with hyper v

hyper v server 2012 r2 and server 2012 r2 with hyper v have issues with this cpu/chipset

server 2016 p3 with hyper v is working for the moment

oddly enough, vm workstation 12 works fine

 

[messerchmidt]

VMware esxi is a lost cause on this platform, even with an add-in video card