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

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

[Teo En Ming]

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.


-- 
Yours sincerely,

Teo En Ming
Singapore

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

[Teo En Ming]

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.
>
>

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

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.
> >
> >
> 

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

[Teo En Ming]

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.
>>>
>>>

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

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_programs/trying-to-open-computer-management-the-program/5c9d301a-2191-4edb-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_update/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.
> >>>
> >>>
> 

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

[Teo En Ming]

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_programs/trying-to-open-computer-management-the-program/5c9d301a-2191-4edb-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_update/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.
>>>>>
>>>>>

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

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.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> 

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

[Teo En Ming]

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.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

Hello Teo,

Congratulations! I am very happy that we could get this working for you.

Your HD 6450 is part of our Northern Island (HD 6xxx) family of asics.  Since then we had released Southern Islands (HD 7xxx), Sea Islands (HD 8xxx), and Volcanic Islands (Rx 200) families.  I am currently using a "AMD Radeon R9 200" (Volcanic Islands) matched up with "AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7, 12" Kaveri APU on the Mother board.

I am passing the R9 200 through to DomU and I do not have any difficulties.  I don't have an official "recommended/supported" list but I have used random cards from the Evergreen family (HD 5xxx) up to the current Volcanic Islands (R9 200) families without any asic specific problems.

I would recommend visiting our forum at forums.amd.com and ask the question as to what experience other users have had with different cards and which ones they would recommend.

I am glad to hear that everything is working well for you.  
Thanks,
Kelly

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Teo En Ming [mailto:singapore.mr.teo.en.ming@gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 5:31 PM
> To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Cc: Hurwitz, Sherry; Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
> Subject: Re: [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark Tests in
> Windows 8 HVM domU
> 
> 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-f335-4f2
> >>> f-
> >>> 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.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> 

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

[Gordan Bobic]

On 2014-09-11 19:35, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:

> 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.

Ooo, an actual AMD person on the list! :D

Speaking if ongoing problems, any chance of a few fixes and
feature un-removals in the Windows driver?

1) Issue a bus reset to the device at driver load/unload time
to remove the need to eject the device at shutdown when
running virtualized. I cannot be the only one cursing having
no choice but to use Nvidia cards if I need to be able to
seamlessly reboot my domUs with GPUs. I had a pair of R9 290X
cards and had to trade them in for 780Tis.

2) Expose stretched desktop modes to full screen DirectX apps.
I couldn't get anything working in 3840x2400 because my monitor
shows up as two separate 1920x2400 screens. The highest resolution
desktop stretch mode available was, IIRC, 3200x900 which is
quite useless. The problem will only get bigger with the newly
announced 5120x2880 monitor from Dell that will show up as
2x 2560x2880 over two DP inputs.

For bonus points:

3) Make the driver do what the monitor driver says, rather
than always blindly following what EDID says

4) Make the driver not crash with R9 cards on NF200 PCIe
bridges. HD7970 works, so why don't R9s?

I would love dearly to be able to switch to AMD GPUs, but
the drivers just don't meet the minimum usability requirements.

Gordan

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

Hi Gordan,

Your request comes at a very opportune time.  I have just started looking into asic reset and FLR support.
I found your thread at http://xen.1045712.n5.nabble.com/Re-VGA-passthrough-with-Xen-4-3-and-xl-toolstack-performance-degradation-resolved-td5721581.html

I notice that there is mention of two patches; one for PCI bus reset and one for secondary passthru.  I have seen a couple very old patches for primary passthru but I haven't looked at these two yet.  If you could forward me a link to these patches I can quickly take a look and see whether it makes more sense to put a fix into QEMU or into the graphics driver.

Thanks,
Kelly

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org [mailto:xen-devel-
> bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Gordan Bobic
> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 6:11 AM
> To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark
> Tests in Windows 8 HVM domU
> 
> On 2014-09-11 19:35, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Ooo, an actual AMD person on the list! :D
> 
> Speaking if ongoing problems, any chance of a few fixes and feature un-
> removals in the Windows driver?
> 
> 1) Issue a bus reset to the device at driver load/unload time to remove the need
> to eject the device at shutdown when running virtualized. I cannot be the only
> one cursing having no choice but to use Nvidia cards if I need to be able to
> seamlessly reboot my domUs with GPUs. I had a pair of R9 290X cards and had
> to trade them in for 780Tis.
> 
> 2) Expose stretched desktop modes to full screen DirectX apps.
> I couldn't get anything working in 3840x2400 because my monitor shows up as
> two separate 1920x2400 screens. The highest resolution desktop stretch mode
> available was, IIRC, 3200x900 which is quite useless. The problem will only get
> bigger with the newly announced 5120x2880 monitor from Dell that will show
> up as 2x 2560x2880 over two DP inputs.
> 
> For bonus points:
> 
> 3) Make the driver do what the monitor driver says, rather than always blindly
> following what EDID says
> 
> 4) Make the driver not crash with R9 cards on NF200 PCIe bridges. HD7970
> works, so why don't R9s?
> 
> I would love dearly to be able to switch to AMD GPUs, but the drivers just don't
> meet the minimum usability requirements.
> 
> Gordan
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel

