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jp500
Contributor
Contributor

Disable the CPUID value

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

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36 Replies
lamw
Community Manager
Community Manager

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.

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jp500
Contributor
Contributor

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

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

I am having exactly the same problem, but with a Dell SC420. A solution to this will make my day!

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Jasemccarty
Immortal
Immortal

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:

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Jase McCarty - @jasemccarty
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Jasemccarty
Immortal
Immortal

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

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Jase McCarty - @jasemccarty
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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

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

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Try this option - nocheckCPUIDLimit

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Jasemccarty
Immortal
Immortal

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

Jase McCarty - @jasemccarty
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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

You don't regularly peruse the vmkernel with a hex editor? Neither do I Smiley Happy

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

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

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

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

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.

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

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

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

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?

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

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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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Take a look here for your option - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php.

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

Excellent link - thanks again, Dave! In my case, I have controllers using the Promise PDC20375 chip, which that list says is supported, so I'll play aorund a bit and see if I can figure out the problem.

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edifyyo
Contributor
Contributor

OK, the next step in the saga: I used the instructions at vm-help.net to access the tech-support console (ALT-F1) from the Installer and ran lspci. It shows my two SATA cards as "Unknown mass storage controller"s, but then correctly lists them as "Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20375 (SATA150 TX2plus)". The vendor ID and device ID of both are listed as "105a:3375".

Checking the list of supported hardware at vm-help.net shows that "105a:3375" should be natively supported. Any idea what might be wrong?

Also, there are no other "unknown" devices listed by lspci - these are the only two.

Thanks!

Nathan

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iXuPi
Contributor
Contributor

I have this same probelm on my Dell Precision 670. I put that string in on install and it worked great. However after ESXi gets installed when it reboots it comes up again. I do not have the option to hit tab and input that line again. So it works to get it installed but not beyond that. Any other ideas? I really don't want to have to purchase or build another machine.

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jsculb
Contributor
Contributor

If you were able to get the install to work with the nocheckCPUIDlimit, during the boot, hit shift o, and a screen will appear with advanced options at the bottom. Enter the nocheckCPUIDlimit and press enter, the system will boot to 3i. After boot, connect to the server using the VI client and modify advanced options, boot. There will be an option to force CPUID check. Uncheck that and apply and the server will boot without intervention.

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