I could not get ESXi 5.5 to work properly with sVGA mode because I could not get the NVidia driver to start properly.
I can see I loaded the driver manually (version 3.45.69).
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# esxcli software vib list | grep NVIDIA
NVIDIA-VMware_ESXi_5.5_Host_Driver 346.69-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 NVIDIA VMwareAccepted 2015-07-13
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/etc/init.d/xorg start will not start with vmkernel.log getting this error.
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2015-07-13T16:29:03.875Z cpu5:37740)module heap: Initial heap size: 8388608, max heap size: 68476928
2015-07-13T16:29:03.875Z cpu5:37740)vmklnx_module_mempool_init: Mempool max 68476928 being used for module: 4192
2015-07-13T16:29:03.875Z cpu5:37740)vmk_MemPoolCreate passed for 2048 pages
2015-07-13T16:29:03.875Z cpu5:37740)module heap: using memType 2
2015-07-13T16:29:03.875Z cpu5:37740)module heap vmklnx_nvidia: creation succeeded. id = 0x411245757000
NVRM: vmk_MemPoolCreate passed for 2129919 pages.
NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter found!
2015-07-13T16:29:04.126Z cpu5:37740)nvidia failed to load.
2015-07-13T16:29:04.126Z cpu5:37740)WARNING: Elf: 2822: Kernel based module load of nvidia failed: Failure <Mod_LoadDone failed>
2015-07-13T16:29:06.518Z cpu27:34906)World: 14299: VC opID HB-host-127@76-52671c2a-27 maps to vmkernel opID 1d966baf
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Running command nvidia-smi gets this error.
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NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
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I can see the Nvidia hardware on ESXi
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# esxcli hardware pci list -c 0x300 -m 0xff
000:009:00.0
Address: 000:009:00.0
Segment: 0x0000
Bus: 0x09
Slot: 0x00
Function: 0x00
VMkernel Name:
Vendor Name: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd.
Device Name: MGA G200e [Pilot] ServerEngines (SEP1)
Configured Owner: Unknown
Current Owner: VMkernel
Vendor ID: 0x102b
Device ID: 0x0522
SubVendor ID: 0x1137
SubDevice ID: 0x0101
Device Class: 0x0300
Device Class Name: VGA compatible controller
Programming Interface: 0x00
Revision ID: 0x02
Interrupt Line: 0x0b
IRQ: 11
Interrupt Vector: 0x34
PCI Pin: 0x05
Spawned Bus: 0x00
Flags: 0x0221
Module ID: -1
Module Name: None
Chassis: 0
Physical Slot: 0
Slot Description:
Passthru Capable: true
Parent Device: PCI 0:0:28:7
Dependent Device: PCI 0:9:0:0
Reset Method: Link reset
FPT Sharable: true
000:085:00.0
Address: 000:085:00.0
Segment: 0x0000
Bus: 0x85
Slot: 0x00
Function: 0x00
VMkernel Name:
Vendor Name: NVIDIA Corporation
Device Name: GK104GL [GRID K2]
Configured Owner: Unknown
Current Owner: VMkernel
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x11bf
SubVendor ID: 0x10de
SubDevice ID: 0x100a
Device Class: 0x0300
Device Class Name: VGA compatible controller
Programming Interface: 0x00
Revision ID: 0xa1
Interrupt Line: 0x0b
IRQ: 11
Interrupt Vector: 0x3c
PCI Pin: 0x0e
Spawned Bus: 0x00
Flags: 0x0201
Module ID: -1
Module Name: None
Chassis: 0
Physical Slot: 255
Slot Description: Chassis slot 5:01.00
Passthru Capable: true
Parent Device: PCI 0:132:8:0
Dependent Device: PCI 0:133:0:0
Reset Method: Bridge reset
FPT Sharable: true
000:086:00.0
Address: 000:086:00.0
Segment: 0x0000
Bus: 0x86
Slot: 0x00
Function: 0x00
VMkernel Name:
Vendor Name: NVIDIA Corporation
Device Name: GK104GL [GRID K2]
Configured Owner: Unknown
Current Owner: VMkernel
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x11bf
SubVendor ID: 0x10de
SubDevice ID: 0x100a
Device Class: 0x0300
Device Class Name: VGA compatible controller
Programming Interface: 0x00
Revision ID: 0xa1
Interrupt Line: 0x0b
IRQ: 11
Interrupt Vector: 0x3c
PCI Pin: 0x00
Spawned Bus: 0x00
Flags: 0x0201
Module ID: -1
Module Name: None
Chassis: 0
Physical Slot: 255
Slot Description: Chassis slot 5:02.00
Passthru Capable: true
Parent Device: PCI 0:132:16:0
Dependent Device: PCI 0:134:0:0
Reset Method: Bridge reset
FPT Sharable: true
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I uploaded to the latest 2.0(6) HUU package (updated all) and tried downgraded to 2.0(1) HUU package with no success.
I have 2 UCS c240m3s with 2.0(1b) firmware loaded that is working properly with the same Nvidia ESXi 5.5 driver. Only this one new c240m3L server with this issue.
Hope someone has seen this behavior before.