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

[Gordan Bobic]

On 09/16/2014 11:50 PM, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> Hi Gordan,
>
> Your request comes at a very opportune time.  I have just started looking into asic reset and FLR support.
> I found your thread at http://xen.1045712.n5.nabble.com/Re-VGA-passthrough-with-Xen-4-3-and-xl-toolstack-performance-degradation-resolved-td5721581.html
>
> I notice that there is mention of two patches; one for PCI bus reset and one for secondary passthru.  I have seen a couple very old patches for primary passthru but I haven't looked at these two yet.  If you could forward me a link to these patches I can quickly take a look and see whether it makes more sense to put a fix into QEMU or into the graphics driver.

I don't recall patches for secondary passthrough, but that thread was 
quite a few months ago so I could be wrong.

The device reset via bus reset was, IIRC, included in the upstream 
kernel a while back. See:
http://lwn.net/Articles/562212/

I don't know at what kernel version this functionality may have been 
included. I'd hazard a guess that anyone who has an ATI card surviving 
domU reboots consistently has this functionality in their kernel.

Gordan

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

Gordan,

Can you tell me exactly what the problem is that you are seeing that prompted you to ask for a bus reset?  I am trying to reproduce your issue but I am not having any luck.  I tried a few different scenarios ranging from clean shutdown to destroying the domain with 'xl des 5' and restarting.  In all cases I was able to cleanly reboot with the graphics driver enabled.

I am testing with Win7 as the guest OS with Xen 4.2 and Linux 3.4.9.  Graphics card is 'AMD Radeon R9 200' on an AMD Kaveri APU.

What are your exact repro steps and are you using any graphics/pci related patches.

Thanks,
Kelly

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org [mailto:xen-devel-
> bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Gordan Bobic
> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 6:11 AM
> To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark
> Tests in Windows 8 HVM domU
> 
> On 2014-09-11 19:35, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Ooo, an actual AMD person on the list! :D
> 
> Speaking if ongoing problems, any chance of a few fixes and feature un-
> removals in the Windows driver?
> 
> 1) Issue a bus reset to the device at driver load/unload time to remove the need
> to eject the device at shutdown when running virtualized. I cannot be the only
> one cursing having no choice but to use Nvidia cards if I need to be able to
> seamlessly reboot my domUs with GPUs. I had a pair of R9 290X cards and had
> to trade them in for 780Tis.
> 
> 2) Expose stretched desktop modes to full screen DirectX apps.
> I couldn't get anything working in 3840x2400 because my monitor shows up as
> two separate 1920x2400 screens. The highest resolution desktop stretch mode
> available was, IIRC, 3200x900 which is quite useless. The problem will only get
> bigger with the newly announced 5120x2880 monitor from Dell that will show
> up as 2x 2560x2880 over two DP inputs.
> 
> For bonus points:
> 
> 3) Make the driver do what the monitor driver says, rather than always blindly
> following what EDID says
> 
> 4) Make the driver not crash with R9 cards on NF200 PCIe bridges. HD7970
> works, so why don't R9s?
> 
> I would love dearly to be able to switch to AMD GPUs, but the drivers just don't
> meet the minimum usability requirements.
> 
> Gordan
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel

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

[Gordan Bobic]

On 09/17/2014 06:49 PM, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> Gordan,
>
> Can you tell me exactly what the problem is that you are seeing that prompted you to ask for a bus reset?  I am trying to reproduce your issue but I am not having any luck.  I tried a few different scenarios ranging from clean shutdown to destroying the domain with 'xl des 5' and restarting.  In all cases I was able to cleanly reboot with the graphics driver enabled.

The issue is quite widely documented in the archives of this list. What 
happens is that upon a domU reboot or shutdown + re-create, one of the 
following happens, usually relatively non-deterministically in terms of 
what will happen:

1) BSOD in the ATI driver.

2) domU comes up but the performance is painfully slow and there is 
corruption in the output image, usually manifesting as short white lines 
on the screen.

3) dom0 crash

and every once in a while with extreme luck

4) Works fine - I only saw this happen maybe 5-6 times in all the ATI 
reboots I tried over the months I'd spent trying to work around the issue.

> I am testing with Win7 as the guest OS with Xen 4.2 and Linux 3.4.9.  Graphics card is 'AMD Radeon R9 200' on an AMD Kaveri APU.

