Supermicro X9DBL-3F Xenserver 7 boot stops

Question

The configuration is a Supermicro X9DBL-3F motherboard with 2x Intel Xeon E5-2403 Cpu's.

In the Bios the settings under

Advanced \ Chipset Configuration \ North Bridge \ Integrated IO Configuration \ Intel(R) VT-d

is enabled.

After the installation of XenServer 7 the server boot's, the XenServer boot menu shows and after a couple of seconds it hangs at a blank screen.

Restarting and selecting

XenServer in Safe Mode

in the XenServer boot menu and than log info is shown and stop's with the message

Panic on CPU 0:

Couldn't enable IOMMU and iommu=required/force

The RAID controller of the motherboard is not used, but the installed Adaptec 5805 and it showed to work fine in the installation.

Any suggestions?

Mikhail Khirgiy · Answer 1 · 2016-12-06T20:00:35.567

Try to enable Virtualization Technology (VT-x) in BIOS CPU property: Advanced - CPU Configuration - Virtualization Technology. Then save BIOS settings and power off server.

If it's not help you update BIOS.

In addition.

Change iommu parameter in /boot/grub/grub.conf. For help:

**VT-d boot parameter: iommu**
VT-d is disabled by default, to enable it, need 'iommu' parameter to enable it.
off|no|false|disable: Disable IOMMU (default)
pv: Enable IOMMU for PV
domainsno-pv: Disable IOMMU for PV domains (default)
force|required: Don't boot unless IOMMU is enabled
workaround_bios_bug: Workaround some bios issues to still enable VT-d, don't guarantee security
pass-through: Enable VT-d DMA pass-through (no DMA translation for Dom0)
no-snoop: Disable VT-d Snoop Control
no-qinval: Disable VT-d Queued Invalidation
no-intremap: Disable VT-d Interrupt Remapping
verbose: In Xen 4.0.0 and newer, enable verbose logging while enabling IOMMU and parsing ACPI DMAR tables.

Usually, you just need iommu=1 to enable VT-d.

Or edit grub parameter at boot time:

Press "Esc" at Grub menu.
Choose grub meenu item and then press 'e' to start editing.
Scroll down to the "kernel..." line.
Press 'e' again to edit this line and then insert or edit kernel parameters.
Go to the end of the line, press Enter to accept the editing.
Then press 'b' to boot using that kernel and those parameters.

At next boot all changes will be lost.

I did both. Two times to be on the safe side. Didn't help. I tried installing Xenserver 6.5 and it works. Detail: After I installed it and I try to boot with the Xenserver 7 CD I see the boot menu, a couple of lines and goes directly into a blank screen. Can't install it. I guess it went straight into upgrade mode which doesn't work. — wurlog, Nov 10 '16 at 01:27
Try install Xenserver 7 in text mode. I think there's a problem with video driver. Upgrade isn't good solution. — Mikhail Khirgiy, Nov 10 '16 at 04:14

Supermicro X9DBL-3F Xenserver 7 boot stops

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