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4,187 Views 15 Replies Last post: Aug 7, 2009 2:30 PM by Irwin_W

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Sundiver

2 posts since
Aug 8, 2008

Currently Being Moderated

Aug 9, 2008 12:13 AM

VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

Hi guys,

I have the same issue as bluemercury. Just tried to install the evaluation and get the same message.

My system is similar to his as well:
ASUS M3A (latest bios)
Phenom 9950
ATI EAH3450 PCIe
8GB DDR 800 (not ecc) memory
250 GB Segate SATA II HDU

The system has been used as a test bed for various systems and to date has successfully run:

XP - SP2 (fully patched)
Windows 2003 Server (fully patched) both 32 and 64 bit
Windows Vista (fully patched)
openSUSE 11.0
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (AMD 64)- both Desktop and Server
Open Solaris 200805

The only issues with any of these so far has been support for the onboard NIC with some of the nix's no having a driver so that I had to revert to a 10/100 Realtech.

Any advise would be much appreciate. I have used VMServer alng with Workstation over the last 5 years and would really like to be able to try out this new product.

Regards,

Sundiver.

Tags: esxi, asus, installation, amd, phenom, purple

nick.couchman

4,982 posts since
Jan 13, 2006

Currently Being Moderated

1. Aug 9, 2008 2:17 PM

in response to: Sundiver

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

Which processor are you using?

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Sundiver

2 posts since
Aug 8, 2008

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2. Aug 9, 2008 8:00 PM

in response to: nick.couchman

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

As mentioned above (but more detail here) the AMD Phenom X4 9950 @ 2.6 GHz.

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ian.fretwell

6 posts since
Jan 22, 2007

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3. Aug 11, 2008 12:03 PM

in response to: Sundiver

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

Hi,

I don't believe these phenom's are supported by the vmkernel as yet - in bluemercury's original post there is mention of the Barcelona B3 stepping of the Opteron - I think we need to see support for the Budapest core's before the phenom's will work OK. I have the same board as bluemercury but use full ESX 3.5 U2 - it works fine with an Athlon X2 installed but not with a phenom 9750.

Probably not what you wanted to hear but I think that's our problem!

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Lebowske

4 posts since
Apr 12, 2007

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4. Aug 21, 2008 2:03 PM

in response to: ian.fretwell

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

I'm running a Asus M2A-VM HDMI mainboard with a AMD Phenom 9600 QC BE/2.3GHz 4x1MB L2 AM2+.

Works fine - except for the SATA/RAID. No problem with the CPU.

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rpcblast

67 posts since
Sep 25, 2007

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5. Aug 24, 2008 5:22 PM

in response to: Lebowske

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

My understanding is that there were some core/microkernal or w/e level changes between the original phenom (IE 9600) and newer(IE 9850/9950). Funny tho I have not heard of a case like this before where an operating system would not support a newer CPU that was based on a compaatable instruction set(x86)

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xof

11 posts since
May 12, 2005

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6. Sep 12, 2008 6:14 AM

in response to: Lebowske

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

@Lebowske: M2A-VM & "except for the SATA/RAID" ... do mean that you cannot use the raid function of the sata controller, doesn´t the sata controller work in general and you are using seperate pci-sata controller?

kind regard

Christoph

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mhennecke

15 posts since
Jun 30, 2008

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7. Sep 12, 2008 10:12 PM

in response to: rpcblast

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

ESXi on AMD Family 10h processors requires the microcode patch level to be at 0x1000033 or higher to address issues with using AMD's RVI (nested paging support). Check with your system vendor to see if there is a BIOS update that will provide this patch.

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Dave.Mishchen…

11,904 posts since
Nov 15, 2005

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8. Sep 12, 2008 11:23 PM

in response to: xof

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

For lower end SATA RAID controllers like the Intel ICH or vNvidia MCP models, the drivers that ship with ESXi do not support the software components that are required to make RAID work with those types of controllers (i.e. controllers that use software for part of the RAID function).

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FW76123

1 posts since
Sep 13, 2008

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9. Sep 13, 2008 12:59 PM

in response to: Lebowske

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

This message is for lebowske. I am trying to install ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a M2A-VM but I can not get ESXi to recognize the hard drives. I am using 4 SATA 2 drives. I have modified the BIOS Settings using IDE or SATA but I still do not work. I have BIOS 1901 installed.

Thank you for your feedback.

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Lebowske

4 posts since
Apr 12, 2007

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10. Sep 13, 2008 8:12 PM

in response to: xof

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

xof wrote:
@[~273657]: M2A-VM & "except for the SATA/RAID" ... do mean that you cannot use the raid function of the sata controller, doesn´t the sata controller work in general and you are using seperate pci-sata controller?

kind regard

Christoph

xof, sorry to say - I wasnt able to use the builtin SATA controller in any mode, with any of the shipped ESXi drivers, nor did I find any other compatible drivers on the net for the buitlin controller. I tried quite a few of the builtin drivers, assigning PCI-ID's etc, but to no avail.

I had to buy a 3Ware 9650SE-2LP controller, which works flawlessly and allowing me to use the local harddrives. Altough I had to do all the "stunts" with inserting the oem.tgz from 3ware into the installer (several places) to get the controller recognized during install. But there's a couple of guides around assisting you with that (can't remember the url's right now).

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Lebowske

4 posts since
Apr 12, 2007

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11. Sep 13, 2008 8:08 PM

in response to: FW76123

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

FW76123 wrote:
This message is for lebowske. I am trying to install ESXi 3.5 Update 2 on a M2A-VM but I can not get ESXi to recognize the hard drives. I am using 4 SATA 2 drives. I have modified the BIOS Settings using IDE or SATA but I still do not work. I have BIOS 1901 installed.

Thank you for your feedback.

As I stated in the previous message, neither was I. I had to get a separate controller. Sorry.

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MrRed128

1 posts since
Nov 28, 2008

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12. Nov 28, 2008 8:44 AM

in response to: Lebowske

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

I used bios 2101 and it fixed that issue.

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eku1

17 posts since
Dec 27, 2008

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13. Dec 27, 2008 8:41 PM

in response to: MrRed128

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

Do you mean that using BIOS 2101 ESXi 3.5 is now able to see your SATA harddrives with the build-in controller? Can you please specify what settings you are using as I am trying it with bios v2201 and everything is failing with

"Unable to find a supported device to write the VMWare ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to."

Thanks in advance.

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Dave.Mishchen…

11,904 posts since
Nov 15, 2005

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14. Dec 29, 2008 12:12 AM

in response to: eku1

Re: VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

Essentially ESXi can't recognize the storage controller on the MB. You can take a look at these 2 articles to get started on figuring this out.

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php

There are also some SATA controllers listed in the HCL on that site that you may be able to use.

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Aug 9, 2008 12:13 AM

VMware ESXi 3.5 gives purple screen of death on attempted install - Incorrect microcode level 0x0000 - ditto

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