Powering on the virtual machine on a standalone host fails with the error: Module FeatureCompatLate power on failed

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot power on a virtual machine
• Powering on a virtual machine on a standalone host fails
• You see the error:
  
  Failed to start the virtual machine.
  Module FeatureCompatLate power on failed.
  The virtual machine feature mask incorrectly requires 'vpmc.microarchitecture.nehalem-0' = 'Bool:Match:1'.
  
  
• If the standalone host was previously a part of an EVC cluster, the hostd.log file reports entries similar to:

info 'ha-eventmgr'] Event 112 : Error message on aCelera on mloffsite. in ha-datacenter: Failed to start the virtual machine.
verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Retrieved current VM state from foundry 7, 6
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Disconnect check in progress.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Answered question _vmx1
verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Retrieved current VM state from foundry 7, 6
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] VMX status has been set.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Disconnect check in progress.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Unmounting the vm.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] VMDB unmount initiated.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Unmounting VM complete.
info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] Pending unmount, deferring cleanup of "/vm/#cbab24dc1c2a258e/vmx/execState/req/#37/".
info 'vm:FoundryVMDBPowerOpCallback: VMDB reports power op failed for VM /vmfs/volumes/4de7a70d-594808ab-60fa-842b2b66997c/aCelera/aCelera.vmx'] with error msg = "The virtual machine feature m
ask incorrectly requires 'vpmc.microarchitecture.nehalem-0' = 'Bool:Match:1'.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Cause

This issue occurs if the host was previously in an EVC cluster and was then removed.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, disable the CPU masks from the host:

To disable the CPU masking:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client using Administrator privileges.
2. Select the host in the inventory.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. Under Software, select Advanced Settings.
5. Expand Config > Defaults.
6. Click cpuidMask.
7. Set values to disable all the way through Config.Defaults.cpuidMask.mode.8000000A.edx.
8. Click OK.
9. Power on the virtual machine.