Hmm, I tried following the article, but a reboot is still taking hours (23 RDMs). Not sure if I did it right, but a "esxcli storage core device list -d naa.xxx" command shows that it took place. I'm thinking something else I going on, since the error messages I saw when booting up where not the same as those listed in the article.
Also, I have not patched the ESXi5 host at all - it's a canned original image. I did not see a patch for this specific issue, but perhaps there is a patch that may help. Is there a list of patches that I can apply in entirety? I might have to install the Update Manager to get all the patches available and deployed quickly and easily. Not sure if there is any other way to do it, or if I can download an ISO that has all the updated patches and fixes? I find it nearly just as difficult to simply reinstall than to apply multiple patches without Update Manager.