Hyperthreading enabled in BIOS but still shows Inactive

[cryptotoad]

Using a Supermicro X8SAX board with an i7-930 chip. Chip supports hyperthreading and ensured feature is enabled in the BIOS. However, through vSphere Client, Hyperthreading still shows Inactive on Summary tab and Disabled (Enabled on restart) in Configuration-Processors tab.

ESXi recognizes the CPU model by name and shows I have 1 socket and 4 cores per socket.

Have shutdown, rebooted, reinstalled, and switched licensing modes. Also confirmed running latest BIOS revision. Nothing seems to help.

Also noticing that Power Management Technology shows "Not available", even though it is enabled in the BIOS.

Any ideas? Am I missing something here?

[WillieSurvive]

Hi Cryptotoad,

Have a look at this KB article for information about why power management isn't working:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012477

I'm having a similar problem with a PDSM4+ motherboard and am having a heck of a time getting SuperMicro support to grasp exactly what the problem is, they keep coming back with "Vmware isn't supported on this board" even though this really doesn't seem to be exactly a Vmware problem.

I have found 1 other user with a problem getting power management enabled on a Vmware system on SuperMicro boards. There is an AnandTech article here:

http://it.anandtech.com/show/2807/9

That seems to have the same problem with EIST. The most troubling thing about this EIST detection problem is that this seems to be happening on 3 seperate generations of SuperMicro intel-based boards, and if they can't get it right I don't know who I could expect to!

I have nothing to offer to help sort out your hyperthreading problem, but last night while I had all my vm's down to patch ESXi I tried playing with some of the bios settings in the advanced -> advanced chipset area of the bios. I found that if Ichanged the "Set MAX Ext CPUID = 3" to enabled I could get SpeedStep to be detected in ESXi, only problem is that the system only detected 1 core on my CPU at bootup and the BIOS told me hyperthreading was enabled, which is not a feature my chip even supports. I don't know what this setting does, but if your system has it and could you try enabling it and see if SpeedStep gets detected in ESXi?

Getting back to the KB article...

It seems the problem involves some optional ACPI tables that ESXi wants but doesn't need; if your BIOS exports those tables incorrectly you don't get power mangement in your ESXi system. This problem is supposed to be fixed in a future release of ESXi that will remove the requirement that these table be present. The other solution is to contact your motherboard manufacturer and get a BIOS that correctly exports the ACPI tables ESXi wants but doesn't need. Per the AnandTech article both Supermicro and Asus support were contacted and Asus was able to step up with a corrected bios. I don't know that SuperMicro ever did.

While I haven't had good luck so far getting Supermicro support to resolve my case it couldn't hurt to open a ticket with them about your SpeedStep problem

-Will

[jkumhar75]

From this ecperience, we can conclude that it's nothing to do with the Vmware ESX OS.It's supermicro board issue.you need to check with them.

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

maybe your BIOS is a little buggy.

Then try doing this, maybe helps:

1) Upload the BIOS firmware to the latest one

2) Between BIOS changes always power off the host. I recommend you that you either switch off the power supply itself or pull the power cord(s) out of the wall and wait ten seconds

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

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[cryptotoad]

Update: Thanks for the responses. I've looking into everything provided so far and nothing yet has yielded positive results. Yes, some settings, such as HT and VT require a cold boot, which I have done. Just for the heck of it, I even pulled the old PCI video card I had in there and put a PCIe card in there - I don't know, but figured it couldn't hurt in case the old PCI card was mucking up the device table.

I have a call into Supermicro tech support and they say they are investigating the problem. Seems that they understand my issue are discussing how to address it. Hopefully that is a good news - at least they are not pointing me back to VMware.

Personally, what I'd like to see is a set of recommended BIOS settings for ESXi 4. Understand that some settings depend greately on what you are doing with ESX, but a baseline would be nice and some basic pointers on which settings to enable during in which situations would be very nice!

Will update if/when I hear back from them.

[WillieSurvive]

Hi cryptotoad,

Please let us know how things work out with Supermicro.

Hopefully a fix is found quickly...it should be given that Vmware has the solution right there in the KB article!

The KB article does say that the need for these ACPI opjects to be persent that is causing this problem will be fixed in a future version of ESX, so one day it should all work even if Supermicro is unable or unwilling to step up.

Any idea if there is a way to check on the status of one of these future fixes\KB articles from Vmware without a support contract?

