ESX/ESXi host fails to boot after installation or upgrade

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article guides you through troubleshooting the failure of your ESX/ESXi host to boot following an installation or upgrade. The article aims to help you eliminate the common causes for this issue by verifying the minimum system requirements are met, the hardware is certified, the hardware is functioning as expected, the BIOS and firmware are at the latest revision, and that the ESX/ESXi installer has written to the desired location.

Symptoms:

ESX/ESXi host installation or upgrade completes successfully but has these issues:
- ESX/ESXi installation fails to boot after installation or upgrade
- ESX/ESXi installation errors when booting after installation or upgrade
- You may receive one or more of these errors:
  - Failed to load vmkernel: 0xbad0013
  - Error 15: Could not find file
  - Util : 815 : Status 0xbad0001 trying to get a valid VMKernel MAC address. Various vmkernel subsystems will provide lower quality of service
  - 0:00:47.675
  - NOT_IMPLEMENTED /build/mts/release/bora-84374/bora/vmkernel/main/util.c:83
  - VSD mount/bin/sh:can't access TTY; job control turned off.

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX Server 2.5.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Resolution

Please validate that each troubleshooting step below is true for your environment. Each step will provide instructions or a link to a document, to eliminate possible causes and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Please do not skip a step.

Ensure that your system meets the requirements for installing or upgrading your ESX/ESXi environment. For more information, see Minimum system requirements for installing ESX/ESXi (1003661) .
Ensure that your hardware is on the hardware compatibility list (HCL) for the version of ESX/ESXi you are installing. See the VMware Compatibility Guides for more information.

Note: Hardware certified for one version of ESX/ESXi may not always be certified for a later version. Ensure to check the HCL and verify that the hardware is certified. For more information, see Verifying that your ESX/ESXi host hardware (System, Storage, and I/O) devices are supported (1003916).
Verify the issue is not hardware related. For more information, see Verifying your hardware is functioning correctly (1003690)
Verify the your firmware and BIOS levels are at the latest revision that is compatible with the ESX/ESXi host. For more information, see Checking your firmware and BIOS levels to ensure compatibility with ESX/ESXi (1037257).
If you intended to install or upgrade ESX/ESXi host to local storage, verify that the ESX/ESXi installer has not written to your storage area network (SAN). For more information, see After an ESX/ESXi installation, upgrade, or reinstall, SAN LUNs are damaged (1003881) .
If you received an error 15 after installation on your Service Console screen, or your ESX host fails to boot see ESX fails to boot after applying patches with the error: Error 15: Could not find file (1004574).

Note: If your problem is not related to any of the issues discussed in this article:

Gather the VMware Support Script Data. For more information, see Collecting Diagnostic Information in a VMware Virtual Infrastructure Environment (1003689) .
If possible take a screen-shot of your ESX host console to indicate where the boot process has failed.
File a support request with VMware Support and note this KB Article ID in the problem description. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request .

Additional Information

In addition see these articles for issues related to ESX/ESXi not booting:

Verifying your hardware is functioning correctly
Methods of upgrading to ESXi 5.0
Methods for upgrading to ESXi 5.1
Methods for upgrading to ESXi 5.5
インストールまたはアップグレード後に ESX/ESXi ホストが起動に失敗する