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1 2 3 Previous Next 36 Replies Last post: Apr 29, 2009 8:24 AM by allamiro  

Disable the CPUID value posted: Jul 31, 2008 9:49 AM

Click to view jp500's profile Lurker
jp500
2 posts since
Jul 31, 2008
I'm playing with VMware ESXi Update 2 on a Dell Precision 670 (not supported, I know). During the initial installation I received an error message that states I need to Disable the CPUID value or enable legacy OS support.

Many other workstations have this ability in the BIOS, but not the 670. I'm running the latest BIOS, version A07.

Does anyone know of another way to accomplish this? Any config files, install options, etc? Am I just out of luck?

Thanks,

Joe

Re: Disable the CPUID value

1. Jul 31, 2008 10:16 AM in response to: jp500
Click to view lamw's profile Champion
lamw
2,813 posts since
Nov 27, 2007
I've never played with this option, but it means that you've exposed some of the NX/ND bits to your VM and you'll need to verify that your VM and application still functions when you revert this change, to really figure out what gets changed, I would backup your VM's .vmx configuration file, then go to your VM through VIC or VC and click on edit-settings->Options->CPUID Mask and I assume it probably says expose NX flag, so you'll need to disable that and verify that your VM is still functional and the application works. Once you've changed it, I don't know if it requires a reboot or not, but make another copy of your VM .vmx file and compare the changes, if it's a simple line like guiestCPUID = "blah" then you can automate the process, but be careful about making these changes until you're positive, if not you can always do it via the GUI.

Re: Disable the CPUID value

2. Jul 31, 2008 10:54 AM in response to: lamw
Click to view jp500's profile Lurker
jp500
2 posts since
Jul 31, 2008
Lamw,

Thanks for responding.

I should have been a bit clearer in my post. The error occurs during the ThinEX install process and so I can't actually install ESXi.

I'm hoping there is some alternative install switch or configuration.

Thanks again,

Joe

Re: Disable the CPUID value

3. Aug 2, 2008 1:39 PM in response to: jp500
Click to view edifyyo's profile Novice
edifyyo
11 posts since
Jun 2, 2007
I am having exactly the same problem, but with a Dell SC420. A solution to this will make my day!

Re: Disable the CPUID value

4. Aug 2, 2008 7:46 PM in response to: lamw
Click to view Jasemccarty's profile Champion
Jasemccarty
3,806 posts since
Apr 5, 2005


If you are going to whack this box anyway, I'd start by rolling back the bios to different versions:


Here are the links for the Dell Precision 670 bioses from A00 to A07:
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A00.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A01.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A02.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A03.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A04.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A05.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A06.EXE
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/WS670A07.EXE


Jase McCarty
http://www.jasemccarty.com
Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center
(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Re: Disable the CPUID value

5. Aug 2, 2008 7:50 PM in response to: edifyyo
Click to view Jasemccarty's profile Champion
Jasemccarty
3,806 posts since
Apr 5, 2005

Not sure if this will help you, but here are the links to the bioses for the SC420:

http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/sc420a00.exe
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/sc420a01.exe
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/sc420a02.exe

Jase McCarty
http://www.jasemccarty.com
Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center
(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Re: Disable the CPUID value

6. Aug 2, 2008 9:00 PM in response to: Jasemccarty
Click to view edifyyo's profile Novice
edifyyo
11 posts since
Jun 2, 2007
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I am running the latest BIOS for the 420 (A02) - there is no option to configure the CPU ID.

Is there a way configure the boot options, when booting the ISO, to have it ignore the CPU ID?

Thanks!

Nathan

Re: Disable the CPUID value

7. Aug 2, 2008 9:21 PM in response to: edifyyo
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,948 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
Try this option - nocheckCPUIDLimit

Re: Disable the CPUID value

8. Aug 2, 2008 9:53 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view Jasemccarty's profile Champion
Jasemccarty
3,806 posts since
Apr 5, 2005
Where the heck did you find that?

I guess you would enter it as a command line option in the boot up of ESXi?

I found the thread... Cool!

