Hi,

I was following the thread about getting ESXi 3.5U3 working with a Dell Optiplex 755 with great interest. Unfortunately, I still seem to be having problems.

I've created a bootable USB installation stick including version 1.1.0 of oem.tgz. The installer picks up my disks and installs to the hard disk, but unfortunately, on reboot, the onboard NIC doesn't work.

I've dropped to the console and confirmed that my NIC has pci id 10BD (I assume a 82566DM-2). When the driver tries to load it bombs out with 'incorrect argument' or something like that - which, from my reading, makes me think that the driver isn't binding to the card properly.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Bryan

Thanks to all the useful information on the previous thread, I've managed to confirm that Timmoty's solution works. For anyone else wondering, here's what I (well, he!) did:

Download VMware-VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_3-123629.i386.iso from http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/d ... .5vmw.html.

Mounted that .iso and copied VMware-esx-drivers-net-e1000-350.7.6.15.5vmw-134218.i386.rpm to /tmp/

I then extracted the files from the RPM (rpm2cpio <filename>.rpm | cpio -id), includng usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/e1000.o.

I downloaded the latest community oem.tgz file (v1.1.0) and replaced the e1000e.o driver inside that .tgz with the e1000.o I extracted in the previous step. Note the change in name!

I then bundled that oem.tgz onto my USB install stick and et viola! On boot, the driver loads perfectly and I get an ip assigned via DHCP from my network.

NOTE: The e1000 driver from the VMWare Driver CD might not have the same support as the one on the community site. So far, I can only say that cards with pci id 10bd seem to work ok.

bryan im new to this... and this is my first attempt and i found your post..
i have the same deal going on...

can you fill out in more depth what needs to be done?
i mount the iso and dont know where to get the rpm....


can someone please just fill in the small gaps for newbies????

think im following some of this... lemme see...



i downloaded update 4



since im doing this on a pen drive... just create a tmp on the root and place this file.... did that...



still lost here.. i was able to use 7-zip and get hte e1000.o out of there...
do i need the rest of the files?



i deleted the e1000e and placed in the e1000 file.... into the oem.tgz..

placed this file on the root of the pen drive and also inside the .dd file...
correct?



well hopefully that works.... not going to be able to try it for abit...

What sort of hardware are you trying to install to? Update 4 will include some updates to driver versions so it may no longer be necessary to make any changes.

same issue as stated here..

no network... im getting 0.0.0.0 for ip address...

other than that it installs great!!!!


i have downloaded the update 4 and extracted out to usb... so I can boot on usb and install ...... just no networking....

What's the PCI id for the NIC? You might find it easier just to create the oem.tgz file by scratch. If you're adding the e1000 driver then you would create a /mod folder and put the file it there.
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php

ill read that section.. my head hurts right now... HAH...
thanks

im going to try a dell optiplex 745.. looking at the map it should work...

14e4 167a 0000 0000 network tg3 NetXtreme BCM5754 Gigabit Ethernet

then have to figure out how to get drivers working in the 755.....
back to reading..
thanks!

sorry for slopping all this up... should have started my own.. but figured this was a 755 thread and bryan is up and running....

anyway..
found that someone already created the file
Adds support for Intel 82566DM-2 Ethernet adapter (8086:10bd) Timmoty George Gotama

it is a .tar file...

so i just create a /mod off the root of my pen drive and stick that file in there?
that is it?
thanks for your help on this man..
jeff