VMDirectPath and ATI Radeon

[taylorjonl]

I am using VMware ESXi and I am trying to setup a guest that is Windows 7 that will have an ATI Radeon video card passed through to it.  I actually had this working on a previous system but I had to reinstall.  Now when I do this the guest fails to start and I get the following:

Error message from localhost.XXXXXXXXXXX:
PCIPassthru 004:00.0: Guest tried to (null)map
32 device pages (with base address of 0xb5d20)
to a range occupied by main memory. This is
outside of the PCI Hole. Add pciHole.start =
"2909" to the configuration file and then power
on the VM.
error
12/23/2010 1:04:36 PM
media
User

When I do as it asks, the guest now starts but gets an immediate BSOD concerning memory management.  Any ideas on why this is occuring and why it worked at one point but now it fails?

[Kamerat]

I got my ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT working with the open source drivers in Ubuntu 13.10. Had to extract the cards BIOS and save it as "/lib/firmware/radeon/vbios.bin" (can't be done in a VM).

Next step is to download the Linux kernel and apply this patch: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=26891, then compile and install (it's not necessary to make changes to the default configuration).

Add "blacklist vmwgfx" to the end of "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf" to disable the driver for the VMWare video card. Last step is to restart the VM and hope the monitor wakes up.

Got the idea from this article: Debian on the MacBookPro8,2

Edit: I have also tested an AMD Radeon HD 7970 and an AMD Radeon HD 6450 with success. Both have working VDPAU support with the open source drivers.

[likeahoss]

You have to reserve all guest memory (all locked).

1. Edit VM
2. Resources
3. Memory
4. Enable "Reserve all guest memory (all locked)"
   
   

[Zakcar1]

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Date de retour: 6 janvier 2014

[KRA77]

Can you share the HD6450 bios

[Kamerat]

There are quite a few BIOSes for the 6450, maybe you can find a match here: Video Bios Collection | techPowerUp

Another way is to extract the BIOS directly from your card.

[wenlez]

Has anyone try dual GPU yet? I have a Z77 chipset motherboard, and can't seem to get the 2nd GPU ( on separate PCIe card ) recognize by the VM, though it can be passthrough to the same VM.

[Kamerat]

What are the cards you're using?

[wenlez]

Two AMD R9 290.  host is ESXi5.0 U3

[GBowman]

Yes I have tried dual GPU in a crossfire setup with my x58 board.  Crossfire worked perfectly on 2 5770's with a bridge connector however when I tried 2 6770's that dont have the bridge connector I could not enable crossfire.  Both cards were detected in Windows but I did not try a monitor on both at the same time (as I was testing crossfire).  My aim was to use 2 cards for 2 seperate HTPC machines but then get a decent gaming machine by shutting both down and starting a single VM with the combined resources of both.

The 6770's do work on the same platform when the host is booted straight to Windows so the lack of a bridge connector is not an issue.  I beleive its the ATI drivers that will allow crossfire without a bridge only on machines where there are no other GPU's and the VM will always have the VMWare SVGA GPU.

[SirNight]

Hi,

so is there support for Ati R9 290 ?   Does it work ?

thx

[likeahoss]

I've had success with R7 240.  I presume the R9 290 will work just fine.  The only thing I can't get to output is HDMI audio to my receiver.  The playback device even detects the receiver as TX-NR515.  The sound levels move in the mixer and there are no errors; however, no sound is being output by the speakers.   Humbug. 

[Draculea]

Hello all,

I have currently a ATI 7870 in passtrough to a Win7 x64. All nice and well, RAM utilization is steady at around 3.8 to 4 Gb. Objective is to be able to run some apps and games who will not support my Win 8.1 workstation (separate machine), which i can do for sure with this setup but i want to do it all on a single monitor/ keyboard/ mouse. Sound might be an issue at a later stage.

Problem is that the vsphere client and webclient will connect to the Vmware SVGA and not to the ATI 7870. Been fiddling with EDID emulator (to clone the screens) i found here on the forums, but it does not work for me. Been looking into PCoIP on Horizon View but from what i have read i will have the same roadblock.

I can see 2 possible solutions: 1) a way to run only off the ATI 7870 or 2) i can demote my wishes and run only off the Vmware SVGA which does a good job of running most of the stuff but only if i can find a way to manage to stretch the image to full screen (both the vsphere client and webclient run 1:1 pixel mapping and will leave most of the monitor blank).

I admit i have not read all 49 pages of this thread but can you give me advice hints on how to solve this?

Regards,

Daniel

[ciuly]

any particular reason you're not using RDP (or similar) to manage the W7?

[Draculea]

I use RDP to manage the OS in general. But RDP can't do DirectX or OpenGL unless you do RemoteFX which is a complete other story i have already tested. Unfortunately it is still early for RemoteFX and support in Win7 is limited even with the RDP upgrade.

[mindless728]

Well there are some options that you could try:
  - Use a VNC like application which should allow DX and OpenGL

  - Passthrough a USB controller and and manage it locally (ie hook up a keyboard , mouse, monitor)

Keep in mind that VNC will work, but if you are not on a good connection it will be laggy, crappy looking, and/or low frame rate

Personally I passthrough the USB controller (actually both of my USB 3.0 ones) and manage ESXi from a VM inside it, been working well for me

[ciuly]

ah, I misunderstood your problem.

get a KVM switch (probably an old version which does VGA and PS/2 switching through actually switching wires is better. This is what I use. I'd have to test the usb one (which I also have) to see if it would work as well).

also passthrough a USB something to the W7 in which you plunge the keyboard and mouse cables from the KVM (get KM ps2 to usb cable if needed). The VGA/DVI from kvm goes into your passedthrough ATI

same set of cables will go to the W8 machine

then actual monitor and mouse and keyboard goes into the kvm.

I have this setup, works like a charm.

[uyozTic]

i have gotten, finally, my two ATI cards to passthru.

on fedora 20 - xfce, how can i ensure the ATI card is used as primary versus the VMware VGA driver?  on linuxmint, there is an applet to chose for the display and that worked.

but i don't see such an applet under the xfce desktop.

what command line tools can i set to set default primary video?

[bundy_boy]

Hi Folks,

I am successful with a powercolor  HD-7750 on ESX 5.0U2, however I can't get the DXVA working. I just get a black screen. I see some people are reporting DXVA working with the 7750 so any idea where my problem could come from? 

Many thanks for this thread, very helpful!

[Krede]

I was running 5.5 GA (build 1331820) and everything worked. (Radeon HDMI with audio and PCI USB3 controller). But now - after updating to 5.5 U1 my audio is broken.

Device manager now show a yellow exclamation mark in front of "High Definition Audio Controller".

Have any of you Guys tried upgrading to 5.5 U1 ?

😞

[likeahoss]

I'm running 5.5 U1 and audio is still working on my ASUS F2A85-M PRO.  I initially had to disable the motherboard's onboard audio for the discrete XFX R7 240 audio to function.