SUPPORT COMMUNICATION - CUSTOMER ADVISORY
Document ID: c03698772
Version: 1
Advisory: VMware ESXi 5.X and ESX/ESXi 4.X - SYSTEM ROM UPGRADE RECOMMENDED:
Certain ProLiant BL/DL Server Platforms With AMD Opteron 6200 Series-Processors
Running Hypervisor OSs Such as VMware ESX/ESXi May Intermittently Encounter a
Kernel Panic or PSOD
NOTICE: The information in this document, including products and software
versions, is current as of the Release Date. This document is subject to change
without notice.
Release Date: 2013-03-11
Last Updated: 2013-03-11
DESCRIPTION
Certain HP ProLiant servers with AMD Opteron (6200-series processors) running a Hypervisor host operating
system such as VMware ESXi 5.X or VMware ESX/ESXi 4.X, may intermittently encounter operating system
unresponsiveness, a kernel panic or VMware Purple Screen (PSOD). If this occurs, one of the following error
messages may be displayed:
CPUx tried to re-acquire lock CpuSchedCore. X
Page Fault # PF Exception 14 in CpuSchedVcpuSwitch()
System unresponsiveness, a kernel panic, or VMware ESXi Purple Screen (PSOD) may occur during
moderate to heavy CPU stress or when network stress occurs between Virtual Machines (VMs) while the
system is configured with a supported System ROM version dated 12/08/2012 or 12/09/2012.
Note: This issue may randomly occur on servers with AMD Opteron 6200-series processors running
VMware ESXi 5.X or ESX/ESXi 4.X, but there is a potential for it to occur while running other Hypervisor
operating systems. The affected servers are listed in the Scope of this advisory.
The following is an example of a VMware ESX/ESXi 4.1 Purple Screen with the following error message
displayed:
Page Fault # PF Exception 14 in CpuSchedVcpuSwitch()
VMware ESX/ESXi 4.X:
This error message may be encountered on the affected servers that include AMD Opteron 6200-series
processors running VMware ESX/ESXi 4.1. The actual PSOD message displayed is dependent on the failure
mode:
AND
The following is an example of entries that may be displayed in the VMkernel-zdump.log file when this problem
occurs:
Kernel Dump Info (if any) (var/core/vmkernel-zdump.log):
2013-02-13T18:23:00.492Z cpu1:10886)@BlueScreen: CPU 1 tried to re-acquire lock CpuSchedCore.01
2013-02-13T18:23:00.493Z cpu1:10886)Code start: 0x418022000000 VMK uptime: 0:01:03:39.029
2013-02-13T18:23:00.494Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187ac8:[0x41802206d6e2]Panic@vmkernel#nover+0xa9
stack: 0x41000a3df590
2013-02-13T18:23:00.495Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187b28:[0x41802207f484]
SP_WaitLockIRQ@vmkernel#nover+0x9b stack: 0x1
2013-02-13T18:23:00.496Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187c58:[0x4180221f0a4a]
CpuSchedIdleLoopInt@vmkernel#nover+0xa2d stack: 0x100000000
2013-02-13T18:23:00.497Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187cc8:[0x4180221f42ca]
CpuSchedTryBusyWait@vmkernel#nover+0x1fd stack: 0x4
2013-02-13T18:23:00.498Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187e68:[0x4180221f67ca]
CpuSchedChooseAndSwitch@vmkernel#nover+0x1375 stack: 0x2
2013-02-13T18:23:00.499Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187ed8:[0x4180221f710b]
CpuSchedDispatch@vmkernel#nover+0x50e stack: 0x29bd13d0
2013-02-13T18:23:00.500Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187f48:[0x4180221f74b9]
CpuSchedWait@vmkernel#nover+0x228 stack: 0x41000a3ec1b8
2013-02-13T18:23:00.501Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187f98:[0x4180221f770d]
CpuSched_VcpuHalt@vmkernel#nover+0x184 stack: 0x41002a7032a4
2013-02-13T18:23:00.502Z cpu1:10886)0x41222a187fe8:[0x4180220d972b]
VMMVMKCall_Call@vmkernel#nover+0x186 stack: 0x0
0x417fe2527620
SCOPE
Any of the following ProLiant servers configured with AMD Opteron 6200-series processors and running
VMware ESXi 5.X or VMware ESX/ESXi 4.X with either System ROM version 12/08/2012 or 12/09/2012:
• HP Proliant BL465c Gen8 Servers series
• HP ProLiant DL385p Gen8 Server series
• HP ProLiant BL685c G7 Server series
• HP ProLiant DL585 G7 Server series
Note: ProLiant servers using Opteron 6100 and 6300-series processors are NOT within the scope of the
issue.
RESOLUTION
To prevent the PSOD from occurring update the following servers with the Single Point System ROM dated
12/17/2012 (or later):
• HP Proliant BL465c Gen8 Server series
• HP ProLiant DL385p Gen8 Server series
• HP ProLiant BL685c G7 Server series
• HP ProLiant DL585 G7 Server series
Note: The Single Point System ROMs included below support all VMware ESX/ESXi operating system
versions identified in the Scope of this advisory.
VMware ESXi 5.X:
The System ROMs for each of these servers are available at the following URLs:
• HP ProLiant DL585 G7 server (A16) (version 2012.12.17)
• HP ProLiant BL685c G7 server blade (A20) (version 2012.12.17)
• HP ProLiant DL385p Gen8 server (A28) (version 2012.12.17)
I hope that helps...
michael