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magician09
Contributor
Contributor
‎12-27-2008 05:50 PM

Help with AMD Phenom ESXI 3.5 u3 - Microcode error

I have the following:

  • Gigabyte M3A78-EM updated to lastest bios

  • AMD Phenom 9600 x4 2.3 cpu b2

  • 8gb ddr-2 ram

  • supported sata raid w drives

I get the "purple screen of death" No supported microcode levels for this stepping of the AMD Family 10H B2 processor.

I was reading that a few people had to go back to u2 but I cant find it for download. This is my 3rd Esxi server and I need to get it loaded this weekend for a client. I could pull the processor out of my test rig for temp use till I get a older cpu. But my test rig and a 3800x 64 single core and I dont know if changing after installation to a dual or quad core would work?

Any Idea?

Thanks

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26 Replies
tlauder
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-09-2009 08:44 PM

Just a thought - Has anyone tried Update 4 to see if it resolves the microcode error / SATA drivers?

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MCuzo
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-10-2009 06:22 AM

Yes, that is the first version I tried. Same Microcode error. Do you think this is a BIOS issue on our Biostar board? BTW, I saw an update on the BIOSTAR site A78GM304.BST. I put it on a flash drive and went into the flash bios util and it says something like "mo bios files found".Have you been able to load that version?

Thanks

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tlauder
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-13-2009 06:21 PM

MCuzo,

I haven't tried the new BIOS... and since you say that update 4 is still giving the microcode issues, I think I'll just stick with update 2 for now. I'd suggest you do the same ...

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MCuzo
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-14-2009 05:36 AM

I have been ok with 32-bit OS but I tried loading Server 2008 64-bit and no go. Also 2003 64-bit.

Have you loaded any 64-bit?

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kiddx
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-14-2009 08:00 AM

I was able to load centos 5.2 64 bit on mine successfully.

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jpayton
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-14-2009 06:31 PM

Sorry about the delay . . . my mobo is ASUS M3a78-CM.

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pixelstix
Contributor
Contributor
‎08-23-2009 05:42 PM

We were able to use the ASUS M3A78-CM by disabling the CPU setting for C1E in the BIOS. (I've noticed there is a setting under Configuration -> Software ->Advanced Settings -> VMkernel -> Boot, an option called VMkernel.Boot.disableC1E, although I have not tried it.)

Also, please note this page with similar information:

Note that the on-board Realtek network driver does not work, you have

to find a supported network adapter (we got one of the Intel 1000 line). Also, we did not use the onboard RAID, as the docs for ESXi says

that onboard SATA RAID does not work or is unstable.

ETA: Note that I got this behavior under both ESXi 3.x and 4, but only tried the fix under 4. I imagine it would also work under 3.

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