BSOD with Windows Server 2019 using Workstation 15.5.0

[jkmeldrum]

Hi,

I am getting a BSOD on my Windows 2019 server daily.  I have not been able to narrow down what is causing the problem.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

• I am currently on Windows Server 2019
• I have windows updates up to date.
• It seems to happen only when I let it sit for a while.
• Using VMWare Workstation 15.5.0

I have a memory dump and troubleshooting files here:

Link: Troubleshooting - Box

WhoCrashed Dump analysis:

Here is the who crashed results. I am still talking a look at the event viewer.

System Information (local)

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Computer name: VENAFITPP

Windows version: Windows Server 2016 , 10.0, version 1809, build: 17763

Windows dir: C:\Windows

Hardware: VMware7,1, VMware, Inc., Intel Corporation, 440BX Desktop Reference Platform

CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8850H CPU @ 2.60GHz Intel8664, level: 6

4 logical processors, active mask: 15

RAM: 4293861376 bytes (4.0GB)

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Crash Dump Analysis

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Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

Crash dump directories:

C:\Windows

C:\Windows\Minidump

On Tue 11/5/2019 1:37:59 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported

crash dump file: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP

This was probably caused by the following module: hal.dll (hal!HalHandleNMI+0x5782)

Bugcheck code: 0x5C (0x115, 0xFFFFF7A50001D268, 0x2360A, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000001)

Error: HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

file path: C:\Windows\system32\hal.dll

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL

Bug check description: This bug check appears very infrequently.

This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem.

The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

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Conclusion

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One crash dump has been found and analyzed. No offending third party drivers have been found. Connsider using WhoCrashed Professional which offers more detailed analysis using symbol resolution. Also configuring your system to produce a full memory dump may help you.

Any help on this issue would be wonderful.

Thanks,

JM

[wila]

Hi,

Note that I do not work for VMware..

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

Crash dump directories:

C:\Windows

C:\Windows\Minidump

I'm not seeing any minidump file, that would be the only one that would help for us to analyze this without having to spent a lot of time hunting for clues.

There might also be some .dmp files in your VMware folder itself which might also help tracking this down.

Oh and a vmware.log file with a crash in there is also helpful.

--

Wil

[BrantPeery]

This is also happening in Windows 10 1903 with old installs and new ones alike. If I figure something out, I will post it here.

[BrantPeery]

I think I found a workaround for this until VMWare can work out recovering from power C-States without crashing.

The problem for me seems to be with the Enhanced C-states the CPU can enter on a Dell 5530. To see what the C-states are visit this link.

What is the C-State ? | Dell US

It seems to me that it only happens when I enter into C4E/C5

I disabled the C-States in my bios which has disabled the advanced sleep states in Windows on my laptop. The problem now doesn't happen when the computer goes into a low power state.

This does keep sleep and hibernate active which is enough for me.

[jkmeldrum]

I am also running on a Dell 5530. I will have to try this.  Thanks for the information!

[QEDMTN]

I'm also having this HAL INITIALIZATION FAILED problem on 3 of my computers.  The host computers are all HP servers (Z800 and Z8).  I've been running all 3 of these hosts with VMWare for years without issue.  For me, the problem only started happening a week ago when I updated VMWare to V15.5 and just about that same time I updated some of the guest OS to Windows 1909 (I'm using them to test out software before release) - so I'm not sure which of those two things is the culprit for my current woes.  It's happening multiple times a day for each server at this point and really slowing down my work.  I'm considering going back to VMWare 14, which did not exhibit the problem (although, if it is due to Windows 1909 guest, that won't help).

[QEDMTN]

Actually, I only updated two of the host machines to VMWare 15.5 - one is still at 14.1 and it had the problem also - so in my case it appears to be somehow tied to the Windows 1909 update for my client OSs.

[CossakTarasBulb]

I have the same issue.  Any VMware Updates?

[zazzn]

Also having this problem.

[fpivot95]

Was anyone able to solve the problem? I'm also having the same issue.

[tomm1984]

I run into the same issue.

Also, i can confirm it often occurs after iddling ... while, so far, it has never happened during working with on this guest, but after returning to RDP sometimes the blue screen is present and is "collecting information" (which seems to never finish even reaching 100%) and host CPU is running at 100 % which results in other VMs as well as VMware Workstation itself to become almost unresponsive.

I have another Windows Server 2019 VM running somewhere without any issues; need to check if i installed Windows updates there.

I bet it has either to do with Win updates or with Windows Power settings (with last i just started to play around before i would uninstall Windows updates in the next phase) ... probably some driver / energy issues related to power saving changes ... something like this.

However, I just managed to re-create this issue by adding a 2nd network adapter while VM is running (usually, VMware Workstation quickly suspends and resumes VM to add this device). After resuming i immediately run into that same issue again as described above.

Maybe it is related to host network adapter? no clue! Btw: Host network adapter is Intel I219-LM.

Just did the same with a WinS 2022 VM (set it up as well a couple of days ago; similar setting, same host, also installed Win updates ... totally the same, just WinS 2022 instead of WinS 2019) and also just added a 2nd network adapter without issue (besides the fact that this VM never has had such a blue screen at all yet).

VM host: Windows Server 2019, VMware WS 15.5.7

[tomm1984]

...interesting observation:

I created a copy of the faulty VM, deactivated the network adapter and let it run simultaneously with the orignal VM i am frequently working with. Since i created the post above nothing has happened and I already thought the problem might be gone (which i generally dont like, if things occur and disappear without knowing why). But yesterday when I was away from the computer it happened again.

The "funny" thing is it happened to both VMs simultaneous; again, they are neither connected nor does the copy has an internet connection / any external connection at all; it was running literally isolated, just logged in via VMware WS GUI.

After that happening, I changed the "power options" of the original VM to "high performance" and a couple of hours later it happened again to the copied(!) VM (where i didnt change anything, just reset after “information collection” of BSOD got stuck at 0 % and was causing host’s CPU 100% utilization for some time.

Now, I am simply wondering if some changes of the host (adapters or power management) actually trigger this issue. BTW: host is WinS 2019 and PowerSettings are set to "balanced".

BTW: I found another, simular thread, but the update mentioned is not installed on that faulty guest.
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2345294-windows-2019-vm-on-vmware-7