Knowledge Base

The VMware Knowledge Base provides support solutions, error messages and troubleshooting guides

Search the VMware Knowledge Base (KB)

View by Article ID

ESXi 5.0 host experiences a purple diagnostic screen with the errors "Failed to ack TLB invalidate" or "no heartbeat" on HP servers with PCC support (2000091)

Symptoms

ESXi 5.0 host fails with a purple diagnostic screen
The purple diagnostic screen or core dump contains messages similar to:
- PCPU 39 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate (total of 1 locked up, PCPU(s): 39). 0x41228efc7b88:[0x41800646cd62]Panic@vmkernel#nover+0xa9 stack: 0x41228efe5000 0x41228efc7cb8:[0x4180064989af]TLBDoInvalidate@vmkernel#nover+0x45a stack: 0x41228efc7ce8
- @BlueScreen: PCPU 0: no heartbeat, IPIs received (0/1). ... 0x4122c27c7a68:[0x41800966cd62]Panic@vmkernel#nover+0xa9 stack: 0x4122c27c7a98 0x4122c27c7ad8:[0x4180098d80ec]Heartbeat_DetectCPULockups@vmkernel#nover+0x2d3 stack: 0x0 ... NMI: 1943: NMI IPI received. Was eip(base):ebp:cs [0x7eb2e(0x418009600000):0x4122c2307688:0x4010](Src 0x1, CPU140) Heartbeat: 618: PCPU 140 didn't have a heartbeat for 8 seconds. *may* be locked up

Cause

Some HP servers experience a situation where the PCC (Processor Clocking Control or Collaborative Power Control) communication between the VMware ESXi kernel (VMkernel) and the server BIOS does not function correctly.

As a result, one or more PCPUs may remain in SMM (System Management Mode) for many seconds. When the VMkernel notices a PCPU is not available for an extended period of time, a purple diagnostic screen occurs.

Resolution

This issue has been resolved as of ESXi 5.0 Update 2 as PCC is disabled by default. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch ESXi500-Update02: VMware ESXi 5.0 Complete Update 2 (2033751) and the ESXi 5.0 Update 2 Release Notes.

To work around this issue in versions prior to ESXi 5.0 U2, disable PCC manually.

To disable PCC:

Connect to the ESXi host using the vSphere Client.
Click the Configuration tab.
In the Software menu, click Advanced Settings.
Select vmkernel.
Deselect the vmkernel.boot.usePCC option.
Restart the host for the change to take effect.

For more information, see Configuring advanced options for ESXi/ESX (1038578).

Additional Information

To be alerted when this article is updated, click Subscribe to Document in the Actions box.

For more information, see the HP Customer Advisory article c03543898.

Note: This is a specific case of a Failed to ack TLB invalidate based purple diagnostic screen. For more information about general cases:

If looking at the logs and searching the Knowledge Base does not reveal any additional error messages that would justify the outage, or if the error has not been documented within the Knowledge Base, collect diagnostic information from the VMware ESXi host and submit a Support Request.

For more information, see:

Request a Product Feature

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product Feature page.

Feedback

1 2 3 4 5
16 Ratings

1 2 3 4 5
16 Ratings

Actions

Bookmark Document

KB:

Did this article help you?
This article resolved my issue. This article did not resolve my issue. This article helped but additional information was required to resolve my issue.
What can we do to improve this information? (4000 or fewer characters)