2.3.1 amd64 installer iso fails to boot on esxi 6.0u2

bangel

I'm having a problem installing on a new esxi server. The strange thing is I have other esxi servers with same setup and pfsense installs fine from the same iso and exact same VM configuration.

I get a " can't load 'kernel' " error from the last stage of the freebsd bootloader as seen here: http://i.imgur.com/wj4rSjt.png

I took an album of screenshots here that show directory listing of /boot and /boot/kernel directories on the iso: http://imgur.com/a/oV34r
I'm not familiar with pfsense bootloader process, is it supposed to ungzip the kernel.gz before trying to load?

I've tried multiple vm configurations: IDE, SCSI and SATA CD-ROM drive, different disk controllers for the virtual hard disk to no avail.

I'm about to try the 32bit installer w/ a 32bit VM.

Anyone have other ideas?

KOM

What's the config for the VM? Can we assume you're using the FreeBSD (64-bit) profile?

bangel

@KOM:

What's the config for the VM? Can we assume you're using the FreeBSD (64-bit) profile?

Yes using that profile. I've also tried the Other->Other profile just to try it.

Hardware-wise I've tried probably a dozen combos of CPU cores, RAM, NICs, SCSI, SATA, SAS adapters for both virtual disks and the cd-rom drive.

I just uploaded 32-bit installer ISO and will try that next.

Thanks for any ideas.

cmb

It's likely having issues reading the ISO at the ESX level for some reason would be my best guess. Don't bother with 32 bit, that's a dead end and should never be used on 64 bit systems.

bangel

Here is what I get on the 32-bit installer iso:
http://i.imgur.com/Pu5EcPZ.png

Also I just uploaded the 64bit ISO again so I'll give that a try.

I had originally scp'd the 64bit ISO directly from a working ESXI 6.0 to the new one. I'll compare md5sum just to confirm.

bangel

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. The pfsense ISO's were corrupted on upload. It took me about 8 tries from more than a few different machines to get on to upload and have the same sha hash. I'm not sure what's causing it because other ISO's have uploaded without problems.