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rbeu
Contributor
Contributor

System Memory warning in Hardware Status - what does it mean?

I have 2 ESX hosts that have this warning now. The first is an IBM x3650 M2 running ESXi 4.0 and the second is an x3650 running the full version of ESX 4.0. Both have a warning for System Memory but I have no idea what this is and haven't been able to find any information on it. Warnings appeared at different times and not after anything specific was done. I have run diagnostics and everything comes back normal. The RSA card isn't showing any warnings either. Does anyone know what it is referring to?

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a2alpha
Expert
Expert

You could try increasing the service console memory upto 800MB, in the Host -- Config -- Memory section. It will need a reboot once you set it.

Also try at the console esxtop then m and see what the memory is looking like, failing that with it being system memory you could try just top and see what that gives you. You need to be root for this.

Not seen this before but above is where I would start.

Hope this helps,

Dan

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Brownestone
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

I'm experiencing the same issue now on IBM x3850 M2 servers. Just wondering if you found out what the issue was.

Thanks,

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rbeu
Contributor
Contributor

I opened a case  with IBM and they looked at it from both the VMware side and the  hardware side.  No one could tell me what the alarm actually means and I  was told if the hardware diagnostics and RSA/IMM card don't show any  errors then it can be ignored.  Not the best answer in the world but I  could tell that making them find an answer was going to take a lot more  energy that I was prepared to invest 🙂

The  warning comes up on a small percentage of our hosts maybe once every  couple of months and I just reset the alarm to green and it stays away  for a few months after that.  Servers are running fine so I don't worry  about it anymore.

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jimraina
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Rebu

There may be  several ECC errors that where corrected but the total number of errors reached a specified threshold. At that stage the SBE (single-bit error) log disabled itself until someone manually cleared it and re-enabled it.   Could you please do memory test.

"You are   stronger than you think"
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