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?

[KRA77]

Please take this off-topic discussion elsewhere.

[GBowman]

PCI Passthrough is not a virtual 3D addapter it is a passed through physical one.  Its totally different and un supported by VMWare.

If you want to remove the cnic_register hang then revert back to ESXi 4.1, I am still using this and it gets all the way to the ESXi console before trying to pass the GPU through.

[rbblue234]

im currently trying to passthrough a ATI 6950.   I'm currently being presented with a BSOD on a windows 7 x64 pro install.  The BSOD is talking about

dxgmms1.sys.

Currently i'm using the PCI settings to enable 4gb of ram.   My processor is a intel i5-2400 on an Intel exective (boxdq67swb3) series motherboard.  I have not tried to install the full driver set....  simply downloaded the drivers from ATI website, extracted, and told windows where to look for the driver.

Any suggestions?

[rbblue234]

I Upgraded the bios on the server and am now able to get the VM too boot with the ATI card is passed though.  Windows device manager shows the ati card as sucessfully installed and working properly.

However as soon as i try and enable the ATI video card I'm getting dxgmms1.sys blue screen.

[rbblue234]

I have been able to use my xfx ATI 6950 with a asus sabertooth x58 & intel i7-950.

The other MoBo will be going to ebay shortly since I can not get it to do passthrough correctly.

[derickso]

Please update the wiki if you haven't already

[al3c]

Where is the wiki link?

I need to add my successful Windows 7 build:

AMD FX-8150

32GB RAM

ASUS M5A99X-EVO-R2 (latest BIOS v0906)

ASUS EAH6670-DC-DI-1GD3 (silent/fanless)

ESXI 5.1

No need for PCI hole modification, 2G VM, everything works great after VMTools and Catalyst drivers installed..

No BSOD/PSOD hassles...

Easy.

[derickso]

Scroll back a couple pages, it was recently. It really is to bad the OP isn't around to update that post.

[ciuly]

If you're referring to the google document I started a short while ago, I wouldn't exactly clal it a wiki (it would be confiused with wiki-sspecific online software/site)

I just put it in my signature for easier access. Maybe some of the regular posters can do the same.

[derickso]

Ya sorry, spreadsheet is much more accurate, I deal with wikis constantly so my brain just substituted it in

[shaf123]

Hi,

Just like to add that I've had success with my AT 4890 using the information provided - thank you very much to everyone who has contributed. My specs are below:

Asrock Z77 Pro4-M Mohterboard

CPU i7 3770

16 Gig Ram

ATI 4890

I don't have sound but I plan on buying a USB sound card for this. I've managed to play a couple of games with no other issues.

I cannot seem to get DXVA working though and only get a green screen when playing videos.

Thanks

Shaf.

[derickso]

You might want to try a newer GPU, DXVA works fine with my 7750

[shaf123]

That might solve it. I don't really need DXVA playback to be honest so I'm good for now. I might swap it for a newer card in the future.

[shlomiassaf]

Hi

I would like to report again, this time a DUAL success.

GPU vmdp: Windows 8 with passthough along a Windows 7 with passthorugh working great at the same time!!!

My system:

Supermicro X9-SCM

16GB RAM.

Xeon E3-1240 V2.

I am passing through, at the moment:

IBM M1015 SAS Controller to an linux Unraid.

1 usb host controller from Motherboard to a Win 7 system.

1 HIS PCI-E 1x RADEON 5450 to the Win7 system.

1 SAPPHIRE PCI-E 16x (on an 8X rail) 6450 to the Win8 system.

The setup worked before using the Win7 vmdp only.

I wanted to see if it will work at the same time for 2 GPU`s.

I just want to say it worked easly, no hard setup setps.

Just added the passthrough, configed the pciHole and start.

I forgot to reserve memory which didnt impact much, i guess the host does that in the backgroud.

At the moment I can only passthrough 1 USB host controller so i`m using a network KVM (Input Director) to control Windows 8.

I have 6 devices passedthough (2x of HDMI Audios) so im quite limited here.

As excpected, Windows 8 with the 6450 runs DXVA without a problem.

Windows 7 with the 5450 shows a green screen. The reason is the 5450...

Hope it helps

[Herb0ne]

Hello,

can anybody please tell me how to do this exactly? I've browsed this thread but there is no real how to in it. I've currently a esxi 5.1 setup running with an nvidia card. Do I need 2 monitors pluged in the physical gpu or what? I'm working with my esxi through vmware sphere on a laptop.If someone could help me and we can solve this prob I would spend 10€ over paypal to tis person PLEASE HELP ME

[shlomiassaf]

If you read this thread then you know nvidia cards are not supported

Nonly ati works.

You better spend that 10 on a ati card

[bwiklander]

You also need a VT-D or IOMMU Enabled system.

I doubt that there is a laptop with these options?

2012/11/8 shlomiassaf <communities-emailer@vmware.com<mailto:communities-emailer@vmware.com>>

VMware Communities<http://communities.vmware.com/index.jspa>

VMDirectPath and ATI Radeon

reply from shlomiassaf<http://communities.vmware.com/people/shlomiassaf> in VMware ESXi™ 4 - View the full discussion<http://communities.vmware.com/message/2143781#2143781

[Herb0ne]

Hello,

I have an IOMMU enabled system I just remote controll it with my laptop I've also tried an ATI Card a HD7870 but the esxi5 has not recognized the vga card just says:"unknown device(vga)" and I wasnt even able to fire up the VM with the ATi card passed through. But my Gforce is recognized even in the hardware manager I also was able to install the drivers. So maybe it will work.

SYS:

#CPU AMD FX810
#MOBO Asrock 990FX Extreme 3
#GPU GTX580
#ESXi 5.1

[MattGagliardi]

See my post 9/9/2011...nVidia (the high-end cards) works fine.  I've now done this on both tower and server chassis with a range of high-end nVidia cards.

[MattGagliardi]

nVidia cards work fine...search back through the thread and you'll see I've done it successfully on multiple chassis with multiple cards.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.