Topic is designed to be shorthand for any who may have hit this issue before.
I have an Intel Series X 3250 M4 server. I have formatted the drives on the machine.
Initially, I attempted to install ESXI 6. I found that I was unable to boot when selecting CD-ROM, only able to proceed by selecting LEGACY ONLY.
Moving on, the installation proceeded normally, I did not preserve any stores - as they did not exist. Installation asks me to reboot. I do so, and the server spits out the cd-rom on its own.
ESXI begins loading, and hangs on onetime.tgz.
I did some research, and followed a suggestion:
I booted again, this time with a hirens disk in. I chose to boot from CD-ROM, and then at the HIRENS boot menu, chose to boot from the hard drive instead. I was able to log all the way in to the ESXI hypervisor with NO issues.
At this point, I removed the cd and rebooted. Boot proceeded until state.tgz, at which point it hung in the same manner as it did when it hung on onetime.tgz.
I have tried reinstalling. I have tried grabbing a new ISO, MD5 checking it, and reinstalling. I have tried installing ESXI 5.5. None of these resolved the issue.
Anyone have any ideas?