-Will

[ninyop]

Does ESX4i support Power management capability? I have seen cases where Power Management capability works under ESX4 but does not work under ESX4i.

Thanks

Ninyo

[WillieSurvive]

Yes, ESXi does support power mangement.

Have a look at the Configuration tab in the VI client under Hardware -> Processors.

If your processor and chipset support power mangement and are detected & working properly you should see the management technology approperiate to your system listed there.

To eneable it (power mangement is disabled by default) go under Configuration -> Software -> Advanced Settings and change Power.CpuPolicy to "dynamic".

Have a look at this KB article for a possible solution if your system should support power mangement but it isn't enabled:

I'm currently affected by the problem described in the KB article. I'm hoping Vmware issues the fix for it soon.

-Will

[ninyop]

Willie,

Thanks for your response. I have tried ESXi4U1 and it seems to have fixed the issue. I have also read somewhere that the new release (ESXi4U1) would not take into account for the optional arguments that are mentioned in that KB article.

Have you tried ESXi4U1?

Thanks

Ninyo

[cryptotoad]

My starting install was ESXi 4 U1 and am now on build 244038 so I don't believe the issue is resolved. I also don't know if the power management and HT issues are directy related. Minor update from Supermicro stating their engineer is still looking into it - this was after I sent them a link to the ACPI article referenced above. Tough to pin the issue on either side, but I'm going with whoever can fix it the fastest. On one hand, VMware shouldn't be requiring objects not technically required in the standard. On the other hand, Supermicro shouldn't be stating that a board is ESX 4 certified if it is subject to this issue.

More to come - hopefully.

[ninyop]

I have tried ESXi4U1 and ESX4i both and that is why I said that it is working on ESXi4U1. Attaching screen shot. Have you tried Enabling VT-D in BIOS? I have seen on some m/bs where if you enable VT-D, HT would be enabled. Don't know how they are related to each other. But worth trying.

[cryptotoad]

Yes, I did that. Basically, after configuring the HT, EIST, ACPI, and VT-d settings to what would be appropriate, I tried all kinds of combinations and nothing seemed to help. It really looks like it is a compatibility issue with the motherboard and ESX. The fact that the motherboard manufacturer is talking to me about it and "has their engineer working on the problem" tells me I'm probably on the right track.

Thanks, though. If you have more suggestions, keep em coming. I feel fairly safe assuming that not much I can do with settings is going to correct the issue, though.

[cryptotoad]

Another update....

Got word back from them and it seems they have replicated the issue. They sent a screen shot of their lab install of ESX with an updated beta version of the BIOS that appears to correct the HT issue, but it looks like they are still working out the power management issue. All good signs. They say their engineers are still working on the problem. Makes all the difference in the world knowing they are actually doing something to correct the issue. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish the work and get a production release of the updated BIOS out.

[cryptotoad]

Good news! (but not done yet)

Got a beta version of the updated BIOS for the board from the engineers for testing and both problems appear to be fixed. Also got a better understanding of what caused the issue. We are working on the configuration set to make sure everything else works now. Other glitchy things seem to be fixed too, such as the PS/2 keyboard not working after VMware finishes booting (had to keep both USB and PS/2 keyboard plugged in all the time - one for preboot and one for postboot). Found one issue with VT-d support, but not sure if this is a configuration issue somewhere or what.

I must say that I'm very happy with the way Supermicro is handling this one and feel very confident that all the issues will be addressed. I have one group of co-workers struggling with home ESX servers built on boards not on the HCL for ESX that continue to struggle with BIOS issues, system stability, network issues, etc. Then I have another group waiting on the outcome of my issues to buy parts. I'm pretty close to giving the green light here on this one.

I'll post again when there is a final release of the updated BIOS or if there are any more developments.

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

nice to hear the good news :smileywink:

As i suggested, it's a BIOS problem :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

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[robschoening]

It appears that downgrading the X8SAX BIOS from 1.1 to 1.0c does the trick.

Here is a screenshot from my VI Client:

http://img.skitch.com/20100503-q7746pf63sf1xs5nhxbkfxh55r.jpg

Also, FWIW, the fan control options allow for much quieter operation under BIOS 1.0c. The "Low Noise" setting in 1.1 set all the fans to full blast, just like the max cooling.

Please post when this final "fixed" BIOS is released. Not sure if I'll bother changing from 1.0c if the system remains stable though...