Hello all,
I got two of the new Supermicro - model SYS-5028D-TN4T and when trying to install ESXi they keyboard would not work. So I installed via iKVM and it corrupted my passwords.
I have a SanDisk Ultra Fit in one of the back two USB slots that I am using for boot. And I have the DVD player plugged into the other one. So I cannot see if the keyboard will work when plugged into the back USB slots.
So how will I install ESXi again to fix the root account password problem?
What worked was:
- Mount the ISO to install via the Virtual Media functionality in the iKVM.
- Plug the keyboard into the back USB slots - replacing the DVD drive.
I powered it up and I picked the virtual ISO in the Boot Devices and everything installed fine and the keyboard worked.
BTW, the DVD or CD needs to be connected to the back USB too. Not sure what we can use the front USB too?
Michael
I have my ESX boot USB (Sandisk Cruzer) in the front USB and it works fine for me. Less heat in the front, so I think (anecdotally, so far) less wear and tear and longer life. I used to have these in the back and had them fail twice over a year.
Also, for what it’s worth, I used VMware Workstation to install ESX on my USB boot drive. Created a VM with physical passthrough to the USB Drive and ran the install there. Used William Lam’s article about properly cloning ESX (e.g., remove UUID from esx.conf and set the FollowHardwareMAC advanced setting) as the last steps before transferring to the Supermicro. Good alternative to having to connect to a KVM.
Thanks Mike, I have done that in the past too. But these are new Supermicro and are different somehow. Maybe BIOS changes or somehtng like that.
Michael