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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Video pass through using Core i7 -3770

I'm a complete newbie but everything from installing to running esxi has been pretty simple and straight forward. That is until I heard about passthrough and thought that maybe I could have a home lab and an HTPC in one box.

Now I'm running esxi 5.5 U2 on an:

AS Rock PRO4-M LGA1155 Intel H77 mother board

with a Core i7 -3770

I tried to just set up passthrough for everything on the list of available devices and I broke my server and have had to reinistall it a few times. One problem I keep running into is when I set up passthrough the server doesn't boot all the way. Then this other time the server took about 15 minutes to boot. This lead me to believe that maybe blindly passing everything is not a good idea.

Can anyone give me an insight on how video passthrough works or how it is suppose to work?

Thanks

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I added a cheap graphics card I had laying around. Nvidia GeForce 310. Windwos sees it but disables it.


pic192.PNG

Windows has stopped the device because it has reported problems (Code 43).


I feel like I'm close...yet so very far.

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millbull
Contributor
Contributor

Nvidia graphic adapters seem to be a pain to passthru.

Take a look at that post, it may help you:

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/473199

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Alistar
Expert
Expert

Have you installed the drivers for this GPU inside the guest OS?

Stop by my blog if you'd like 🙂 I dabble in vSphere troubleshooting, PowerCLI scripting and NetApp storage - and I share my journeys at http://vmxp.wordpress.com/
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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes I installed the drivers inside the OS.

I did go through that forum posted above. I guess I can go and purchase the cheapest pci card known to work with esxi 5.5 u2.

One question though. How do I edit the Pico file because a few times I had that problem where my server wouldn't boot because of graphics issues.

Also any suggestions on what hd card would be best is more than welcome.

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Dee006
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Truno,I think you can use vi editor and hd card better go with VMware HCL compatibility list.

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Those compliant cards are thousands of dollars

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Alistar
Expert
Expert

The only thing that comes to my mind is reverting to an earlier version of the hypervisor - it might be that passthru of such an old device is not supported yet - after all this was released in 2009 which is around the ESX 4 era. Or getting a newer device for the GPU passthrough - what exactly is it you want to do on the virtualized desktop with use of accelerated graphics? I think you might have much more luck by a software 3d passthrough with VMware Workstation.

Stop by my blog if you'd like 🙂 I dabble in vSphere troubleshooting, PowerCLI scripting and NetApp storage - and I share my journeys at http://vmxp.wordpress.com/
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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Sorry about the late replay, other projects have kept me away.

OK so my goal is to have an all in one box. I wan't to run pfSense on the ESXi server and have it be my HTPC at the same time. I'm trying to avoid having to run two boxes. I've got dual NICs on it and they both work (although I had to customize my esxi install with a VIB of the on board Ethernet). Maybe I have to do the same with the graphics, If I can find a VIB for this graphics card it'll work?

I'm searching online for a cheap graphics card that has been known to support pass-through. The cards that officially do are out of my price range.

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millbull
Contributor
Contributor

HD 6450 works fine.

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Got the HD6450. I pass it to the windows OS and I get this VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE message

video tdr.PNG

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

OK so this is very interesting. If I unplug the monitor connected to the VGA output of the HD 6450 it boots up fine. It remains being fine until I log in. then I only have about 60 seconds until it crashes with the above error. I tried racing the clock and try to install the AMD software before the crash but I can't do it. And none of the driver installs will run in safemode. The VM works fine in safemode by the way.

I need to disable atikmdag.sys somehow. I'll see if it's running in the processes. I guess my next step is stop the passthrough so I can get a stable launch and stop this .sys from autobooting.

I feel like I'm close...yet sooo far.

Update: I disabled the passthrough and the VM boots normal and doesn't crash.

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I thought it might be a windows 10 issue so I went and installed 7. Same issue

bsod.PNG

EDIT: Things are getting weird. The card seems to work fine and stable. No flags thrown up or anything. Until I plug in a monitor, that's when it blue screens.

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Alistar
Expert
Expert

Hello,

that is the issue - you plugging in a monitor into a video device that has been passed through to a VM - this way the only means of retrieving data from the video device is via network - either via RDP, PCoIP or VMRC. What exactly do you want to use the monitor for? Access to the ESXi console or to access the VM's video directly?

Stop by my blog if you'd like 🙂 I dabble in vSphere troubleshooting, PowerCLI scripting and NetApp storage - and I share my journeys at http://vmxp.wordpress.com/
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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I Want to pass video from the windows VM. I want a virtual HTPC.

I Found that I'm not the only one who's having this issue. I tried to expand.exe the atikmpag.sys and atikmdag.sys from ATI's website. doing this stabilizes the card (if i don't do this the VM blue screens about 30 seconds after I log in). But a soon as i plug in a monitor it blue screens. Now what's weird is that on windows 10 the blue screen message is displayed on the monitor i plugged in. On windows 7 i never get any video from the display.

My next step is to try Windows 8. Maybe the drivers are better for it. If that doesn't work then I'm going to try to downgrade esxi Since people seem to have this card working on esxi 4.

I Might try to just install windows normally to verify the card integrity. its been my experience that consistent blue screen means hardware failure.

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Mvdbeld
Contributor
Contributor

I am having the same problems, with a similar setup:


Dell XPS 8700:

Intel Core i7-4790

32GB RAM

AMD R9 270

256GB SSD + 3TB HDD

I have manged to install a VM (Windows 8.1) and passtrough an USB-controller (for keyboard and mice) to this machine, this is working fine. The GPU passtrough is also working and I can install the driver, but afterwords when I have a monitor plugged in it won't boot. I'll get a BSOD straight away with "thread_stuck_in_device_driver". If I unplug the monitor the VM will boot up just fine, if I plugin the monitor while the VM is running it will also crash.

I have tried several thing from this thread: VMDirectPath and ATI Radeon

Like this:

  • Add VMWare tools to VM
  • Shutdown VM
  • Add card as passthrough device in ESXi
  • Reboot host
  • Add card to VM as pci device
  • Make sure memory is dedicated
  • Start VM
  • If OK, install ATI/AMD drivers


But so far without succes.

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I've seen memory being mentioned a lot with video issues. What is meant by dedicating memory? I'm a total ESXi newbie so pardon me if this is a basic question. 

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Mvdbeld
Contributor
Contributor

You can dedicate the memory within the VM settings, this way it is reserved for the VM.

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Talk about bad luck. I finally have some time to sit down and work through this problem. I need a copy of ESXi 4 and the download section of VMware site is down for maintenance.

I made a mistake. I passed through both video sources to the VMmachines so now I don't have a monitor for the server itself. It has a static IP and I can't seem to change it from within vSphere client. Or I don't know how to. 

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trunolimit
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I ran across this thread Re: ESXi 5.5 passthrough trouble in which merlinthemagic says I need 2 pci graphics card. i happen to have 2 cards so i'm going to give it 1 more shot.

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