My testing was done on a HD4850, HD6450 and HD7970. HD6450 seemed to 
fare better than the others, possibly because it doesn't have an 
auxiliary power input and is powered purely from the slot. I 
hypothesised that it might be plausible that even though it doesn't 
report supporting the power states required for a PCI level power-off it 
still works if you manually write the registers with setpci. I played 
with it a bit on the HD6450 and it seemed to work (no errors), and the 
HD6450 did seem to come up reliably after a domU reboot much more often 
than the others.

But I didn't want to spend too much time on investigating that since the 
HD6450 wasn't sufficient for my requirements, so my findings didn't 
reach a conclusion.

> What are your exact repro steps and are you using any graphics/pci related patches.

I am not using any PCI or graphics related patches. I use Xen 4.3.0 and 
have been using various kernels between 3.8.x and currently 3.14.12. I 
haven't tried ATI cards with kernels more recent than 3.9. Unless you 
have extra patches in your kernel or Xen, I would expect the issue to be 
very reproducible on Xen 4.2 and kernel 3.4.9.

I'm also pretty sure the ATI reboot issue has been reported a few days 
ago. The manifestation of the problem was display corruption while 
playing flash videos, and it didn't happen on a freshly rebooted dom0.

Unfortunately, although I have all the parts to build a second machine 
that is exactly the same as my current server for testing and 
troubleshooting purposes, I am not sure when I will be able to get 
around to doing it. Also, the only spare ATI GPU I still have is the 
HD4850, so any ATI GPU testing I can do will be limited to using that.

Gordan

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

[Zytaruk, Kelly]

Gordan,

Thanks for all of the good information.  I am relatively new to providing Xen support so I am playing a bit of "catch-up" on some of the issues.  Any information you can provide me is useful.

I will present this to our driver development team and see what can be determined.

Thanks,
Kelly

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordan Bobic [mailto:gordan@bobich.net]
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 5:31 AM
> To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Cc: Hurwitz, Sherry
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] [Xen VGA Passthrough] Cannot Complete All 3dmark
> Tests in Windows 8 HVM domU
> 
> On 09/17/2014 06:49 PM, Zytaruk, Kelly wrote:
> > Gordan,
> >
> > Can you tell me exactly what the problem is that you are seeing that prompted
> you to ask for a bus reset?  I am trying to reproduce your issue but I am not
> having any luck.  I tried a few different scenarios ranging from clean shutdown
> to destroying the domain with 'xl des 5' and restarting.  In all cases I was able to
> cleanly reboot with the graphics driver enabled.
> 
> The issue is quite widely documented in the archives of this list. What happens is
> that upon a domU reboot or shutdown + re-create, one of the following
> happens, usually relatively non-deterministically in terms of what will happen:
> 
> 1) BSOD in the ATI driver.
> 
> 2) domU comes up but the performance is painfully slow and there is corruption
> in the output image, usually manifesting as short white lines on the screen.
> 
> 3) dom0 crash
> 
> and every once in a while with extreme luck
> 
> 4) Works fine - I only saw this happen maybe 5-6 times in all the ATI reboots I
> tried over the months I'd spent trying to work around the issue.
> 
> > I am testing with Win7 as the guest OS with Xen 4.2 and Linux 3.4.9.  Graphics
> card is 'AMD Radeon R9 200' on an AMD Kaveri APU.
> 
> My testing was done on a HD4850, HD6450 and HD7970. HD6450 seemed to
> fare better than the others, possibly because it doesn't have an auxiliary power
> input and is powered purely from the slot. I hypothesised that it might be
> plausible that even though it doesn't report supporting the power states
> required for a PCI level power-off it still works if you manually write the registers
> with setpci. I played with it a bit on the HD6450 and it seemed to work (no
> errors), and the
> HD6450 did seem to come up reliably after a domU reboot much more often
> than the others.
> 
> But I didn't want to spend too much time on investigating that since the
> HD6450 wasn't sufficient for my requirements, so my findings didn't reach a
> conclusion.
> 
> > What are your exact repro steps and are you using any graphics/pci related
> patches.
> 
> I am not using any PCI or graphics related patches. I use Xen 4.3.0 and have been
> using various kernels between 3.8.x and currently 3.14.12. I haven't tried ATI
> cards with kernels more recent than 3.9. Unless you have extra patches in your
> kernel or Xen, I would expect the issue to be very reproducible on Xen 4.2 and
> kernel 3.4.9.
> 
> I'm also pretty sure the ATI reboot issue has been reported a few days ago. The
> manifestation of the problem was display corruption while playing flash videos,
> and it didn't happen on a freshly rebooted dom0.
> 
> Unfortunately, although I have all the parts to build a second machine that is
> exactly the same as my current server for testing and troubleshooting purposes,
> I am not sure when I will be able to get around to doing it. Also, the only spare
> ATI GPU I still have is the HD4850, so any ATI GPU testing I can do will be limited
> to using that.
> 
> Gordan