Re: [Xen-devel] [Xen-users] [REQUEST] Request for Xen Users to Attempt Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough Documentation

["Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)" <singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dearest Casey DeLorme,

Thank you very very much for your kind feedback and input. I would also like to thank Mr. Tobias Geiger, again, for providing his suggestion on exposing the fourth memory region in tools/firmware/hvmloader/acpi/dsdt.asl. In any case, either exposing the first 3 memory regions only or exposing all the 4 memory regions does not work. Sadly, Tobias Geiger is unable to help me further.

I have asked Jean David Techer, what about the 4th PCI memory region? Why only expose the first 3 PCI memory regions? I don't understand, of course. Jean David Techer did not reply to my question.

I have decided to post your prompt reply to the xen-users and xen-devel mailing lists, in case people think that I am finding fault with Jean David Techer, or trying to irritate him, or trying to make him angry, or trying to aggravate him. Jean David Techer replied me with an email saying that I spent too much time and too bent on solving the yellow exclamation mark glitch for my NVIDIA Geforce 8400GS in Device Manager in Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows XP Home Edition, and that I sent stupid requests. Stupid requests? Did he read my emails carefully, word by word?

Casey DeLorme, please, can I confirm with you again that you are getting the following errors after applying Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough patches:

(1) Yellow exclamation mark besides your NVIDIA GTX 460 in Device Manager
(2) Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)
(3) This device isn't using any resources because it has a problem.

Jean David Techer insists that our technical issues are due to a NVIDIA driver problem. He insists that you have to install NVIDIA driver versions 275.33 WHQL and 275.50 BETA. Any other NVIDIA driver versions (above 280.XX) will not work, according to Jean David Techer. However, I have tried installing NVIDIA driver versions 275.33 and 275.50 from www.softpedia.com, as he suggested, but it caused my Windows XP Home Edition HVM virtual machine to be destroyed/terminated/crash after a few minutes and my dom0 to crash as well. NVIDIA driver versions 275.33 and 275.50 for Windows XP 32-bit is not available from the official NVIDIA website.

So it is definitely not a NVIDIA driver problem. I suspect that the technical issue has to do with MMIO BARs pBAR:vBAR 1:1 matching. I don't think there is any problem with vgabios-pt.bin extracted out from our NVIDIA VGA cards, because I have performed a "hexdump -C" on my extracted VGA BIOS EEPROM, or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.

Secondly, it does seem strange that Jean David Techer was able to attain 100%, ie. perfect success with Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough to his Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit HVM domU. Have you watched his Youtube video? It is only 4 minutes. Please do watch Jean David Techer's Youtube video at the following URL:

Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough to Windows XP x64 HVM domU Youtube video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SaYO0ERW44

I am appalled and baffled that he has attained 100% success while both of us have only attained partial success (i.e. less than 100%) on Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough to Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows XP.

Solving the yellow exclamation mark issue is important because we would not be able to run 3D graphics benchmarks and play 3D games without solving it. I am not sending silly emails about some yellow marks, as Jean David Techer suggested. I can't even run Unigine Heaven DX11, and 3dmark11 3D display benchmarks, because of the yellow exclamation mark for NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS in Device Manager.

Casey DeLorme, with your report on relatively easy success with ATI VGA cards, I think I would go the ATI way, but I would have to spend a few hundred dollars compared to my cheap SGD$44 NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS card. And while deciding to go the ATI way, I would also like to continue troubleshooting with the NVIDIA problem, because I consider it to be a technical challenge.

In essence, Jean David Techner is considered to be a "boss", or business owner, or proprietor, or technopreneur, or entrepreneur, or technical support officer, or customer support officer, or IT helpdesk engineer, providing services like his forward-ported Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough patches and the documentation on his blog. I repost Jean David Techer's official website here:

Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough blog: http://www.davidgis.fr/blog/index.php?2011/12/07/860-xen-42unstable-patches-for-vga-pass-through

Jean David Techer's official website is his business venture.

Basically, I am Jean David Techer's "customer", trying to obtain technical support from him. Of course, he is not obliged to provide technical support to me since he is providing free services. It is, after all, an open source software project. Nobody is obliged to provide anybody with technical support. To do Jean David Techer justice, he replied most of my questions while avoiding some of my questions.

Finally, I have also failed to obtain technical support from Xen developers like Ian Campbell from Citrix Corporation and Konrad Wilk from Oracle Corporation. I have always provided all the steps which I have taken, the configuration files and necessary documentation, and kernel messages and error logs to xen-users and xen-devel mailing lists, but they keep insisting I did not provide the information they required. I wondered why. I think they did not read my emails carefully. They told me they would not reply to me any more if I do not provide the information they requested. But the problem is that I have always provided information they requested! I think they missed some of my emails, or did not read my emails carefully enough. I am an ardent supporter and SERIOUS software tester for open source Xen virtualization/hypervisor but they treated me lightly. I always read my emails WORD BY WORD. I have even went to the point of making a video on the BUG and uploading my video to Youtube. The video is only THREE minutes.

As everybody says, a picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth a BILLION words!

I have also failed to obtain technical support from Xen developers regarding Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough.

I am hoping Xen 4.2 would have official support for Xen VGA Passthrough for both NVIDIA and ATI cards.

Casey DeLorme, thank you very much once again. I will be making changes to my Xen, Linux Kernel and Xen VGA Documentation and will be releasing Version 1.7 shortly. Jean David Techer's documentation assumes some level of advanced Linux technical knowledge, so I am writing documentation on my own so that everybody, not just advanced Linux and Xen users, can follow. I have made references to Jean David Techer's documentation in my own documentation.

I would be very happy if people would use my documentation. Of course, it satisfies my ego and my vanity. Haha.

I have been un-employed for nearly three years now, and I would hesitate to spend a few hundred dollars on an ATI VGA card. I quit my job as an IT engineer 3 years ago because my father suffered from lacunar infarct, or more commonly known as stroke. My NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS costs only S$44. Please understand why I hesitate to buy an ATI VGA card. The cheapest one costs SGD$279.

I have a diploma in Mechanical+Electronics engineering from Singapore Polytechnic and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. But I do not have qualifications in Computer Science or Information Technology. I have worked as an Information Technology engineer in Defense Science and Technology Agency, Ministry of Defense, Singapore, National Computer Systems Pte Ltd, Asiasoft Online Pte Ltd, and Ishinemax Singapore Pte Ltd.

Google search terms: Frenchman Jean David Techer, Singaporean Teo En Ming's Xen, Linux Kernel and Xen VGA Passthrough Documentation, Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough to Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows XP HVM Virtual Machines

Thank you very much for reading my lengthy email. I am always courteous, saying "Please help me. Please. Please. Please." and "Thank you very much for your kind assistance" in my emails.

Thank you very much.

My computer hardware:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz with Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel DQ45CB Desktop Board with Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
6 GB DDR2-800 Memory
NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS PCI Express x16 VGA card

My computer software:

Ubuntu 11.10 amd64 Release with Xen virtualization/hypervisor 4.1.3-rc1-pre and Xen 4.2-unstable
Linux Kernel 3.3.0 Final
Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit English HVM domU
Windows XP Home Edition SP3 32-bit HVM domU
Fedora 16 x86-64 Paravirtualized (PV) domU
Debian Squeeze Paravirtualized (PV) domU

-- 
Yours sincerely,

Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
Singapore Citizen

cc: His Excellency The Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister's Office, Republic of Singapore

On 29/03/2012 03:53, Casey DeLorme wrote:

Hi Teo,

I tried David's patch files a while ago without success.  I had Xen compiled with the patch files and my GTX 460 VGA BIOS rom, but I got the same as you, either a BSOD or Code 43 in Device Manager.

You sound plenty competent, but it's important to remember that you are pioneering a technology that for consumers is still in its infancy.  Very few people are testing this with consumer equipment, so finding results seems to be a rarity.

I spent a lot of time googling, and found a post someone made of success with Windows 7 and a GTX 460, they applied Tobias Geiger's patches, which to my knowledge are not maintained for the latest Xen like David's, and I also though I read that David used those patches in his own.  In any event, might be worth a look, but applying those patches might be a lot of manual editing:

http://xen.1045712.n5.nabble.com/Secondary-VGA-Passthrough-nvidia-win7-success-report-td5126062.html

I went ahead and took everyones recommendation to buy an ATI card, which wasn't an outrageous request since I already bought a bunch of components to try out VT-d.

