When performing an initial install of ESX the server may hang before the GUI/X server loads. It will hang on a loading driver screen, that is typically a mass storage driver/kernel module such as mptscsi_2xx or cciss.

This behaviour was seen on an HP Proliant DL145 G2.

Add the noapic command to the LILO boot prompt at the install e.g.

esx noapic

After the installation the noapic parameter may need to be removed from the kernel command line in GRUB.

Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and remove the noapic parameter from each of the kernel command lines. e.g.

Before:

kernel --no-mem-option /vmlinuz-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix ro root=UUID=edbbf8d2-e2b8-4f00-941c-28fa559eeecf mem=272M noapic

After:

kernel --no-mem-option /vmlinuz-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix ro root=UUID=edbbf8d2-e2b8-4f00-941c-28fa559eeecf mem=272M

To remove the parameter temporarily to allow the server to boot:

- On the GRUB boot menu press e
- Select the kernel line and press e
- Remove noapic from the end of the line and press Enter
- Press b to boot

Note: To stop patches reapplying this setting, change the following line in /etc/vmware/esx.conf

/boot/kernelAppend = ""