Knowledge Base

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

Search the VMware Knowledge Base (KB)

View by Article ID

VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch ESXi500-201212208-UG: Updates VMware ESXi 5.0 net-e1000e vib (2033761)

Details

Release Date: December 20, 2012

Patch Category	Bug Fix
Patch Severity	Important
Build	For build information, see KB 2033751.
Host Reboot Required	Yes
Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required	Yes
Affected Hardware	N/A
Affected Software	N/A
VIBs Included	VMware:net-e1000e_1.1.2-3vmw.500.2.26.914586 VMware: net-e1000_8.0.3.1-2vmw.500.1.18.768111
PRs Fixed	848233
Related CVE numbers	N/A

For more information on patch and update classification, see KB 2014447.

Solution

Summaries and Symptoms

This patch updates the net-e1000e and net-e1000 VIB to resolve the following issues where the ESXi host might stop responding with a purple-diagnostic screen with messages similar to the following:
@BlueScreen: #PF Exception 14 in world 4891:vmm0:HQINTSQ IP 0x41800655ea98 addr 0xcc 41:11:55:21.277 cpu15:4891)Code start: 0x418006000000 VMK uptime: 41:11:55:21.277 41:11:55:21.278 cpu15:4891)0x417f818df948:[0x41800655ea98]e1000_clean_tx_irq@esx:nover+0x9f stack: 0x4100b5610080 41:11:55:21.278 cpu15:4891)0x417f818df998:[0x418006560b9a]e1000_poll@esx:nover+0x18d stack: 0x417f818dfab4 41:11:55:21.279 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfa18:[0x41800645013a]napi_poll@esx:nover+0x10d stack: 0x417fc68857b8 41:11:55:21.280 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfae8:[0x4180060d699b]WorldletBHHandler@vmkernel:nover+0x442 stack: 0x417fc67bf7e0 41:11:55:21.280 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfb48:[0x4180060062d6]BHCallHandlers@vmkernel:nover+0xc5 stack: 0x100410006c38000 41:11:55:21.281 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfb88:[0x4180060065d0]BH_Check@vmkernel:nover+0xcf stack: 0x417f818dfc18 41:11:55:21.281 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfc98:[0x4180061cc7c5]CpuSchedIdleLoopInt@vmkernel:nover+0x6c stack: 0x410004822dc0 41:11:55:21.282 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfe68:[0x4180061d180e]CpuSchedDispatch@vmkernel:nover+0x16e1 stack: 0x0 41:11:55:21.282 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dfed8:[0x4180061d225a]CpuSchedWait@vmkernel:nover+0x20d stack: 0x410006108b98 41:11:55:21.283 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dff28:[0x4180061d247a]CpuSched_VcpuHalt@vmkernel:nover+0x159 stack: 0x4100a24416ac 41:11:55:21.284 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dff98:[0x4180060b181f]VMMVMKCall_Call@vmkernel:nover+0x2ba stack: 0x417f818dfff0 41:11:55:21.284 cpu15:4891)0x417f818dffe8:[0x418006098d19]VMKVMMEnterVMKernel@vmkernel:nover+0x10c stack: 0x0 41:11:55:21.285 cpu15:4891)0xfffffffffc058698:[0xfffffffffc21d008]__vmk_versionInfo_str@esx:nover+0xf59cc9f7 stack: 0x0 41:11:55:21.297 cpu15:4891)FSbase:0x0 GSbase:0x418043c00000 kernelGSbase:0x0

This error occurs if during cleaning of the transmit ring, the CPU is sent to perform some other tasks and if another CPU cleans the ring in the meantime, then the first CPU erroneously cleans the transit ring again and ends up de-referencing a null skb.

Deployment Considerations

None beyond the required patch bundles and reboot information listed in the table above.

Patch Download and Installation

The typical way to apply patches to ESXi hosts is through the VMware Update Manager. For details, see the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager.

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
0 Ratings

1 2 3 4 5
0 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)