x64 guest OS makes VMware ESX 3.5 PSOD

[Golychev]

Hello all, i have Supermicro X7SBE motherboard and Intel Q9450 inside, then i installed Vmware ESX server and couple 32-bit guests all worked fine, but then i setup Windows 2008 x64, my ESX starting to do PSOD periodically (random). Any body know what to do? Tnx

[EnsignA]

Several things...you need to be sure your processor support x64 hosts. You need at least 3.5U1...W2K8 was not fully supported until U2, but will work with U1. If you have an Intel processor, you need to enable VT in the BIOS.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

NMI often implies a CPU issue. So either Intel VT/AMD-V is not enabled or you actually have a processor issue. I would:

ensure the BIOS is setup properly for your server. Set it up as if you were going to enable EVC is best.

open the box and look for obvious things and reseat cards and memory

run memtest86+ for at least 24-48 hours

run full hardware diags w/o disk offline tests for at least 24-48 hours

If the problem persists after all that, then I would open an SR with your hardware company as well as VMware.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization