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

[Wei Huang <wei.huang2@amd.com>]

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On 03/29/2012 11:36 PM, Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) wrote:
> On 30/03/2012 04:11, Wei Huang wrote:
>> On 03/29/2012 01:35 PM, Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) wrote:
>>> Dear Casey DeLorme,
>>>
>>> This guy, Sebastien Gauthier, also has the same problems as us. He 
>>> was using Xen 4.1.0 and an ATI Radeon 4550. He applied Mr. Wei 
>>> Huang's patch. After installing the latest ATI/AMD Catalyst drivers, 
>>> he got a BSOD with Xen VGA Passthrough to Windows 7.
>>>
>>> Please read Sebastien Gauthier's case here:
>>>
>>> http://readlist.com/lists/lists.xensource.com/xen-users/11/59090.html
>>>
>>> Hence Sebastien Gauthier reported Xen VGA Passthrough with PARTIAL 
>>> SUCCESS, like us.
>>>
>>> Dear Tobias Geiger,
>>>
>>> You were saying that with ATI VGA cards, you do not need to apply 
>>> any Xen VGA Passthrough patches. But this guy Sebastien Gauthier 
>>> applied Mr. Wei Huang's patches to Xen 4.1.0 and got a BSOD after 
>>> installing ATI Catalyst drivers. Sebastien Gauthier did not get 100% 
>>> success with Xen VGA Passthrough to Windows 7 using an ATI VGA card.
>>>
>> Hi Teo,
>>
>> The VBIOS patch I sent out did not work for all ATI cards. The patch 
>> itself assumed certain behavior of GPU VBIOS. But this doesn't apply 
>> to every GPU generation. From this perspective, my patch isn't 
>> universal. Also there are many factors, some of which are not in 
>> control by us (like graphics driver), can contribute to BSOD you 
>> mentioned. I am not in a position to debug it for everyone's card (as 
>> I don't have all cards).
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Wei
>
> Dear Mr. Wei Huang at AMD Corporation,
>
> Thank you very much for your kind reply.
>
> I want to buy the following ATI Radeon VGA card. Do you think it would 
> work with your Xen VGA Passthrough patch to Xen 4.2-unstable???
>
> Sapphire HD5450 512MB             Singapore Dollars $55
>
> I am a cheapskate when it comes to spending money.
>
I don't have HD5450 card. So I can't test it and can't answer your 
question directly. If I have some time later, I will test other HD5xxx 
cards and test you the result. Normally GPUs of same family behave 
similarly.
> If your Xen VGA Passthrough patch to Xen 4.2-unstable works with the 
> above ATI VGA card, I will go ahead and buy it. Do I have to manually 
> patch Xen 4.2-unstable or is your patch already included in Xen 
> 4.2-unstable source tree?
My patch was against QEMU. It is not included in the tree.
>
> Secondly, I have a request/favor to ask of you. Do you think it is 
> possible for you to examine the Xen 4.2-unstable VGA Passthrough 
> patches hosted at Jean David Techer's website and check if it is 
> compatible with Xen 4.2-unstable code?
>
> Thirdly and finally, could you read through my Xen VGA Passthrough 
> Version 1.7 documentation to see if there are ANY MISTAKES with NVIDIA 
> Geforce 8400 GS VGA Passthrough, because I am only getting PARTIAL 
> SUCCESS.
>
> If you could write Xen VGA Passthrough patches, you are an expert 
> software engineer.
>
> Thank you very very very much.
>
> -- 
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
> Singapore
>
>
>>> -- 
>>> Yours sincerely,
>>>
>>> Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
>>> Singapore
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 29/03/2012 23:50, Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) wrote:
>>>> On 29/03/2012 12:29, Casey DeLorme wrote:
>>>>> My mistake for not hitting "Reply to All", sorry.
>>>>
>>>> No worries Casey.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> It might be of some value to mention that my tests were with 
>>>>> Windows 7, I have no interest in using XP anymore.  Also, I did 
>>>>> all of my testing through remote VNC, not once did I actually get 
>>>>> video, even 2D, working.
>>>>
>>>> I bought 2 copies of Windows XP Home Edition in the past because it 
>>>> is cheap, at S$145. I did not buy Windows 7 because it is 
>>>> expensive. I got video working all right, but only 2D. I cannot get 
>>>> 3D graphics working.
>>>>
>>>>> However, my errors are exactly as you described:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1.  Windows recognizes the model (GTX 460), not "unknown PCI device".
>>>>> 2.  Device code 43.
>>>>> 3.  No resources assigned to the device.
>>>>
>>>> We have the same set of errors.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Might be worth mentioning, I was able to run the latest nVidia 
>>>>> driver installation without errors, but after rebooting there was 
>>>>> no change, same error code, still no video.
>>>>
>>>> Same situation here with the latest NVIDIA drivers. But I only have 
>>>> 2D video working. I can't get 3D video to work.
>>>>
>>>>>  To me this would be evidence that driver version isn't a problem, 
>>>>> but then again I didn't have anything actually working.
>>>>
>>>> I agree that driver version isn't a problem. Something is wrong 
>>>> somewhere.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I am an IT student in college, so my experience is limited to 
>>>>> mostly programming with very little knowledge of the 
