ML30 Gen10 and esxi 7.0 gpu passthrough problems

[jmbraben]

For a while, I've been wanting to passthrough an Nvidia Quadro P400 to a guest os.
I've updated from 6.7.0u2 to 7.0.1
(HPE-ESXi-6.7.0-Update2 to (Updated) HPE-Custom-AddOn_701.0.0.10.6.0-40)

In 6.7.0u2, Linux guest could see the GPU, but not "correctly" (nividia-smi not reporting card, but shows up with lspci)

In 7.0.0u1, the guest won't even boot with the passthrough (see below errors)

I've read about the passthrough changes in 7.0 and have created a new ESXi 7.0 U1 virtual machine from scratch.

• The GPU is marked as active passthrough in the host hardware
• The VM is configured with UEFI bios
• I've added the GPU as a "Dynamic PCI device"
• I've reserved all the guest OS memory

• This GPU only has 2Gb...so nothing fancy there in memory allocations.
  This card is max 30 watts and no "extra" power connections...seems to work ok

I see nothing in the logs that would explain the failure.

2020-10-22T23:13:21.121Z| vmx| I005: DICT pciPassthru0.allowedDevices = "0x10de:0x1cb3,0x10de:0xfb9"
...
2020-10-22T23:13:21.410Z| vmx| I005+ Power on failure messages: Module 'DevicePowerOn' power on failed.
2020-10-22T23:13:21.410Z| vmx| I005+ Failed to start the virtual machine.
2020-10-22T23:13:21.410Z| vmx| I005+
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4200]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4200]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=0 additionalError=0
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4238]: Error VIX_E_FAIL in VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished(): Unknown error
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4200]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0
2020-10-22T23:13:21.411Z| vmx| I005: Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff

As soon as I remove the GPU from the VM, the VM will power up without issue.
I feel I have to be missing something obvious as this "should work", but I'm currently at a loss.

TIA for any help.

[AM11]

Hello,
Thank you for contacting HPE support,

With regards to the issue which you are facing i see as per quick specs of the server the GPU card (Nvidia Quadro P400) is not listed under supported cards.

Please refer page 24
https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00053821enus#

The GPU card seems to be HP Inc part hence would request you to check with them once.
https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/nvidia-quadro-p400-2gb-graphics

As mentioned by you (Linux guest could see the GPU, but not "correctly") And (In 7.0.0u1, the guest won't even boot with the passthrough) it looks like compatibility issue hence i would request you to try using the supported GPU card and test the server.

Thanks
HPE Support