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ESX 4.0 fails to initialize USB during boot (2011949)
Symptoms
After upgrading to ESX 4.0 or after a fresh installation of ESX 4.0 on an IBM host, the USB module fails to initialize and the host continues to boot without the module.
You see the error:
Failed to initialize USB
If you run esxcfg-module -l on the ESX console, it lists the USB module as N/A
/var/log/vmkernel contains entries similar to:
vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.266 cpu0:4096)VMNIX: Logger: 475: sysboot: usb ... vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.549 cpu13:4127)Loading module usb ... vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.550 cpu13:4127)Elf: 2320: symbols tagged as vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.562 cpu13:4127)WARNING: Elf: 816: Module parameter libsub_support is not valid for module usb. vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.562 cpu13:4127)WARNING: Elf: 2542: Kernel based module load of usb failed: Bad parameter vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.563 cpu0:4096)VMNIX: Logger: 475: sysboot: Failed to initialize USB vmkernel: 0:00:00:03.565 cpu0:4096)VMNIX: Logger: 475: sysboot: 04.usb returned failure
Cause
The issue occurs due to the libsub_support entry in esx.conf, which is reported as invalid by the host.
Resolution
To resolve this issue, remove the libsub_support entry from the esx.conf file:
