These workstations aren't Q6600's though, C2D E4600's are in ours, so VT (virtualization) CPU support is non-existent unlike the Q6600 which does have VT. I suppose what I could do is flash to A05 if I can find it and see if that works out. So it's quite possible you haven't checked recently for an update, which is the reason you're using A05. What makes ESXi different?Ī07 is the latest while A06 was a 'internal release' or something of that sort. I mentioned in another thread that the ESX Server 3.5.0 installer boots without issue. latest BIOS to-boot (A07) - What did you do to get it to boot properly in ATA mode? I've tried nearly everything, which includes some random pokes at adding things like acpi=off, noacpi, and such.Īnyhow, what I might do is re-download the ISO and perhaps net-boot the process, just in case it's something funky with our cd's or drives.Īlso to note: I've tried this on a second T3400 (A03 BIOS) and it still refuses to boot any farther than the cd boot menu then a hard lock. If I select any other option like RAID or Autodetect/AHCI which I know will not work, it boots into the CD to install but obviously cannot find the hard drive.

Autodetect/ATA is selected in the Dell BIOS and only when it is, does it actually freeze/hard-lock like this. It freezes right after selecting 'ThinESX Installer' on the boot menu. I have one of these here, and I'm attempting to install ESXi U2 on it with no luck. You mentioned that you were able to at least install ESXi on a Precision T3400? (Unless I'm mistaken) Has anyone got ESXi working on a Dell Precision withOUT the SaS RAID controller option, with just native SATA or AHCI or RAID from the integrated ICH9R controller? I have tried booting the ESXi install CD with the machine configured both with the ICH9R in AHCI mode and with the ICH9R in RAID mode - same 'Unable to find a supported device' error. The Dell Precision has Intel's X38 Express chipset and ICH9R controller.

ESXi 3.5.0 gives the error 'Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to'.

This hardware certainly has more power than my existing three such machines combined!īut. I have this crazy idea of running a real virtual platform on the hardware, supporting a workstation image, a server image, and maybe even a home theatre / media center image. I just purchased a Dell Precision T3400 workstation, and upgraded its default Core 2 Duo E4600 (no hardware virtualization support) CPU to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 to have plenty of CPU power and Intel's hardware virtualization support.

Dell precision t3400 change motherboard