"This processor may not be powerful enough" message with WS 6.5 update

[ErikKnowles]

I've just upgraded from 6.1 (?) to 6.5 and now my VMs are giving the following message on startup:

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This processor may not be powerful enough to run VMware Workstation with good performance. Your estimated processing speed is 105 Mhz. Refer to http://vmware.com/info?id=4 for this product's minimum requirements.

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Host OS is XP SP3, AMD Athlon 64 XP Dual Core 4400+

I'm aware of the Cool'n'Quiet issues and have tried disabling the feature (through the bios) but no change. I've also followed the instructions given here: http://vmblog.com/archive/2007/08/24/help-vmware-fixing-time-keeping-problems-with-the-guest-os.aspx

but again no luck.

These VMs ran fine until applying the 6.5 update.

I've attached a log from one of the VMs (this happens to be an Arch Linux session, but the problem occurrs on, e.g., XP SP2 as a guest as well).

[Scissor]

Did you reboot after making the recommended changes to your config.ini? If not, try that first.

[Scissor]

Also, you may want to consider installing the AMD Dual Core Optimizer utility (if applicable).

[ErikKnowles]

Yes I did reboot many times while messing w/ the BIOS settings. Also, I just installed 6.5.1, but had the same problems.

[ErikKnowles]

I tried the optimizer (I guess it's installed, anyway; there's no service, no program files entry, no obvious task manager entry, nothing really to indicate that the thing's running) and am still having the same problems.

[Scissor · Accepted solution]

I see from the .log file that you used the following setting in your config.ini: host.cpukHz = 4400000 .

I don't use AMD processors myself, but is that the correct value to enter for your particular processor? I thought that AMD Processor Names don't necessarily reflect the true MHz values... According to this web site ( http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUResult.aspx ) an Athlon x64 Dual Core 4400+ runs at either 2200 MHz or 2300 MHz. You might want to try using 2200000 or 2300000 in your config.ini file instead to see if that helps?

Other than that I'm not sure what else to suggest. Perhaps someone else on the forums has an idea.

[ErikKnowles]

:smileygrin: That did it! Thank you thank you thank you!!! (I've been using AMD CPUs forever so I should have thought of that myself.) I really appreciate the time you spent helping me.

<rant>VMWare really should stop with the silly config. file hacking and just fix the problem...</rant>

[Scissor]

Good news! Glad things are working for you again!

It's unfortunate that the upgrade from 6.0.x to 6.5 seems to remove any customized config.ini files on the Host. I'm sure that VMware had a good reason to do so though. The recent 6.5 to 6.5.1 upgrade seems to leave the config.ini file alone though so that's good.

[RDPetruska]

<rant>VMWare really should stop with the silly config. file hacking and just fix the problem...</rant>

It isn't a (readily) fixable "problem". The issue is that virtualization technology and CPU frequency-throttling technology are NOT friendly to each other!! The entire virtualization concept expects and relies on the fact of a stable, constant CPU clock.

[ErikKnowles]

I would disagree re: "fixable"...If I was able to edit the config.ini file, add three lines and get the system working, then VMWare is perfectly able to automate that process. It's trivial to detect CPU models, so there's nothing stopping them from auto-detecting a dual CPU configuration (and/or Cool'n'Quiet operation) and adjusting accordingly.