VMware Communities
lizziemuffin
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (SVGA) Unexpected signal: 4

So I recently installed linux on my system, and have been trying to use vmware to install and troubleshoot windows without actually installing windows, I have tried a windows 7 and windows 10 iso straight from microsoft and both crash with this error. I have a log attached if anyone wants to take a look. Its been haunting me across linux distros for the past week and idk where this error came from, it worked fine about a month ago.

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi lizziemuffin,

Thank you for posting the logfile!  That is a massive help with troubleshooting.

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID vendor: AuthenticAMD

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID family: 0x10 model: 0xa stepping: 0x0

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID codename: K10 Opteron -- Unknown codename

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1045T Processor

You have encountered the same problem as I described in this thread: Re: Unable to start virtual machine after upgrade to VMWARE Workstation Pro 15.5.5

Your CPU is too old to run Workstation 15.5.5 or newer.  It shouldn't really have been able to run Workstation 15.0 or newer, but it seems that (a) we didn't get the up-front CPU compatibility check quite right, and (b) by luck, it happened to work correctly until we finally made some otherwise-innocuous change in Workstation 15.5.5 which had the side-effect of breaking things for those older CPUs.

You might need to stick with Workstation 15.5.2 on that host hardware.  You can download Workstation Pro 15.5.2 for Linux here.

Thanks,

--

Darius

View solution in original post

9 Replies
dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi lizziemuffin,

Thank you for posting the logfile!  That is a massive help with troubleshooting.

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID vendor: AuthenticAMD

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID family: 0x10 model: 0xa stepping: 0x0

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID codename: K10 Opteron -- Unknown codename

2020-06-09T20:34:31.529-04:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1045T Processor

You have encountered the same problem as I described in this thread: Re: Unable to start virtual machine after upgrade to VMWARE Workstation Pro 15.5.5

Your CPU is too old to run Workstation 15.5.5 or newer.  It shouldn't really have been able to run Workstation 15.0 or newer, but it seems that (a) we didn't get the up-front CPU compatibility check quite right, and (b) by luck, it happened to work correctly until we finally made some otherwise-innocuous change in Workstation 15.5.5 which had the side-effect of breaking things for those older CPUs.

You might need to stick with Workstation 15.5.2 on that host hardware.  You can download Workstation Pro 15.5.2 for Linux here.

Thanks,

--

Darius

CallMeMark
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I have the same problem with a Phenom quad core CPU on VMware Player 15.5.6 on Linux.

Does someone know where i can download the older VMware Player 15.5.2 for Linux?

Reply
0 Kudos
scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Go here, choose the version: https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/downloads/details?downloadGroup=PLAYER-1556&productId=800&rPId=4...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
Reply
0 Kudos
CallMeMark
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Yes that's what i was looking for!

Thank you very much.

Reply
0 Kudos
dr_ska
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

2020-08-27T18:54:11.031+02:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID vendor: AuthenticAMD

2020-08-27T18:54:11.031+02:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID family: 0x10 model: 0x2 stepping: 0x3

2020-08-27T18:54:11.031+02:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID codename: Barcelona/Greyhound (K10)

2020-08-27T18:54:11.031+02:00| vmx| I005: hostCPUID name: AMD Phenom(tm) 9650 Quad-Core Processor

Trying to fetch 15.5.2 for Linux... But references to the download pages seem invalid...

Reply
0 Kudos
dr_ska
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Today I managed to download the 15.5.2 Bundle for Linux, after initial download page not available message...

Will post my experience here. Need to find time.

Reply
0 Kudos
dr_ska
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Under VM Player 15.5.2 for Linux, my W10 Virtual Machine runs fine again [ Windows 10, version 20H2].

Yes, I am running old 2008 AMD hard hardware. But it has a SSD and modern graphics card.

I don't really understand VM-wares position to no longer support it. I realize it is not super fast.

This VM help me investigate if W10 is any good good. It is not my Prod environment.

Reply
0 Kudos
cparke2
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I'd first like to shout out that I am also affected by this loss of support for older AMD processors.  See my system and processor info below:

 

 

vmx| I125: Log for VMware Player pid=21062 version=12.5.9 build=build-7535481 option=Release
vmx| I125: The process is 64-bit.
vmx| I125: Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8
vmx| I125: Host is Linux 4.4.0-203-generic Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS

vmx| I125: hostCPUID vendor: AuthenticAMD
vmx| I125: hostCPUID family: 0x10 model: 0x4 stepping: 0x2
vmx| I125: hostCPUID codename: Shanghai (K10)
vmx| I125: hostCPUID name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B95 Processor

vmx| I125: DICT            config.version = "8"
vmx| I125: DICT         virtualHW.version = "12"

 

 

As has been mentioned, I also find that VMware Player v15.5.2 is working for most newer operating systems despite the fact it is no longer supported.  Except that it still isn't working for Windows 98 in any version of VMware Player from v14.0.0 or later; still crashing the VM with the SVGA signal 4 right when the graphical desktop is supposed to come up (except if I use Safe Mode boot or v12.5.9).  Even after VMware Tools has been uninstalled!

Since I am stuck on VMware Player v12.5.9 for this reason, and thus I have the following concerns and questions going forward:

  • Is there a way to upgrade VMware Player v12.5.9 components so that it can support virtual machines with a hardware version of 13 or later (without causing it to break on the my hardware like the later versions do)?
  • Is there a way to downgrade a virtual machine to version 12 so it can be supported by VMware v12?
  • I'm particularly looking for VMware to support an OVA imported VM which requires virtual hardware version 13 for ESXi 6.5 support according to its VMX file.  Does Player v12.5.9 have partial support for this virtual hardware under version 12?

Much appreciation for any further information or advice you can provide.

Reply
0 Kudos
JellyTeah
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

In the latest Fedora 34, kernel modules cannot be compiled.

It means VMware Workstation Pro 15.5 does not support Linux Kernel 5.12!

I hope VMware can provide another patch for users who uses old CPUs like AMD Phenom II, because can only use this platform.

In my opinion, VMware is faster than KVM.