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PCI Alert Logged for IDE Controller (1366)
Details
When ESX Server boots, it logs messages like the following. What do they mean?
vmkernel: 0:00:00:00.000 cpu0:127) ALERT: PCI: 1598: failed for 000:31.1
vmkernel: 0:00:00:00.000 cpu0:127) WARNING: Host: 3334: irq 255 is not valid
Solution
These messages are harmless, and can be ignored. On certain systems, such as the following,
Dell PowerEdge 1850 Server
Dell PowerEdge 2850 Server
HP ProLiant DL 380 G4 Server
IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20 blade server
IBM xSeries 336
device 000:31.1 is an IDE controller, which is treated as an ISA device rather than a PCI device. The warning means that the VMkernel is unable to gather interrupt information on the device; since the interrupt information is not needed for an ISA device, there are no harmful effects.
When the VMkernel starts up, it scans PCI devices to determine their IOAPIC interrupt pins. When the system reports that device 000:31.1 has an IOAPIC interrupt (the PCI register INTERRUPT_PIN is not 0). The VMkernel tries to find the device in the MPS table, but there is no corresponding entry. As a result, the VMkernel logs an alert message.
As a last resort, the VMkernel checks for a PIC pin in the INTERRUPT_LINE register. The INTERRUPT_LINE register has a 0 for this device, which is not a valid pin number. At this point, the VMkernel prints a warning message.
If your server model is not listed and the warning shows up in the logs, follow the steps below to verify whether this KB article is applicable:
Run the following command in the service console:
grep IDE /proc/vmware/pci
If the PCI address for the IDE device matches with the one from the alert message, the warning messages can be ignored.
Sample output:
000:31.1 8086:24d1 1014:02dc IDE Intel 0/ / A C
In the sample output, the PCI address of the IDE controller 000:31.1 matches the one logged in the alert.
Keywords
1366; APIC; poweredge
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