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Re: [Xen-devel] [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 I know there is a list of Xen VGA Passthrough Tested Adapters in the Xen Wiki but that list is outdated.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@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 2:20 PM
To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 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@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 9:36 AM
To: Zytaruk, Kelly; xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 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@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 12:45 PM
To: xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 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.





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