Pkg xen devel - Oct 2010 - Bug#600241: Xen Hypervisor can only boot if "acpi=off" parameter is used.

Package: xen-hypervisor-4.0-amd64
Version: 4.0.1-1

Hardware specs:

Dell PowerEdge R410
32GB RAM DDR3
1TB RAID-1 HD (Perc H200 RAID controller)
Processor: 2 - Intel XeonE5620 2.4Ghz 12M Cache Turbo HT 1066MHz

SO: Debian Squeeze
last update: 14/10/2010
uname -a: "Linux spo-r1-u4 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 #1 SMP Fri Sep 17 22:00:48 
UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux"

At boot, xen-hypervisor is loaded normally, but when it tries to load 
linux kernel it freezes. There is no screen output and after a few 
seconds, the server reboots.
However, the problem doesn't happen if "acpi=off" parameter is
used on
grub xen-hypervisor entry OR if the virtualization flags are disabled on 
the BIOS.
Using the "acpi=off" parameters Xen is not able to detect the 16 cores
(8 fisical with hyperthread), only 8 cores. If the virtualization flags 
are disabled all the 16 cores are detect.

Xen grub entry:

menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 and XEN 
4.0-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os 
--class xen {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos2)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 935213fd-c3c6-49ad-b818-a3b67704c585
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 ...'
    multiboot    /xen-4.0-amd64.gz placeholder acpi=off  
    module    /vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 placeholder 
root=/dev/mapper/main-root ro  quiet
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    module    /initrd.img-2.6.32-5-xen-amd64
}

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 06:41:20PM -0300, Daniel Requena
wrote:
> Package: xen-hypervisor-4.0-amd64
> Version: 4.0.1-1
>
> Hardware specs:
>
> Dell PowerEdge R410
> 32GB RAM DDR3
> 1TB RAID-1 HD (Perc H200 RAID controller)
> Processor: 2 - Intel XeonE5620 2.4Ghz 12M Cache Turbo HT 1066MHz
>
> SO: Debian Squeeze
> last update: 14/10/2010
> uname -a: "Linux spo-r1-u4 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 #1 SMP Fri Sep 17
22:00:48
> UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux"
>
> At boot, xen-hypervisor is loaded normally, but when it tries to load  
> linux kernel it freezes. There is no screen output and after a few  
> seconds, the server reboots.
> However, the problem doesn't happen if "acpi=off" parameter
is used on
> grub xen-hypervisor entry OR if the virtualization flags are disabled on  
> the BIOS.
> Using the "acpi=off" parameters Xen is not able to detect the 16
cores
> (8 fisical with hyperthread), only 8 cores. If the virtualization flags  
> are disabled all the 16 cores are detect.
>
You should use a serial console (or SOL) and capture the full boot messages
(and errors) from Xen and from dom0 Linux kernel.

Use These options for Xen hypervisor (xen.gz): 
dom0_mem=1024M loglvl=all guest_loglvl=all sync_console console_to_ring
com1=115200,8n1 console=com1 lapic=debug apic_verbosity=debug apic=debug
iommu=off

Fix the com1 stuff to match your serial/SOL setup.

And these parameters for the dom0 Linux kernel (vmlinuz):
console=hvc0 earlyprintk=xen nomodeset initcall_debug debug loglevel=10


For more information:
http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenSerialConsole

-- Pasi

> Xen grub entry:
>
> menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 and XEN  
> 4.0-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os  
> --class xen {
>    insmod part_msdos
>    insmod ext2
>    set root='(hd0,msdos2)'
>    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 935213fd-c3c6-49ad-b818-a3b67704c585
>    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 ...'
>    multiboot    /xen-4.0-amd64.gz placeholder acpi=off     module    
> /vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 placeholder root=/dev/mapper/main-root ro  
> quiet
>    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
>    module    /initrd.img-2.6.32-5-xen-amd64
> }
>
>
>
>
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