Can't shut down ESXi 5.5 host fully

[Daniel_GT]

Small update... after the server running for weeks, I randomly checked the performance chart for the host and found ~35% CPU usage with VMs doing nothing. It wasn't locked to one core in particular but distributed across all 4/8 (core/threads) to equal that ~35%. It appears there is another IMPI issue. Have not yet moved to ESXi 6 yet. Disabling IPMI in ESXi again for now. It did shut down properly during this condition, but I'd rather not waste that much power/heat for no real reason, considering I log in directly to the motherboard vs. relying on VMware to report on hardware health.



The only steps I took when setting up the bios were to disable all unused ports, make sure VT/d was enabled, disable option rom for nics & cards, set boot order, fan speeds, etc. Is there any specific page or settings you were unsure of? I can check them.

Thanks @ZeroOne but don't worry about it now, I've pretty much given up the ghost on getting this to work - plus bricked one ASMB6 by playing about with firmware. The way I see it is that this module can act as a handy monitor for hardware status even if it won't play nicely with ESXi, but no more than that on my mobo. I have no remote power features as soon as the server is shutdown as the module shuts down with it, which I'm sure it shouldn't otherwise what's the point? I thought it might be a BIOS setting concerning power management but I've tried all sorts with no success.