X10SLL-F + E3-1230 v3 - Can't boot ESXi 6 or 7 - Ubuntu 20.04 works

[Alfa147x]

Hi all,

I stumped - I recently returned from a week's vacation to a crashed VM host (max ambient temp of 83ºf). I'm currently unable to boot ESXi.

Where should start with troubleshooting?



Failed to boot:

• ESXi 7 u2 installed boot drive USB - Stable for weeks prior to trip.
• ESXi 7.0.0 u3c
• ESXi 7.0.0 u3 Dell OEM ISO
• ESXi 7.0.0 Dell OEM ISO
• ESXi 6

Able to boot:

• ubuntu-20.04.4-desktop-amd64

Hardware specs:

• Supermicro Motherboard X10SLL-F
• CPU: E3-1230 v3
• 4x SuperTalent 8GB DDR3-1333 W1333EB8GM UDIMM (only 1 installed for troubleshooting)
• HBA: SAS9300-8e (removed for troubleshooting)
• NVMe (via PCIe to NGFF adapter): Sabrent 1TB ROCKET Q NVMe PCIe SB-RKTQ-1TB (removed for troubleshooting)
• SAMSUNG FIT Plus USB 3.1 Flash Drive 128GB - (MUF-128AB/AM) - ESXi 7 u2 installed boot drive USB - Stable for weeks prior to trip.
• Various Samsung and other brand USB drives were used to test ISOs

 

[JFO]

This is some problems with UEFI boot, you can boot in non UEFI (bios) mode.
Have same problem on X10SLH-F.
Try bios 3.4 and 3.2 version, no change.

 

[Alfa147x]

Fixed my ESXi server!!!!
Root cause analysis:

• VGA sucks - My VGA to HDMI adapter + travel LCD screen couldn't adjust to the VGA resolution. These two were the cause of the video issues. Once I bought a new adapter and used a standard monitor it was smooth sailing
• The USB drive had corrupted data. I've reinstalled ESXi onto a SATA-DOM drive.
• I then ran into an issue where I couldn't enable PCIe passthrough for my HBA.
  • I fixed this by swapping my PICe -> NVMe adapter and HBA

So, all in all - 2 weeks of downtime, but we're back up and running!