Jase McCarty
http://www.jasemccarty.com
Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center
(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Re: Disable the CPUID value

9. Aug 2, 2008 9:50 PM in response to: Jasemccarty
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,948 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
You don't regularly peruse the vmkernel with a hex editor? Neither do I :)

Originally was posted on ntpro.nl. Here's the update 2 list - a few have been added like the noforce36BitMTRRMask.

maxPCPUS serialPort overrideSerialPortAddr baudRate fakeNUMAnodes cpuCellSize netNumPortsets netNumGPBuffers netMaxPCPUPktCacheSize netPktNumSlabSizes netPktHeapMinSize netPktHeapMaxSize storageHeapMinSize storageHeapMaxSize passthruMem BOOTIF BOOTUUID clockMultiplierMayVaryPerNode memmapMaxPhysicalMemMB acpiDbgLevel nouseNUMAInfo nompsIntRouting noforceCRS noforce36BitMTRRMask noACPI noexecutePOST nopageSharing nomemCheckEveryWord nohyperthreading nologicalApicId nodumpDiag norealNMI nologOnScreen nonetESX2LegacyMode nonetPktBufUseSlab nonetPanicBadDevOpen nonetUseProc nonetUseMemcpyNt nonetNetqueueEnabled noioapic nopassthruEnabled novga64 nosmallFontForTTY noauditMode notechSupportMode norollback nofsCheck nousbBoot nouwSwap nooem nobusSpeedMayVary noclockMultiplierMayVary noassumeCommonBusClock noassumePerNodeBusClock nobusSpeedMayVaryPerNode notimerEnableTSC notimerForceTSC notimerEnableHPET notimerEnableACPI notimerEnableMPMC nomemmapStressHighBitMPNs nopanicOnVmkernelAbort noconsole noxapicAMDDetect noxapicForce nocheckCPUIDLimit novmkKeyboard novmkTerminals nouseTSCForCPUHz nodebugBreak nologSynchronous nofastHzEstimate buddyPhysicalMemoryDebugStruct noclockMultiplierMayVaryPerNode nobuddyPhysicalMemoryDebugStruct

Re: Disable the CPUID value

10. Aug 2, 2008 9:59 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view edifyyo's profile Novice
edifyyo
11 posts since
Jun 2, 2007

Dave, Thanks for the suggestion - I did a little digging and found the blog post at ntpro.nl you pulled this from: http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/233-ESX-3i-Boot-Options.html

However, I'm unable to figure out where/when in the ESXi iso boot process, if at all, I can enter this value. Any idea exactly what to do with this?

At the initial boot screen from the ISO you can press TAB to enter boot options; however, these appear to be nothing more than the list of .tgz files for the bootloader to process (and in what order) - I tried tacking "nocheckCPUIDLimit" onto the end of this (no effect), and at the beginning ("Panic! Cannot load "nocheckCPUIDLimit", then it returns to the initial boot screen).

The instructions on ntpro.nl (for ESX 3i) says that if you press SHIFT-O "during the bootstrap you can put in additional commands", and says this is done "during initial startup." I wonder if this only applies after you have already installed ESX, rather than during the installation process from the CD?

Thanks very much!

Nathan

Re: Disable the CPUID value

11. Aug 2, 2008 10:08 PM in response to: edifyyo
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,948 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
You should just type it in as is - no hypens, etc.

The switches will work for both ESXi when installing or running it. The vmkerel is the same for both. The difference between the boot options for installing and running in the addition of -- install.tgz as a boot option. I'm don't beleive shift-o works anymore - it was part of the better but removed from the final release.

Re: Disable the CPUID value

12. Aug 2, 2008 10:31 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view edifyyo's profile Novice
edifyyo
11 posts since
Jun 2, 2007

Dave, YOU ARE THE MAN! This worked! The solution is:

  1. At the initial bootloader screen (when booting from the ISO), press TAB to edit the boot options
  2. Hold down the left-arrow key to move the cursor back to the beginning of the boot options, and add "nocheckCPUIDLimit" right after "vmkernel.gz", so that the first part of the boot options BEFORE the first "---" reads: "mboot.c32 vmkernel.gz nocheckCPUIDLimit ---"
  3. Press ENTER.

Voila! The Installer will load successfully.

Thanks very much!

Nathan Lee

Re: Disable the CPUID value

13. Aug 2, 2008 10:41 PM in response to: edifyyo
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,948 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
Glad it worked for you. Did the setting make it through to booting ESXi after the install as well? Also what SATA controller does the system have?

Re: Disable the CPUID value

14. Aug 2, 2008 10:45 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view edifyyo's profile Novice
edifyyo
11 posts since
Jun 2, 2007
Well, that's the NEXT problem - the installer didn't recognize any storage devices. I have 4 drives hooked up to two Maxtor SATA/150 PCI adapters. I'm going to try connecting 2 of them directly to the motherboard tomorrow, but this does put a bit of a damper on my plans.
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