Hi all,
I''m having difficulty getting VT-d to work correctly with a new
Supermicro
MBD-X10SAE-O in QubesOS <http://qubes-os.org/trac>, and I''m
hoping someone
here might be able to help me (or at least shed some light on my
situation). A Qubes developer suggested I contact this list. Here''s my
HCL
post from the qubes-users group
<https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/qubes-users>(full
thread<https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/qubes-users/V9BLpdf4xCs>
):
----------------------------------------
*HCL Report* (2013-06-17)
Qubes release 2 (R2)> Model Name: Supermicro X10SAE
>
> Chipset: 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Haswell DRAM
> Controller [8086:0c08] (rev 06)
> VGA: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro
> Devices [AMD] nee ATI Juniper [Radeon HD 5700 Series] [1002:68b8]
> CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1245 v3 @ 3.40GHz
> BIOS: 1.00
> VT-x: Active
> VT-d: Not Active
>
After several days of troubleshooting and around twenty reinstallations,
here is what I''ve come up with:
*The MOBO and CPU both support VT-d, but I had to disable it in the BIOS in
order to get Qubes working.*
*Explanation:* If VT-d is enabled in the BIOS, then installation of Qubes
proceeds normally up the last step (VM creation). At this stage, the user
is presented with three options. The first two options create some VMs,
while the third option creates no VMs (and leaves the user to do it
manually later). If either of the first two options is selected, the system
completely freezes when installation tries to create the netvm. A hard
reboot is necessary. If the third option is chosen (i.e., create no VMs
during installation), then the installation completes successfully, and the
user can log in. But the system again freezes as soon as a netvm is
manually created (with ''qvm-create --net --label red netvm'' in
dom0), and
again a hard reboot is required. (I tried pretty much every possible
combination of assigning different devices to the netvm before starting it
up, but the system keeps freezing. I also tried updating (i.e.,
qubes-dom0-update), but no dice.)
*Question/Hypothesis: *Is this happening because the new Haswell
implementation of VT-d (if there is such a thing) is not yet supported by
the version of the Linux kernel we''re using? Or maybe it''s not
yet
supported by (the version of) Xen we''re using? After all, this MOBO/CPU
just came out in the last week or so. Maybe I just need to wait for an
update?
*The CPU has integrated Intel HD 4600 (GT2) graphics, but I had to use a
discrete GPU in order to install Qubes.*
*Explanation:* I actually chose the Xeon E3-1245v3 over the E3-1230v3
because the former has Intel graphics, and the HCL page recommends Intel
graphics over nVidia/AMD. But, as it turns out (in my case, at least),
using an AMD Radeon HD 5770 was necessary. At first, I tried installing
Qubes with just the MOBO and CPU (no discrete graphics, no other PCI/e
devices of any kind). This caused several errors during the installation,
which I have seen others mention (in different situations). The first major
thing that happened is that the graphical install failed (I believe it
said, ''X startup failed''), and it kicked back to an anaconda
text-only
installation. I was able to select my options (time zone, storage device
target for installation, etc.), but then I received an error which said,
''luks device has no key''. (I gathered from a post by Marek in
an old thread
that this is probably due to shortcomings in anaconda.) The installation
could not proceed. So then I slotted in the Radeon HD 5770, and everything
was fine.
*Question/Hypothesis:* Same as above. Maybe this is a kernel/Xen issue?
I''m
not personally worried about it, as the HD 5770 is working fine, but this
may be important to others. By contrast, I *really* want VT-d to work.
*Request for assistance:* Is there anything else I can try to do to get
VT-d working?
----------------------------------------
Things I''ve tried since posting the above: disabling TXT, disabling
Vanderpool/VT-x, using Qubes with Xen 4.1.2, using Qubes with Xen 4.1.5,
using Qubes with Linux kernel 3.9.2.
I''ve also installed the latest version of Xen with regular Fedora 18 as
the
host OS (all with VT-d enabled in the BIOS). Everything works fine so far,
but I don''t know how to check whether VT-d is enabled (or how to enable
it)
or test it. This page <http://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/VTd_HowTo> explains
that I need ''iommu=1'' as a boot parameter, but even after
extensive
searching, I can''t seem to figure out how to actually do that with the
current versions of Xen and Fedora.
Thank you for reading! Any help you can provide would be greatly
appreciated!
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