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?

[RodyMcAmp]

the original 3930k did not suport vt-d due to a bug. but the c2 version suports it very well indeed. I would very much like to get nvidia cards to pass through though.

[uyozTic]

@derickso

nope, but i will give that a try this weekend.

let me ask, will my VM guests that were built with ESXi 5.1.x run ok with ESXi 5.0 ?

i load ESXis on usb mem stick so rather easy to try 5.0 i think

[uyozTic]

@technobro1

i think that **was the case, but i have a newer version that indeed supports VT-d as does the MB and BIOS.

thx

[uyozTic]

@RodyMcAmp

i see many folks getting nvidia and radeon cards passed through, though for you and me this seems quite  hurdle.

guess it wouldn't help if i bought a nvida card.

i'll see what progress manifests this weekend when i try ESXi v5.0. i'll report back later

thx

[derickso]

@uyozTic<http://communities.vmware.com/people/uyozTic>

Unsure to be honest, but I'd be interested in finding out, let us know.

[GBowman]

I think Hardware version 9 came with ESXi 5.1, you cannot use this version with ESXi 5.0, only hardware version 8.

I have made an interesting discovery that might have been common knowledge all along but is not mentioned much that I can find.  WIndows 8 offloads remote desktop encoding to the GPU so I can now run full directX and 1080p over remote desktop using a passed through Radeon card and a Windows 8 Guest.  This is not RemoteFX or VMWare View where there is a vGPU being used.  I tried RemoteFX with Windows 8 under server 2012 and becasue you only get a portion of the physical card its performance is poor.  With ESXi 5.0 I can have the full power of my GPU over RDP (less about 10%).

That said I have only been able to use Windows 8 Enterprise for my testing so I hope the same goes for Pro.  Of course this works for physical machines running Windows 8 aswell but thats just not as much fun!  I am struggling to find out why there is not more information on this massive step up for RPD on the net, only RemoteFX.

Now if VMWare start to officially support GPU passthru and can give USB redirection via VMWare tools or a seperate application (3rd party ones already exist) then this could be the answer to all the 'how can I pass more GPU ram or power to each individual virtual machine?' questions.  Albeit that you are limited to 1 VM per PCIe slot.

[uyozTic]

@GBowman,

appreciate that tip, i didn't realize.

if i need to create a new datastore i can do that. if not i can just create a new guest in the current datastore and test that.

all my guests are linux but i do need to create a windows server 2008 guest which i haven't done yet.

that's interesting about windows 8. the full power of one's GPU on guest, how cool is that?! most certainly would like to get there with me linux guests.

maybe my windows technet subscription has a trial for windows 8, haven't looked. if not, will be awhile before i purchase it.

[champagnecharly]

Hello all,

I wanted to update on my success.. not even sure if i've posted in this forum as yet however finally I have a working W7x64 with GPU pass through seemingly stable. I had left it about 18 months since my last attempt...

Setup is:

Tyan tempest i5400pw s5397

2 x Xeon e5472 (ES)

16gb Hynix FBdimm

Radeon 4350

Running:

esxi5

W7x64 2GB ram.. not tried more yet..

Installed W7 clean install> VM tools> Catalyst> Install GPU > Reboot into safemode> Install drivers from device manager. Reboot and alter desktop settings. Done.

Thanks all for the wealth of information that has helped me get this far.

[seertenedos]

Hi,

I have been running 5.0.1 with passthru and it has been working great.  Now that i want to install win 8 i am finding i have issues booting them up. At the time i did the install everyone seemed to sayt o use v5.0.1 due to 5.1 breaking stuff for passthrou.  I am just wondering if that has been fixed witht eh patches or not as i think i need 5.1 to get win 8 to boot correctly.

Also is there an easy wayt o upgrade esxi when it is passing through the graphics cards and your desktop etc is all a vm.  Most stuff i read says to use vcenter but i played with that as as it is a vm itself onthe same box i don't think it will work.

[uyozTic]

update:

i did load up ESXi 5.0, created a new datastore on the synology. created a new linuxmint14 guest.

ESXi 5.0 recognized the HD 5450 but not the HD 6870. ESXi 5.1 recognized both.

"radeon" driver didn't work. returned same errors as when guest was run by ESXi. it never init'd the HD5450 so always reverted back to VMware vga driver.

removed opensource radeon drivers, installed latest "AMD Catalyst flgrx" driver(s). had it create a xorg.conf file. at this time, no more radeon GPU init errors, and the default GPU is the passthrough'd HD5450. so far so good, i'm thinking.

then i execute 'startx' and the ondriver that won't load is the flgrx driver, just the one i happen to need and that is listed in xorg.conf. that was the only error in the Xorg.0.log file that i recall.

so now i'll try to figure out why that driver loads then unloads immediately. i'll try a few other linux flavors while i'm at it. probably will try ESXi 5.0 update (1-2).

weird the guests see and list the passthrough GPUs and then all these driver issues.

