Virtual machines on ESXi/ESX power off when sent a reset command

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• A reset command in ESXi/ESX 4.1 Update 1 or ESXi 5.0 results in a virtual machine being powered off. The reset can be initiated via a user or through Virtual Machine monitoring.
  
  
• In the vmware.log file, you see errors similar to:
  
  Jun 25 05:01:06.892: vmx| [msg.svgaUI.badLimits] Insufficient video RAM. The maximum resolution of the virtual machine will be limited to 1176x885. To use the configured maximum resolution of 2560x1600, increase the amount of video RAM allocated to this virtual machine by setting svga.vramSize="16384000" in the virtual machine's configuration file.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.892: vmx| ----------------------------------------
  Jun 25 05:01:06.919: vmx| SVGA: Truncated max res to VRAM size: 4194304 bytes VRAM, 1176x885 Max Resolution
  Jun 25 05:01:06.922: vmx| Msg_Post: Error
  Jun 25 05:01:06.923: vmx| [msg.memVmnix.noMem] Cannot allocate mapped memory.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.924: vmx| [msg.svgaUI.noPowerOn] Unable to initialize the virtual SVGA adapter.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.924: vmx| ----------------------------------------
  Jun 25 05:01:06.925: vmx| Module DevicePowerOn power on failed.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.927: vmx| VMX_PowerOn: ModuleTable_PowerOn = 0
  Jun 25 05:01:06.928: vmx| Destroying virtual dev for scsi0:0 vscsi=8220
  Jun 25 05:01:06.929: vmx| VMMon_VSCSIStopVports: No such target on adapter
  Jun 25 05:01:06.929: vmx| Destroying virtual dev for scsi0:1 vscsi=8221
  Jun 25 05:01:06.929: vmx| VMMon_VSCSIStopVports: No such target on adapter
  Jun 25 05:01:06.930: vmx| MKS local poweroff
  Jun 25 05:01:06.931: vmx| scsi0:1: numIOs = 0 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0 ( 0.0%)
  Jun 25 05:01:06.931: vmx| Closing disk scsi0:1DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/c0b01e5b-########/test/test-flat.vmdk" : closed.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.934: vmx| scsi0:0: numIOs = 0 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0 ( 0.0%)
  Jun 25 05:01:06.934: vmx| Closing disk scsi0:0DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/c0b01e5b-########/test/test-flat.vmdk" : closed.
  Jun 25 05:01:06.981: vmx| WORKER: asyncOps=0 maxActiveOps=0 maxPending=0 maxCompleted=0
  Jun 25 05:01:07.992: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3571]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=1, newAppState=1873, success=1 additionalError=0
  Jun 25 05:01:07.992: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3577]: VMAutomation: Ignoring ReportPowerOpFinished because the VMX is shutting down.
  Jun 25 05:01:07.995: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3571]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0
  Jun 25 05:01:07.995: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3577]: VMAutomation: Ignoring ReportPowerOpFinished because the VMX is shutting down.
  Jun 25 05:01:07.995: vmx| Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff
  Jun 25 05:01:07.995: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3571]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=0 additionalError=0
  Jun 25 05:01:07.995: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:3577]: VMAutomation: Ignoring ReportPowerOpFinished because the VMX is shutting down.
  Jun 25 05:01:07.996: vmx| VMX idle exit
  Jun 25 05:01:07.996: vmx| VMIOP: Exit
  Jun 25 05:01:07.997: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:652]: VMAutomation_LateShutdown()
  Jun 25 05:01:07.997: vmx| Vix: [104563 mainDispatch.c:602]: VMAutomationCloseListenerSocket. Closing listener socket.
  Jun 25 05:01:08.009: vmx| Flushing VMX VMDB connections
  Jun 25 05:01:08.023: vmx| VMX exit (0).
  Jun 25 05:01:08.023: vmx| AIOMGR-S : stat o=4 r=12 w=0 i=0 br=196608 bw=0
  Jun 25 05:01:08.023: vmx| VMX has left the building: 0.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Cause

The virtual machine cannot complete the reset due to an inability to properly allocate the video RAM.

Resolution

This is a known issue, and is currently being reviewed by VMware. This article will be updated as information becomes available.

To work around this issue, assign 17 MB or more video RAM to the virtual machine.