VSI - Solutions Enabler (SE) - SE VM appliance - kernel panic - boot/performance issues

So in order to use the vSphere VSI plug-in, one must have the Solutions Enabler running.

I've got a CX4-240 running FLARE 30.

VSI is 3.0.1.5

vSphere 4.1 running on Cisco UCS

I decided to use the Solutions Enabler 7.1.2 Virtual Appliance under vShpere 4.1, but there are issues with it even booting.

After importing the appliance and trying to start it, it would begin to boot and then freeze. If I removed the VGA=788 boot line, I could see that the solutions enabler would Kernel panic with a "not syncing: IO-APIC + timer doesn't work!" error.

Adding a "noapic" to the boot options allows the solutions enabler to boot and run, and after configuration, the VSI integration works great, but then after several days, the solution enabler VM will peg the virtual CPU at max. It still seems to function, but it's clear that the virtual appliance is having problems.

Have others used the SE virtual appliance, and if so, run into this issue? The appliance seems like an easier path to the using the VSI plugin, but not if it's got these issues.

Jeff