[rmathis1984]

@uypzTic

Was going to say stay away from Mint14 at the moment. Found out the hardway about ATI drivers on 14. I have a duel boot on a laptop "shoot me its for work" and it was the most unstable version I've ever had to work with ATI video mind you. I'm thinking the drivers dont support the kernal version yet. While it was very differnt "stable" as a VM with the standard software video it didnt play well at all with a real video card.

For the kernal running 3.5 I think or so on Mint14,  ESXi 5.1 will be alot more stable then 5.0 but I'm not sure if 5.1 had the passthrough issues sorted out yet. On 5.0U2 I have been hitting some nasty lag issues that wernt on U1. Try playing MechWarrior online and dropping to 10FPS!

So far Mint13 Mate with a 7750 has been very nice to me even compiz visuals works flawless.

[technobro1]

Hi guys, running it in Linux is very interesting also. specifically when you think of password cracking...

Quick question , Does anyone run a high end card like a 7970 ?

I must mention i am quite satisfied whit the 6850, it run Assasin creed 3 and hitman perfeclty , but it lack tork for Farcry3.

[mindless728]

I use a 7970 and it works just fine tbh, I pass it to a Windows 7 VM at this point (along with my USB 3.0 controllers)

[rmathis1984]

7970 will work just fine if your doing going to use it to connect to a monitor or TV.

For password cracking not so much. It has the power but your wont get the same possible number crunching that the machine can do as a physical box. Unless your running x2 physical CPU's in the box. That tiny bit of cpu time required will be noticed if your doing this on a home machine for academic purposes. Theres other much more prefered methods of doing it but if you dont care how long it will take or the added delay isnt an issue then by all means have at it.

Now be quite you :smileysilly: you let some other peoples purposes be known to the world...

[spangers]

Hey all,

I am at my wits end

I have read all 35 pages and I am still stuck at the atikmpag.sys driver BSOD.

My hardware is:

Intel DQ67EP Mobo

Xeon E3-1235

16GB of Ram

Gigabyte HD7770

Guest VM: WHS2011, 8GB of ram using the pciHole trick.

I have tried disableing the card in safe mode and enabling in WHS

I have tried disableing the card in safe mode and installing CCC -> causes BSOD

I have tied uninstalling and letting windows install its own driver (Standard VGA driver with a yellow exclamation)

I have tried uninstalling and installing the drivers manually through device manager.

I have iGPU and On Board Audio disabled.

I have tried DVI and HDMI (both the same bsod) when they are connected.

Does anyone have any other idea? At this stage I dont want to repalce the mobo for a software issue and XenServer Free dosnt support GPU passthrough.

If anyone has any other ideas?

Also Is Xen (not Xenserver) a viable alternative to ESXi and can you convert VM's?

Thanks everyone, this thread has been a great help!

[champagnecharly]

Hi, I had this many times and with persistance solved the same,

1) Is it a clean install? With just vmtools + catalyst?

2) When you re-installed drivers were you in safemode?

3) What are driver properties when you look at them in safemode?

4) Have you tried with just 2gb just as a way to confirm this is not a cause of issue (given the fault is driver it is doubtfull.

5) Which esxi version?

Esxi>xen free. I have read it is possible but not tried. Lots on it if you google it.

Regards and good luck

[spangers]

Hey mate,

Thanks for the Reply!

1. Not a clean install, it is an exisiting VM. I might try make a new VM and pass through (Windows 8 maybe)

2. I just tried uninstalling and reinstall (12.10 drivers) in safemode and it BSOD on boot.

3. Which properties were you after? It says the device is ready but disabled in Safe Mode

4. Yes tried with just 2GB to no evail

5. ESXi 5u2 but I just updated for u1. No change

Has anyone with this mobo got GPU pass through to work?

Cheers

[champagnecharly]

Hi,

The error is driver.

Make clean install. It made a diff to me. It also removes any unknowns.

Put back to 2gb again reduce unknown variables.

Properties. I can remember but certainly the date of driver and provider. I was unable to update driver correctly until I reverted to clean install.

Good luck.

[spangers]

Thanks mate, clean install it is!

[champagnecharly]

Make sure the drivers have a date of 2012 and are not the windows drivers 1.1 or whatever they are called.. This is what caused the same error for me even after a clean install.