Yesterday I succeeded in getting VGA Passthrough going in one day with relatively little difficulty on pre-packaged (aptitude) Xen 4.1.2.

ATI appears to have people submitting patches for their own devices, unlike nVidia, so if you want to be on the forefront of this technology it seems like ATI is the way to go.

If you are dead set on nVidia, it might be a year before someone finds the solution nVidia owners are waiting on.

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 11:57 AM, Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) <singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Dear Xen Users,

I have partial (that is, less than 100%) success following Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough Documentation. In both Windows 8 Consumer Preview HVM and Windows XP Home Edition HVM, I get yellow exclamation mark besides NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS in Device Manager. NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS in Device Manager reports:

1) Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)
2) This device isn't using any resources because it has a problem.

So, in Xen VGA Passthrough to Windows 8 Consumer Preview HVM and Windows XP Home Edition HVM, I can only surf the internet and watch Youtube videos but I cannot run 3D graphics benchmarks. This is very very important because you cannot play 3D games. I can only run 2D graphics benchmarks, meaning I can only play 2D games. But nobody plays 2D games nowadays.

Jean David Techer, who is French, told me that it is a NVIDIA driver problem. According to his documentation, you have to use NVIDIA drivers 275.33 and 275.50 strictly. Any other NVIDIA driver versions WILL NOT work. Hence, I have attempted to install NVIDIA drivers 275.33 WHQL and 275.50 BETA in Windows XP Home Edition HVM domU. Common sense tells you I did not install both driver versions at the same time, of course. Installing NVIDIA driver versions 275.33 and 275.50 causes Windows XP Home Edition HVM domU to be DESTROYED (in Xen speak) and also causes my domain 0 to crash.

But if I install the LATEST NVIDIA drivers above 280.XX, it WILL NOT cause my Windows XP HVM domU and domain 0 to crash. But there will be a yellow exclamation marks besides NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS in Device Manager. Why do I keep complaining about the yellow exclamation mark? Is it because I have nothing better to do and irritate David Techer? It is because I simply CANNOT run 3D graphics benchmarks and play 3D games. I can only surf the web and play Youtube videos.

Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough documentation is available at the following URL:

Jean David Techer's Blog link: http://www.davidgis.fr/blog/index.php?2011/12/07/860-xen-42unstable-patches-for-vga-pass-through

Any Xen user with the following computer hardware specifications, please try out David Techer's documentation.

Intel Processor with Virtualization Technology
Motherboard with VT-d support
Motherboard BIOS with VT-d option to enable or disable
NVIDIA PCI Express x16 display card

Any Xen user who can attain 100% success with David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough documentation, please let all of us at xen-users mailing list know.

Why do I keep on troubleshooting? Because I consider this to be a technical challenge, although I am not an expert programmer. I have only learnt very basic C programming more than 15 years ago at Singapore Polytechnic and I have forgotten most of it by now. I am a Linux/UNIX system administrator with experiences in Apache web server, qmail and Postfix Email Server, DNS Server, DHCP server, OpenLDAP server, phpBB forum, MySQL database, Xen virtualization, VirtualBox, VMware, Snort Intrusion Prevention Systems, OSSEC Host Intrusion Detection Systems, Nagios monitoring software, and various Linux and BSD distributions. But I am by no means a software developer. I did not study computer science. I studied mechanical engineering at National University of Singapore.

It is too bad software engineer Han Weidong has left Intel Corporation last year, otherwise he would be able to help me. I got 100% success with Xen 3.5-unstable VGA Passthrough 3 years ago, back in the year 2009. Han Weidong et al are the original developers of the Xen VGA Passthrough patches, which only worked with Xen 3.5-unstable. Jean David Techer forward ported Han Weidong's patches to Xen 4.2-unstable with his programming knowledge, C/C++ and Java. I have read his CV.

According to Intel engineers Zhang Xiantao and Ren Yongjie, Intel's current policy is to focus on IGD VGA passthrough, so it is understood that they won't be able to help me with my issue. It is company policy, so they cannot afford the time and resources to help me.

If everybody who follows Jean David Techer's Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough documentation with 100% success without glitches, then I must be technically incompetent.

I would like to thank Xen users in advance if they are able to lend a helping hand.

-- 
Yours sincerely,

Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
Singapore

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