Re: [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark Tests in Windows 8 HVM domU

[Teo En Ming <singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com>]

Dear Kelly,

Congratulate me!!! I have solved the problem!!! I have solved the problem!!!

Following your advice, I have disabled VGA Passthrough (by commenting 
out the "pci" directive in Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU configuration 
file) and it booted into Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU successfully. 
Therefore, the default AMD Radeon HD 6450 driver that shipped with 
Windows 8.1 Enterprise is the cause of all problems. So we have narrowed 
down the problem to the display adapter driver.

Then I downloaded and installed Catalyst Software Suite version 14.4 
from the official AMD website. After installing the latest AMD Radeon HD 
6450 driver in Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU, I shut down Windows and 
re-enabled VGA Passthrough. This time, I booted into Windows 8.1 
Enterprise HVM domU without freezing/hanging. Voila!

The first thing I did after booting into Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU 
with Catalyst 14.4 is to install Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0. I 
encountered the error message "The program can't start because 
MSVCP100.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program 
to fix this problem." again. But I was able to solve the problem by 
downloading and installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable 
32-bit. After the installation of this software package, I was able to 
run Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 successfully.

The next task is to download and install 3dmark basic edition v1.3.708. 
This time, I was able to complete all 3dmark tests in Windows 8.1 
Enterprise HVM domU without any problem!

(1) 3dmark results for Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU with Xen VGA 
Passthrough:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4023122

(2) 3dmark results for bare-metal Windows 8.1 OS:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/3996885

Notice that the 3dmark results for Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU with 
Xen VGA Passthrough is near-native. The performance of AMD Radeon HD 
6450 in Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU is very very near the 
performance in bare-metal Windows 8.1.

I may want to shop for a more high end AMD graphic card than AMD Radeon 
HD 6450. Which AMD VGA card would you recommend that will work with Xen 
VGA Passthrough? I know there is a list of Xen VGA Passthrough Tested 
Adapters in the Xen Wiki but that list is outdated.

Now that Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU is stable with VGA Passthrough, 
I am very happy.

Thank you very much.