>>>>> inner-workings of hardware.  So, forgive me for being unable to 
>>>>> help with regards to memory addresses on the cards.
>>>>
>>>> I am hoping that Intel engineers and Xen developers would be able 
>>>> to help.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been using *nix for about 4 years, and Windows since I my age 
>>>>> was a single digit.  I have had experience setting up server 
>>>>> features such as web, database, and application servers but I am 
>>>>> still green when it comes to kernel or hardware configuration.
>>>>
>>>> I started learning Linux/UNIX since the year 2005, that is about 7 
>>>> years ago. I started using Windows when it was version 3.1. I love 
>>>> compiling the latest Linux kernel and assembling my own computer 
>>>> hardware.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> My Xen adventure began 35 days ago, and it is no exaggeration to 
>>>>> say that in those 35 days I have learned more about linux than I 
>>>>> had in the past two years.  I like challenges as much as the next 
>>>>> IT person, but I ran out of time and ideas for debugging my nVidia 
>>>>> problems.  The nVidia stretch of my adventure lasted for 24 days 
>>>>> through 54 fresh linux installations accompanied by over 200~ 
>>>>> pages worth of documented failures and not a single pixel sighted.
>>>>
>>>> Why not make your documentation into PDF? It is a very popular 
>>>> document format.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The ATI card took me a day, less than 12 hours of relatively easy 
>>>>> debugging by comparison to the aforementioned testing.  I do fully 
>>>>> understanding financial constraints, but it is a working solution 
>>>>> and worth mentioning.  I do not know what the prices are like in 
>>>>> Singapore, but in the states I was able to buy an ATI Radeon HD 
>>>>> 6870 for $160.  For me it came down to weighing my objectives 
>>>>> against my curiosity.
>>>>
>>>> That ATI Radeon HD 6870 would cost me $279, I think.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If you do continue your nVidia endeavors I wish you success, but 
>>>>> as in my former email VGA passthrough is a new frontier, not even 
>>>>> Guru's like David may not be able to help beyond their own 
>>>>> hardware experiences.
>>>>
>>>> I don't think VGA passthrough is a new frontier. Oracle VirtualBox 
>>>> and Linux KVM supports VGA passthrough as well. Xen ATI VGA 
>>>> Passthrough works out of the box, as Tobias Geiger suggested, but 
>>>> NVIDIA requires patches.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Documentation is one problem I agree with you on 100%.  I came 
>>>>> into this knowing relatively little about Linux & hardware, and 
>>>>> nothing about Xen, and most every guide I found assumed I had been 
>>>>> in a deep relationship with Linux for many years and had a basic 
>>>>> understanding of Xen commands.
>>>>
>>>> I started learning Xen since the year 2007, which is about 5 years ago.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Like you, I intend to use those documented failures as well as my 
>>>>> recent success to create a comprehensive guide with photographs, 
>>>>> screen captures, and perhaps even videos going from "assembled 
>>>>> computer" to "Complete Xen Dom0 /w HVM & VGA Passthrough". 
>>>>>  Provided the wiki will allow me to upload the screenshots, I'll 
>>>>> be certain to post it there.
>>>>
>>>> I will be looking forward to your documentation and videos. Right 
>>>> now Xen wiki allows uploading image files and PDF files. Why not 
>>>> create a PDF document and share it with all of us? It is known as 
>>>> portable document format and is very popular, but it appears that 
>>>> xen mailing lists don't like PDF format.
>>>>
>>>> _*I don't like wiki pages because anybody can edit and 
>>>> fundamentally mess up the wiki pages, even providing bogus and 
>>>> erroneous information. That's why I don't like creating wiki pages. 
>>>> Anybody can edit and mess up the information you have painstakingly 
>>>> created on the wiki pages. So please take note.*_
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Yours sincerely,
>>>>
>>>> Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
>>>> Singapore
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ~Casey
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 10:21 PM, Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) 
>>>>> <singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com 
>>>>> <mailto:singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>     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 <http://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 *_baffle__d_* that he has attained
>>>>>     *_100% success_* while both of us have only attained *_partial
>>>>>     succes__s_* (*_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 Passthrough
>>>>>     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.
>>>>>
>>>>>     -- 
>>>>>     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.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     _______________________________________________
>>>>>     Xen-users mailing list
>>>>>     Xen-users@lists.xen.org <mailto:Xen-users@lists.xen.org>
>>>>>     http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>


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