[vfio-users] Passing through eGPU over thunderbolt 3 partly works, how to debug further?

[Ferdinand Pöll]

Hi Roman, 

I had a similar issue (Host crashing after Vm started for about 2h or shutting the VM down) some time ago. In my case it was caused by the type of interrupts used. What helped me was this: https://wiki.lime-technology.com/UnRAID_6/VM_Guest_Support#Enable_MSI_for_Interrupts_to_Fix_HDMI_Audio_Support
Unfortunately I have to do this after every graphics driver update in the VM, but I can live with that.

Hope this helps, 
Ferdinand

Am Sonntag, 22. Oktober 2017, 08:56:14 CEST schrieb Roman Babenko:
> Dear all,
> 
> 
> I am trying to solve the following problem.
> 
> My laptop is Thinkpad P50/XeonE3-1535Mv5/ECC running Ubuntu Xenial. I
> need to work with design software like sketch/affinity designer which
> is not available on linux. At the moment I use
> VirtulaBox/Win10/AffinityDesignerForWin but the performance is not
> good so I am looking for a way to provide more GPU power to the VM
> where the design software is running.
> 
> 
> What I tried.
> 
> I looked if I can pass through the internal GPUs from my laptop to the
> VM. The laptop has two graphics modes:
> 
> 1. Optimus: IntelHD530 + nVidia QuadPro M2000M
> I tried out GVT-g set up according to https://github.com/01org/gvt-
> linux/wiki/GVTg_Setup_Guide. Even though the software inside the VM
> can utilize the provided GPU, the lack of the direct output to the
> display makes it unusable for me.
> 
> 2. Discrete: nVidia QuadPro M2000M
> I gave a shot to passing through nVidia QuadPro M2000M, could not get
> any vital signs out of it. The VBIOS is not UEFI capable, so I used
> one from here https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/183206/183206 . When
> starting up the VM I get something like
> 
> Failed to mmap 0000:xx:xx.x BAR 3. Performance may be slow.
> 
> In the windows VM one can see the device, but its subsystemId is zero
> and the nvidia driver does not recognize and nvidia hardware. Just in
> case, I moded the driver by replacing the correct subsystemId by zeros
> in xxx.inf files. The driver installer proceeds with installation but
> eventually still fails.
> 
> The above seems like a dead end, if there is anything else worth
> exploring let me know.
> 
> 
> Having had no success with internal GPUs I am trying to pass through
> an external RX570 GPU to a Windows 10 guest. The GPU connected to the
> host over Thunderbolt3 using an Akitio Node enclosure, please see
> further details I thought could be useful on the following gist:
> https://gist.github.com/sparlampe/5b9dc019a62db8a19941f6526e39dff1
> 
> 
> The set up seemed to work so well that it took me some time to notice
> there are problems.  The system freezes at random times, sometimes in
> 2 hours,  sometimes in 5 mins, and  I need to power down both the host
> and the eGPU enclosure to be able to start the VM with working
> displays again.
> 
> There are no errors that I can report either in dmesg output or in top
> output before the lockup. The only weird thing I noticed is that
> immediately after the VM locks up the mouse cursor on the host still
> can be moved 1-2 seconds, then the host locks up and I need to reset
> the host and the enclosure.
> 
> 
> Any advice on how to proceed diagnosing the problem?
> 
> 
> Thanks a lot in advance, Roman
> 
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