Because of the graphics mode incompatibility between VMware ESX 4.x install CD's and Unisys ES7000/ONE-X console card, quite a few people have problems installing ESX 4.x afresh from CD on this machine. The problem is that the 1st splash screen that prompts users to select installation mode (graphical or text or scripted etc.) does not get displayed and, even if the users know to use text mode install, they don't know when to type the command.
I've found a solution to this problem by using a bootable USB stick (or a SD card) instead. This is how I did it :
1. I downloaded installation CD's image (.iso file) from VMWare site (e.g. http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx41/ZHcqYmRoaGViZCUqcA ) to my desktop (Win/XP).
2. I downloaded Windows version of UNetBootIn from http://sourceforge.net/projects/unetbootin/files/UNetbootin/494/unetbootin-windows-494.exe/download
3. I installed UNetBootin on my desktop (apparently it was a single executable unetbootin-windows-494.exe)
4. I inserted a Boot enabled USB stick (I used 8GB Kingston DataTraveler G2 and also SanDisk 4GB SDHC card with adapter... others should work as well).
5. Executed UnetBootin (step 3 above) to copy ESX 4.1 .iso file downloaded in step 1 to this USB stick.
6. Took this (now ESX 4.1 boot enabled USB stick) & inserted it in the ES7000/ONE-X's USB port.
7. By getting into the BIOS of ES7000/ONE-X, I changed its boot sequence to enable boot from USB drive.
8. Started the ES7000/ONE-X partition from Server Sentinel.
9. Started the partition remote desktop.
10. After the POST sequence was over, the system displayed the splash screen that allowed me to select the installation mode I wanted. Here I selected Text mode installation. (I had less than 30 seconds to do so. Otherwise the default graphical mode would have been selected & this machine isn't qualified to boot ESX 4 in graphical mode)
11. It took a little bit of time, but the system executed the installation sequence.
It would have completed the whole installation ..except that , at this time I had no local disk or any other drive to install the ESX on.
I hope reader will find this post helpful.
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