Error: Fatal error 6 or 28 during ESXi 8.0.x installation on Supermicro X11 with Micron 3400 NVMe

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When installing or upgrading to ESXi 8.0 Update 3, the process fails during module decompression. You see "CRC error during decompression" or "Buffer too small" errors. This occurs most frequently on Supermicro X11 systems after a BIOS reset or firmware update.

Symptoms:

• Fatal error: 28 (CRC error) on modules such as k.600 or k.b00.
• Error 6 (Buffer too small) on modules such as dvfilter.v00.
• Calculated CRC mismatch: Received 0xbb5682ac != calculated 0xc2bec00e.

Environment

• VMware ESXi 8.0.3
• Supermicro X11 platforms
• Micron 3400 Pro M.2 NVMe drives

Cause

Standard BIOS default settings on Supermicro X11 systems are incompatible with the hand-off requirements for Micron 3400 NVMe drives during the ESXi kernel boot process. A BIOS reset during a system update often reverts these required settings to defaults, causing decompression failures.

Resolution

Fixed in BIOS configuration and clean reinstallation. Follow these steps to configure the BIOS:

1. Navigate to Advanced > PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration.
2. Set NVMe Firmware Source to AMI Native Support.
3. Set all PCIe slots to EFI.
4. Set Onboard Video Option ROM to LEGACY.
5. Navigate to Boot.
6. Set Boot Mode to DUAL.
7. Set LEGACY to EFI support to Enabled.
8. Set OS Hard Disk (M.2) to LEGACY mode.
9. Disable UEFI Hard Disk Drive BBS Priorities.
10. Ensure Intel VMD is disabled for the storage controller.
11. Format the boot media and perform a clean installation of ESXi 8.0 Update 3.