Unable to load NVIDIA driver on ESXI 7.0.2 / Dell R740

[tomtomek]

Hi all,

Trying to configure POC environment. Currently stuck at getting the Nvidia driver to load.

Spoiler

[root@localhost:~] nvidia-smi

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

[root@localhost:~] esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia

NVIDIA-VMware_ESXi_7.0.2_Driver  470.63-1OEM.702.0.0.17630552         NVIDIA  VMwareAccepted    2021-09-13

[root@localhost:~] dmesg | grep -E "NVRM|nvidia"

2021-09-13T23:36:11.216Z cpu0:2097152)Loading nvidia_b.v00...

2021-09-13T23:36:11.217Z cpu0:2097152)VisorFSTar: 1871: nvidia_b.v00 for 0x5e18082 bytes

2021-09-13T23:36:43.142Z cpu93:2100393)SchedVsi: 2098: Group: host/vim/vmvisor/plugins/nvidia(18804): max=70 min=70 minLimit=unlimited shares=1000, units: mb

2021-09-13T23:36:43.182Z cpu80:2098541)Starting service nvidia-init

2021-09-13T23:36:43.243Z cpu80:2098541)Activating Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init.

2021-09-13T23:36:51.802Z cpu56:2098541)Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init activated.

2021-09-13T23:36:52.801Z cpu42:2100998)SchedVsi: 1016: Group nvidia could not be created: Already exists

Host is a Dell R740. I have enabled SR-IOV in Bios and disabled inbuilt Video controller. Also changed MIMO to 12TB.

Thanks.

Tom

[tomtomek]

Hi all,

Trying to configure POC environment. Currently stuck at getting the Nvidia driver to load.

Spoiler

[root@localhost:~] nvidia-smi

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

[root@localhost:~] esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia

NVIDIA-VMware_ESXi_7.0.2_Driver  470.63-1OEM.702.0.0.17630552         NVIDIA  VMwareAccepted    2021-09-13

[root@localhost:~] dmesg | grep -E "NVRM|nvidia"

2021-09-13T23:36:11.216Z cpu0:2097152)Loading nvidia_b.v00...

2021-09-13T23:36:11.217Z cpu0:2097152)VisorFSTar: 1871: nvidia_b.v00 for 0x5e18082 bytes

2021-09-13T23:36:43.142Z cpu93:2100393)SchedVsi: 2098: Group: host/vim/vmvisor/plugins/nvidia(18804): max=70 min=70 minLimit=unlimited shares=1000, units: mb

2021-09-13T23:36:43.182Z cpu80:2098541)Starting service nvidia-init

2021-09-13T23:36:43.243Z cpu80:2098541)Activating Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init.

2021-09-13T23:36:51.802Z cpu56:2098541)Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init activated.

2021-09-13T23:36:52.801Z cpu42:2100998)SchedVsi: 1016: Group nvidia could not be created: Already exists

Host is a Dell R740. I have enabled SR-IOV in Bios and disabled inbuilt Video controller. Also changed MIMO to 12TB.

Thanks.

[tomtomek]

Hi all,

Trying to configure POC environment. Currently stuck at getting the Nvidia driver to load.

Spoiler

[root@localhost:~] nvidia-smi

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

[root@localhost:~] esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia

NVIDIA-VMware_ESXi_7.0.2_Driver  470.63-1OEM.702.0.0.17630552         NVIDIA  VMwareAccepted    2021-09-13

[root@localhost:~] dmesg | grep -E "NVRM|nvidia"

2021-09-13T23:36:11.216Z cpu0:2097152)Loading nvidia_b.v00...

2021-09-13T23:36:11.217Z cpu0:2097152)VisorFSTar: 1871: nvidia_b.v00 for 0x5e18082 bytes

2021-09-13T23:36:43.142Z cpu93:2100393)SchedVsi: 2098: Group: host/vim/vmvisor/plugins/nvidia(18804): max=70 min=70 minLimit=unlimited shares=1000, units: mb

2021-09-13T23:36:43.182Z cpu80:2098541)Starting service nvidia-init

2021-09-13T23:36:43.243Z cpu80:2098541)Activating Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init.

2021-09-13T23:36:51.802Z cpu56:2098541)Jumpstart plugin nvidia-init activated.

2021-09-13T23:36:52.801Z cpu42:2100998)SchedVsi: 1016: Group nvidia could not be created: Already exists

Host is a Dell R740. I have enabled SR-IOV in Bios and disabled inbuilt Video controller. Also changed MIMO to 12TB.

Thanks.

[fabio1975]

Ciao 

Which version of vSphere was giving you the error?

[tomtomek]

Hi Fabio,

I was on:

VMware ESXi, 7.0.2, 17867351

vCenter: 7.0.0, 15952599

Regards,

Tom

[MichaelMillerMW]

I was having this same issue. But the following fixed it.

If your card is listed within the hosts PCI-Devices section. Select it and then click "TOGGLE PASSTHROUGH".

If you did everything correctly, your screen should look like this below.

Now when I run nvidia-smi the card and driver show up.