I just replaced my AMD HD 7870 with a Nvidia GTX 970. When I try to boot up my Windows 10 VM, I don't get any display (screen stays black). I can boot up with VNC so I thought I should try installing the drivers for the new card. Nvidia doesn't let me do that without the card present, which it isn't because I can only boot in VNC. I guess there is a setting that needs to change due to the switch from AMD to Nvidia but I can't figure out what it is. Any help is appreciated.

 

System Info

unRAID 6.1.7
M/B: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. - M5A97 R2.0
CPU: AMD FX(tm)-8150 Eight-Core @ 3600
HVM: Enabled
IOMMU: Enabled
Cache: 384 kB, 8192 kB, 8192 kB
Memory: 16384 MB (max. installable capacity 32 GB)
Network: eth0: 1000Mb/s - Full Duplex
Kernel: Linux 4.1.15-unRAID x86_64
OpenSSL: 1.0.1q

Nvidia GTX 970

 

XML

<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
  <name>Windows10-Personal</name>
  <uuid>34692977-add1-ad16-1ffd-df57fd1f3ad8</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate name="Custom" icon="windows.png" os="windows"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>13107200</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>13107200</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>
  </cputune>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='1' threads='1'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='rtc' tickpolicy='catchup'/>
    <timer name='pit' tickpolicy='delay'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/disk2/Windows10-Personal/vdisk1.img'/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:0c:b6:d2'/>
      <source bridge='virbr0'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <target port='0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty'>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/Windows10-Personal.org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x04d9'/>
        <product id='0x2013'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x045e'/>
        <product id='0x0724'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='ioh3420,bus=pci.0,addr=1c.0,multifunction=on,port=2,chassis=1,id=root.1'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='vfio-pci,host=01:00.0,bus=root.1,addr=00.0,multifunction=on,x-vga=on'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='vfio-pci,host=00:14.2,bus=root.1,addr=01.0'/>
  </qemu:commandline>
</domain>

 

IOMMU Groups

/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/0/devices/0000:00:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/1/devices/0000:00:02.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/2/devices/0000:00:04.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/3/devices/0000:00:05.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/4/devices/0000:00:07.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/5/devices/0000:00:11.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/6/devices/0000:00:12.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/6/devices/0000:00:12.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:13.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:13.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/8/devices/0000:00:14.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:14.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/10/devices/0000:00:14.3
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/11/devices/0000:00:14.4
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/12/devices/0000:00:14.5
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/13/devices/0000:00:16.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/13/devices/0000:00:16.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/14/devices/0000:01:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/14/devices/0000:01:00.1
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/15/devices/0000:02:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/16/devices/0000:03:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/17/devices/0000:04:00.0

 

PCI Devices

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx0 port B) (rev 02)
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD990 I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port E)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port G)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 40)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:16.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 09)
03:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1042 SuperSpeed USB Host Controller
04:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1042 SuperSpeed USB Host Controller

 

[EDIT]  I should mention that the unraid terminal changes to a black screen when booting the VM. It just stays at a black screen.

Sounds similar to an issue I experienced last year with AMD vs Nvidia cards. I never ended up resolving the issue, but my fix was to use an AMD card to boot the VM. Something about Nvidia not liking passthrough when it's initially used as the boot/console device. There was a mention that if both the AMD and Nvidia cards were installed, and the AMD card was used as the boot/console device, then the Nvidia card might get passed through. If you can fit both cards in the system, I'd give that a try.

but my fix was to use an AMD card to boot the VM

 

As in, use the AMD card via passthrough for your VM instead of the new Nvidia card? That wouldn't solve my problem as I will not be keeping the AMD card.

 

I attached both cards to see if booting unraid with the AMD card would magically allow me to use the Nvidia one as passthrough for my VM but that doesn't work.

but my fix was to use an AMD card to boot the VM

 

As in, use the AMD card via passthrough for your VM instead of the new Nvidia card? That wouldn't solve my problem as I will not be keeping the AMD card.

 

I attached both cards to see if booting unraid with the AMD card would magically allow me to use the Nvidia one as passthrough for my VM but that doesn't work.

Is the Nvidia card the only Graphic card in the server? No integrated graphics?

If so you will not be able to pass through the nvidia card as it's not possible now. Jonp hinted they were close to a solution, but that is all we know.

AMD cards doesn't have this problem when being the only card.

No, there is no integrated GPU on my server. Hopefully they come up with a solution soon. Thanks for the help, guys.

Try not to pass through your onboard sound and use the NVidia graphics card sound instead.

Try not to pass through your onboard sound and use the NVidia graphics card sound instead.

In doing so, you won't get sound out of your speakers if they are plugged into the speaker out jack, correct?

That is correct. But if that worked with the graphics card problem then he would probably just have to add a secondary audio device witch could bee the onboard soundcard.

im having this same problem right now and i cant figure it out it just goes black when i try to load my vm. Also when i use vnc it says there are no drives found its really a problem and im clueless