-- 
Yours sincerely,

Teo En Ming
Singapore


On 12/09/2014 02:35, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> Hi Teo,
>
> Unfortunately it is very difficult to analyze what went wrong with a computer "freeze" without a debugger attached to the session.  Do you have any experience with Windbg and passing a 1394 connection into the VM?
>
> With the Win8 page fault in atikmdag.sys there would have been a .dmp file created and we could have looked at that to see where it faulted.
>
> My first recommendation would be to try not passing the graphics adapter in as passthru and see if you can get the VM up and running without the adapter.  This would help to narrow down whether the issue could possibly be related to the Radeon driver or not.  Also please ensure that you are using the latest release version of our driver as it would be up to date with any bug fixes.
>
> I myself am still using Win7  in the DomU and have not yet experimented with Win8.1.  I find Win7 very stable and it has not given me any problems as a guest OS.
>
> Thanks,
> Kelly
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Teo En Ming [mailto:singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 2:20 PM
>> To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@lists.xen.org; Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
>> Subject: Re: [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark Tests in
>> Windows 8 HVM domU
>>
>> Dear Kelly,
>>
>> Instead of installing Windows 8.0 HVM domU first and upgrading it to Windows
>> 8.1 later, I have downloaded Windows 8.1 Enterprise 90-day evaluation ISO
>> from the official Microsoft website and installed Windows
>> 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU directly.
>>
>> After Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU have booted up and presented me
>> with a login screen, I keyed in my password and a few seconds later Windows
>> froze/locked up completely.
>>
>> I have a suspicion that it is the AMD Radeon HD 6450 VGA card driver that
>> caused Windows 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU to hang.
>>
>> Is there anything in the HVM configuration file that I can tweak so that Windows
>> 8.1 Enterprise HVM domU will not hang upon logging in?
>> Otherwise, I might completely give up on Windows 8.1 HVM domU and fall back
>> to Windows 7 Ultimate HVM domU, which is very stable and is not giving me any
>> problems.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> --
>> Yours sincerely,
>>
>> Teo En Ming
>> Singapore
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11/09/2014 21:19, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
>>> Teo,
>>>
>>> I am not sure what is happening with your system but if you could try again to
>> install Win8.1 that would be useful.
>>> Make sure that you have the latest Radeon driver installed.
>>>
>>> For the missing MSVCP100.dll use the link to the Microsoft site to
>>> install the proper version -
>>> http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-
>> windows_pro
>>> grams/trying-to-open-computer-management-the-program/5c9d301a-2191-
>> 4ed
>>> b-916e-5e4958558090
>>>
>>> I did a little extra reading and noticed that the install is simple for Win7 but
>> some of the Win8 people are having more difficulty.
>>> There is a thread about solving the problem on Win8 that you mind find
>>> useful at -
>>> http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-
>> windows_upd
>>> ate/msvcp100dll-file-is-missing-error-on-windows-8/ff36697b-f335-4f2f-
>>> 8b19-fcf03948f3f3
>>>
>>> The main quote that I get from this article is the following; "if you
>>> were in 64 bit, better to install  both versions of c++ 2010 redistributable x86
>> and x64 this might solve your problem.."
>>> Don't know if it will help but it is worth a try.
>>>
>>> If you continue to have problems with atikmdag.sys please send me the dump
>> file and I will try to examine what the problem might be.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Kelly
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Teo En Ming [mailto:singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com]
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 9:36 AM
>>>> To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@lists.xen.org; Teo En Ming (Zhang
>>>> Enming)
>>>> Subject: Re: [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark Tests
>>>> in Windows 8 HVM domU
>>>>
>>>> Dear Kelly,
>>>>
>>>> I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that Windows 8 HVM domU is very
>>>> unstable with my Xen setup. Many times Windows 8 HVM domU cannot boot
>>>> up and I have to restart it.
>>>>
>>>> I also cannot start Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 in Windows 8 HVM domU.
>>>> It gave me the following error:
>>>> "The program can't start because MSVCP100.dll is missing from your
>> computer.
>>>> Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."
>>>> Upon seeing this error message, I proceeded to installing Microsoft
>>>> Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) but still got the same error message.
>>>> Then I gave up on Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 in Windows 8 HVM domU.
>>>>
>>>> Subsequently I went on to upgrade my Windows 8 HVM domU to Windows
>> 8.1.
>>>> During the upgrade process, I encountered a BSOD with the following
>>>> error
>>>> message:
>>>> "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (atikmdag.sys)"
>>>> I rebooted Windows 8.1 HVM domU but it *restored* to the previous
>>>> version of Windows (ie. Windows 8.0 HVM domU).
>>>> Apparently, the upgrade from Windows 8 HVM domU to Windows 8.1 failed.
>>>>
>>>> In conclusion, Windows 8 HVM domU is very unstable with my Xen
>>>> setup/configuration. I have decided to fall back to Windows 7
>>>> Ultimate HVM domU, which is very stable.
>>>> I wonder why Windows 8 HVM domU is so unstable with my Xen setup.
>>>>
>>>> dom0 operating system: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Linux kernel in dom0: 3.16.1
>>>> Xen hypervisor: 4.4.1
>>>> Processor: Intel Core i5 4430 @ 3.0 GHz
>>>> Motherboard: Asrock B85M Pro4 LGA1150 VGA Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon
>>>> HD 6450 1 GB DDR3
>>>>
>>>> Could you try installing Windows 8.0 HVM domU with the above
>>>> configuration and see if it's unstable as well? Is it possible for
>>>> Xen developers to look into what's causing Windows 8.0 HVM domU to be
>>>> unstable with the above configuration.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you very much.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Yours sincerely,
>>>>
>>>> Teo En Ming
>>>> Singapore
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 10/09/2014 01:45, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
>>>>> Teo,
>>>>>
>>>>> I can't guarantee that upgrading to Win8.1 will fix your problem but
>>>>> in general
>>>> we recommend an upgrade to Win8.1.  If the problem still persists
>>>> please let us know.
>>>>> Also please check out the user forum at forums.amd.com for more
>>>> information.
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Kelly
>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Teo En Ming [mailto:singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com]
>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 12:45 PM
>>>>>> To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org; Zytaruk, Kelly; Teo En Ming (Zhang
>>>>>> Enming)
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark Tests
>>>>>> in Windows 8 HVM domU
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have just installed Heaven Benchmark 4.0 in bare-metal Windows
>>>>>> 8.1 and I can run it. This shows that my Heaven Benchmark 4.0
>>>>>> installation in Windows 8 HVM domU is probably corrupted and needs
>>>>>> to be
>>>> re-installed.
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Yours sincerely,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Teo En Ming
>>>>>> Singapore
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10/09/2014 00:00, Teo En Ming wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have got VGA Passthrough working with AMD Radeon HD 6450.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am able to complete all 3dmark basic edition v1.3.708 tests in
>>>>>>> Windows 7 HVM domU but I cannot complete all 3dmark tests in
>>>>>>> Windows
>>>>>>> 8 HVM domU. In Windows 8 HVM domU, the monitor would turn blank at
>>>>>>> Sky Diver demo in the 3dmark test.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In *bare-metal* Windows 8.1, I am able to complete all 3dmark tests.
>>>>>>> Should I upgrade Windows 8 HVM domU to Windows 8.1? Do you think I
>>>>>>> can complete all 3dmark tests after upgrading Windows 8 HVM domU
>>>>>>> to Windows 8.1?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Finally, I cannot start Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 in Windows 8
>>>>>>> HVM domU but I can run Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 in Windows 7
>>>>>>> HVM
>>>> domU.
>>>>>>> Is Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 incompatible with Windows 8?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please advise.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>