Hardware

• Motherboard: Asus Z170 Deluxe (Skylake)
  
• Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z
  

Problem

I am just trying to get sound out of my Windows 10 VM.  I read somewhere that you couldn't passthrough the on-board audio on Skylake based boards, but I could do it if I had a seperate sound card.  I cannot get the VM to start with either the on-board audio, or the sound card. I do not want to use the HDMI audio that is from my video card.  When I try to start the VM with the Sound Blaster, I get the following:

 

[pre]Execution error

 

internal error: early end of file from monitor: possible problem:

2016-03-09T06:34:27.386624Z qemu-system-x86_64: -device vfio-pci,host=0a:00.0,bus=pcie.0: vfio: error, group 7 is not viable, please ensure all devices within the iommu_group are bound to their vfio bus driver.

2016-03-09T06:34:27.386639Z qemu-system-x86_64: -device vfio-pci,host=0a:00.0,bus=pcie.0: vfio: failed to get group 7

2016-03-09T06:34:27.386645Z qemu-system-x86_64: -device vfio-pci,host=0a:00.0,bus=pcie.0: Device initialization failed

2016-03-09T06:34:27.386651Z qemu-system-x86_64: -device vfio-pci,host=0a:00.0,bus=pcie.0: Device 'vfio-pci' could not be initialized[/pre]

 

So I looked at the PCI Devices -> 0a:00.0 Audio device: Creative Labs SB Recon3D (rev 01):

 

 

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device a102 (rev 31)
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Root Port #17 (rev f1)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #7 (rev f1)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK106 [GeForce GTX 650 Ti] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK106 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1242
04:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:01.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:02.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:03.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:04.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:05.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:06.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
05:07.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1187
06:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device 9215 (rev 11)
07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
08:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1062 Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
0a:00.0 Audio device: Creative Labs SB Recon3D (rev 01)
0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
0d:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1242
0e:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1242

 

...and the IOMMU Groups -> /sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:0a:00.0

 

/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/0/devices/0000:00:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/1/devices/0000:00:01.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/1/devices/0000:01:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/1/devices/0000:01:00.1
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/2/devices/0000:00:02.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/3/devices/0000:00:14.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/4/devices/0000:00:16.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/5/devices/0000:00:17.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/6/devices/0000:00:1b.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:1c.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:1c.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:1c.4
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:00:1c.6
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:03:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:04:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:01.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:02.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:03.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:04.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:05.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:06.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:05:07.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:06:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:07:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:08:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:0a:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:0b:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:0d:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/7/devices/0000:0e:00.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/8/devices/0000:00:1d.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:1f.0
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:1f.2
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:1f.3
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:1f.4
/sys/kernel/iommu_groups/9/devices/0000:00:1f.6

 

 

As you can see, group 7 is full of other devices.  I have tried various things on the forum like activating the PCIe ACS Override, to no avail.  I have also tried to edit the VM XML with:

 

 

    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x0a' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>

 

 

I consider myself a pretty technical guy, but after spending a couple hours on the forum trying to troubleshoot this... I am out of ideas.  How can I get my Windows 10 VM to see the sound card?  Why is this not working by just specifying the sound card when editing the VM configuration?

The problem is that the ACS override doesn't work that good on skylake.  There are one that had it working if I remember correctly.

Your only option is to try to move the card around and see if you manage to get it in its own group.

It might not be directly applicable to this exact problem, but I thought you should know that I couldn't get a stable windows 10 VM running without passing through the HDMI sound along with the video card.  I tried to use a PCI sound card but if I didn't pass HDMI sound through the NVIDIA video card had issues releasing during a reboot.  If I tried to pass the HDMI and sound card, there was a conflict and it wouldn't boot.

I managed to pass through my nvidia gpu, nvidia hd audio and a sound blaster z card to my win 10 VM on an asus maximus hero viii. It was an extreme pain in the but but here is how I eventually did it.

 

1: Disable the on board audio in the motherboard bios. (Probably doesn't matter but do it anyway, you can always re-enable it once everything is passed through and working if you like)

2: Make sure your nvidia GPU is connected to the first x16 pcie slot!

3: install the soundblaster in the second long PCIe slot x8 port.

4: check that the IOMMU grouping of the sound card is either in a group of it's own or the same group as the nvida card.

5: pass through the nvida card and the nvida hd audio.

6: add an additional sound card under VM edit and pass through the sound blaster card.

 

I basically had to plug the secondary sounblaster card into every slot on the motherboard and run trial and error until I finally managed to get it to work in the x8 slot.

 

Hope this helps any one with an asus skylake motherboard running under unradi 6.1.9! cheers.

 

I basically had to plug the secondary sounblaster card into every slot on the motherboard and run trial and error until I finally managed to get it to work in the x8 slot.

 

Hope this helps any one with an asus skylake motherboard running under unradi 6.1.9! cheers.

 

I just wanted to circle back on this.  I did get my Sound Blaster Z to work. I had to try every available slot like Sarf did, but I eventually finally found one that worked.  I didn't even have to edit my XML.