hpnmi failed to load

[David_TAI]

I have a new out of the box HP ML350 Gen9 server that I have installed ESXi 5.5 U2 onto.  This is the HP ISO from the VMWare site I installed--

VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update2-2403361-HP-550.9.2.27-Mar2015.iso

As ESX boots up I see an error that says hpnmi failed to start. ESX has booted and I'm able to use iLO to access the server through vSphere.  What is it that hpmni manages?  Do I need to manually update something on the server?

Thanks.

[cykVM]

That's the HP NMI (non-maskable interrupt(s)) driver. Some basic information is found here: VMware KB: ESX and ESXi installations on HP systems require the HP NMI driver

At first I would suggest to run latest available SPP (service pack for proliant) for your server model to update the BIOS and all firmware.

If the issue still occurs after updating firmware you may check if there is a newer NMI driver available from HP.

[David_TAI]

I ran the latest SPP on the server.  It did a BIOS flash and FW update but I still get the NMI failed to start message.  I'll check to see if there is a new NMI driver from HP.  Otherwise I'll have to open a ticket with HP.

Thanks.

[toddbryant2230]

Hi David,
I'm having the same issue.  ESXi ISO (VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update2-2403361) and DL380 G9. Have run the latest PSP aswell.  Also checked HP VIB repository which is reporting - hpnmi 550.2.3.5-1198610 as the latest.

Error Details and Module version as per my host:

2015-08-20T15:48:52Z crond[33352]: crond: crond (busybox 1.20.2) started, log level 8

2015-08-20T15:48:53Z jumpstart: execution of 'system module load --module hpnmi' failed in context hp-nmi[start]': Unable to load module /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/hpnmi: Failure

/var/log # esxcli software vib list |grep hpnmi

hpnmi                          550.2.3.5-1198610                      Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2015-08-20

Todd

[VMBladeRanger]

Had a PSOD support case with HP & VMware for some BL460 Gen8s and they specifically said to remove the HPNMI driver.  I recently rolled out some Gen9 servers and I saw the same "Kernel based module load of hpnmi failed..." error.  That being said,  the issue applies to Gen9 as well.  Some of the few official HP documents confirming this:

"HP NMI Sourcing Driver for VMware ESXi 5.0 is supported on all versions of VMware ESXi 5.x; but it is not supported on HP ProLiant Gen8 servers."

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01006246&DocLang=en&docLocale=en_US...

Under "Release Notes":

Important:

• HP NMI Sourcing Driver is not needed on Gen8 and forward because the firmware catches and logs the NMI. 
• Not intended for VMware ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.0/vSphere 5.1 and vSphere 5.5

Drivers & Software - HP Support Center.

I'm not sure what's more work - downloading and installing the newest Custom HP ISO then removing the HPMNI driver each time or maintaining a fully custom ESXi ISO that excludes the HPNMI driver but has everything else injected.

esxcli software vib list | grep hpnmi

esxcli software vib remove -n hpnmi