Search Results for: NUC

Video of ESXi install workaround for Fatal CPU mismatch on feature for Intel 12th Gen CPUs and newer

01.09.2023 by William Lam // 50 Comments

I have been noticing more and more users that have acquired hardware that includes the latest Intel 12th Generation CPU (Alder Lake) and even the newest Intel 13th Generation CPU (Raptor Lake) for use with ESXi. Starting with the Intel 12th Generation CPU, Intel has introduced a new hybrid "big.LITTLE" CPU architecture that integrates two types of CPU cores: Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficiency-cores (E-cores) into the same physical CPU die.

ESXi is currently not aware of this new consumer architecture and it currently expects all cores within a CPU package to have uniform characteristics. If you boot the ESXi installer, it will PSOD (Purple Screen of Death) by default and you will see a message about "Fatal CPU mismatch on feature" which is due to the different CPU properties across both the P-Cores and E-Cores. However, there is a way to workaround the issue by disabling the CPU uniformity check that ESXi performs as part of its boot up.

UPDATE (01/16/24) - See this blog post on some updated experiments using CPU affinity when both E-Cores and P-Cores are enabled when using ESXi.

UPDATE (04/22/23) - If you decide NOT to disable either E-Cores or P-Cores, you may also run into an additional PSOD when powering on a VM with GP exception in world message. To workaround this problem, please see this blog post HERE.

UPDATE (03/24/23) - It is possible and recommended to actually disable the E-cores within the Intel NUC BIOs following the instructions HERE to prevent ESXi from PSOD'ing due to non-uniform CPU cores rather than applying the ESXi boot option workaround as described in the video below.

I initially wrote about the solution back in Feb of 2022 where this new CPU was first introduced in the Intel NUC line with the Intel NUC 12 Extreme (Dragon Canyon) and subsequently, I had also wrote about the solution reviewing both the Intel NUC 12 Pro (Wall Street Canyon) and the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast (Serpent Canyon).

While the majority of folks have not had any issues applying the workaround, I have started seeing some folks running into challenges, perhaps its familiarity with ESXi or applying kernel options. In any case, I figured it might help to record a video demonstrating the workaround for those that rather visualize the solution along with the written instructions (included below).

[Read more...]

High-end Dell Precision 7770 & 7670 laptops with 128GB memory for ESXi

12.06.2022 by William Lam // 4 Comments

I have been following the progress on the new Compression Attached Memory Module (CAMM), which was announced earlier this year and is a new laptop memory standard that has been created by Dell. Dell intends to replace the aging SODIMM memory module, which are typically found in laptops and small form factor systems like the popular Intel NUC.

This StorageReview article by Charles Jefferies provides a nice summary of the new CAMM technology and the benefits over the 25 year old SODIMM modules. While the CAMM technology is currently proprietary, Dell has been working with Intel on this standard and have also submitted their design to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) for CAMM to become a new industry standard for laptop memory.

My biggest interests with CAMM is the capacity of their modules which can reach up to 128GB for a single CAMM module! For SODIMM, we have been limited to 32GB for a single module for a number of years and this will not be changing any time soon. Just imagine the popular 4x4 Intel NUC with 128GB memory! 🤤

Given CAMM was just announced earlier this year, I was not expecting to see any systems that a consumer could purchase for quite some time. I was actually pleasantly surprise to learn recently, that two new high-end Dell workstation laptops can now be purchased with CAMM memory and also configured with up to 128GB of memory. 😲

[Read more...]

Quick Tip - TPM 2.0 connection cannot be established after upgrading to ESXi 8.0

10.18.2022 by William Lam // 12 Comments

There has been several reports from folks internally and within the community that after upgrading to ESXi 8.0, they are now seeing the following TPM error message:

TPM 2.0 device detected but a connection cannot be established.

The common theme between all these reported cases that I have seen is that they are all using an Intel NUC. While the Intel NUCs may list TPM support, they do not support either TPM Interface Specification (TIS) for TPM 1.2 or the First In, First Out (FIFO) for TPM 2.0, which are industry standards for communicating with a TPM device that ESXi uses.

[Read more...]