unRAID + ESXi build, PSOD issues

[jdmlight]

I'm trying to rebuild my unRAID build from its own dedicated hardware to ESXi, as I'd like to consolidate some of my test boxes (and play with ESXi more before I take the VCP certification test).  I'm essentially doing an ATLAS clone, but AMD based instead of Intel based.  I've followed Johnm's excellent tutorial on all of the little hacks and things necessary to get everything working, but I'm still getting purple screens.  Here's my setup:

 

• unRAID 4.7
  
• ESXi 5.1
  
• Processor: AMD FX-8150
  
• Mobo: AsRock 970 Extreme4
  
• SATA controller: AOC-SASLP-MV8 (passed through to unRAID)
  
• NIC: 2-port Intel PCIe
  
• RAM: 2x8gb G-skill 1600 Ripjaws
  
• PSU: Corsair TX650v2
  
• unRAID HDDs: 2 WD Greens (one is parity), 2 Hitachi Deskstar 7200rpms, 1 Samsung F4
  
• ESXi HDD: 160gb Seagate drive for datastore (using mobo SATA)
  

 

All works great if I boot directly into unRAID.  (In fact, I'm really excited about the new Supermicro controller, I've never gotten parity speeds around 100MB/s before.  They were around 50-60MB/s with onboard SATA.)  The flash drive and hard drives are taken from my normal unRAID server.  When I boot the unRAID VM under ESXi and try a parity check, it PSODs with less than 3% of the check complete.  I've checked and re-checked settings (especially the MV8 hack), I've tried IDE and AHCI mode on the onboard SATA, still no luck.  I'm going to try a clean install of ESXi with the onboard SATA on IDE mode, then on AHCI mode to see if that makes any difference.

 

Any ideas?  I've attached my syslog from unRAID if that helps (grabbed right after boot before it PSOD'd).  Ignore the warnings about APCUPSd, the UPS serial isn't plugged in to the new server yet.

 

Edit: I'm going to try unRAID 5.  Small snag though, need to get rid of the HPA on one of my drives.  I'll report back tomorrow after it's rebuilt.  Stupid Gigabyte motherboard...

syslog-2012-12-12.txt

[BobPhoenix]

The only time I get PSODs when using SASLP-MV8 on my ESXi 5.0 setup is when I haven't done the SASLP-MV8 hack correctly.  For instance: when it wasn't the first pass through card and I still had the line in the config file as: passThrough0.msiEnabled="FALSE".  Instead of passThrough1.msiEnabled="FALSE" like it should have been.  Not saying that is your problem but it is why I would get a PSOD

 

 

Please note I may have spelled the above wrong - I'm at work and typed from memory - but you get the idea.

[jdmlight]

Well I got rid of the HPA (a good thing to do anyway), installed unRAID 5.0-rc8a, and checked parity booting directly off of the unRAID flash drive (not using ESXi).  That was successful, but when I try it under ESXi, it still PSODs.  I double and triple checked the msiEnabled flag.  Maybe I'm not editing it the right way.  I currently:

[*]Browse to the unRAID.vmx file in the Datastore Browser

[*]Download the unRAID.vmx file to my Windows machine

[*]Add the msiEnabled line with Notepad++

[*]Upload the modified unRAID.vmx file using the Datastore Browser

[*]Start up the unRAID VM and start a parity check

After the parity check has been running for a few minutes, it PSODs.  All I can figure is that maybe I'm not editing the .vmx file correctly.  I have attached my .vmx file to see if maybe I messed something up. (I added .txt at the end since .vmx isn't an allowed file attachment type)

 

Maybe I should try recreating the unRAID virtual machine?

 

EDIT: Found this post, someone with the same motherboard I have and the 4-core version of my processor: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22553.msg201025#msg201025  He had trouble with ESXi 5.1, I'm going to try 5.0u1 like he has.

unRAID.vmx.txt

[BobPhoenix]

It looks correct to me.  I see you have ESXi 5.1.  Are you trying to pass through any devices that are on a PCI buss?  Not just a PCI slot but any built in devices that connect via PCI bus?  The reason I ask is that 5.1 has a bug that causes PSODs if trying to pass through a PCI device.  So if you have a device on the PCI buss you might try switching to 5.0 until they get a patch for it - assuming they haven't already done that and you are using it of course.

 

PS.  There is another easier way to edit the VM VMX configuration file - at least for me.

[*]Go to the Options Tab

[*]Select the Advanced - General selection when you do you will see a button for Configuration Parameters

[*]When you click on the Configuration Parameters button a dialog box pops up - adjust the columns so that you can read them

[*]Find the entries for the MV8 card and press F2 while one of the parameter names is selected like you are going to rename it but just cut the name

[*]Now press escape to stop the edit

[*]Press the Add Row button

[*]Paste in the name you cut previously but change to .msiEnabled

[*]Go to the Value column and type in FALSE without the quotes

[*]Then press the OK button - you are finished

How_To_Add_VM_Configuration_Parameters.zip

[jdmlight]

It looks correct to me.  I see you have ESXi 5.1.  Are you trying to pass through any devices that are on a PCI buss?  Not just a PCI slot but any built in devices that connect via PCI bus?  The reason I ask is that 5.1 has a bug that causes PSODs if trying to pass through a PCI device.  So if you have a device on the PCI buss you might try switching to 5.0 until they get a patch for it - assuming they haven't already done that and you are using it of course.

I'm not trying to pass any PCI devices, but I'm giving 5.0 a shot just in case that's the problem.

PS.  There is another easier way to edit the VM VMX configuration file - at least for me.

[*]Go to the Options Tab

[*]Select the Advanced - General selection when you do you will see a button for Configuration Parameters

[*]When you click on the Configuration Parameters button a dialog box pops up - adjust the columns so that you can read them

[*]Find the entries for the MV8 card and press F2 while one of the parameter names is selected like you are going to rename it but just cut the name

[*]Now press escape to stop the edit

[*]Press the Add Row button

[*]Paste in the name you cut previously but change to .msiEnabled

[*]Go to the Value column and type in FALSE without the quotes

[*]Then press the OK button - you are finished

Thanks!  That's exactly what I was looking for.  I'd rather use the program's built-in editor than edit the configuration file myself.

 

Parity's checking right now, fingers crossed...

 

EDIT: Nope, still PSOD'd.  It took considerably longer this time though, the parity check got to around 10% before crashing.  I'm thinking of installing Windows on a spare hard drive and doing some stability tests to make sure I didn't get a defective processor or something.  I'm going to start with a memtest though.

 

This is the PSOD I just got, it looks different than the others I had before, it's all garbled this time.

(click for bigger version)