Hardware issues with ESX hosts can manifest themselves in several different ways:
A virtual machine may become unresponsive and reference a bug that was fixed years ago. This occurs because the "regs" value references a known bug number in VMware code. Here is an example of a virtual machine error on an ESX 3.0.2 host:
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)WARNING: World: vm 1136: 6012: vmm0:<VM-NAme>:vcpu-0:SyncCB failure: 4408b65 (bug #4938)
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1136, members = 1
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1136, ebp=0x35c3f88
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)0x35c3f88:[0x63c1cb]World_VMMPanic+0xa7(0xd115e0, 0x573c8, 0x0, 0x2e90, 0x0)
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)0x35c3fb0:[0x63c1cb]World_VMMPanic+0xa7(0x29, 0x2e68, 0x61dd90, 0x35c4000, 0x111c0021)
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.672 cpu2:1136)0x35c3fe8:[0x61de1a]VMKCall+0x8a(0x29, 0x2e68, 0x1046, 0x2e2c, 0x0)$ fgrep -i backtrace /var/log/vmkernel*vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1136, ebp=0x35c3f88
vmkernel: 3:06:14:23.172 cpu2:1131)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1131, ebp=0xc3fc14
vmkernel: 1:20:57:09.892 cpu2:1132)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1132, ebp=0x35b3f88
vmkernel: 0:00:42:56.240 cpu2:1109)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1109, ebp=0x3557f88
vmkernel: 1:05:29:16.295 cpu2:1146)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1146, ebp=0x35ebf88
vmkernel: 2:01:59:23.758 cpu2:1152)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1152, ebp=0x3603f88
vmkernel: 2:14:22:31.688 cpu2:1139)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1139, ebp=0x35cff88
vmkernel: 3:03:17:24.927 cpu2:1116)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1116, ebp=0x3573f88
vmkernel: 3:10:16:51.096 cpu2:1135)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1135, ebp=0x35bff88
vmkernel: 2:17:31:09.784 cpu2:1112)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1112, ebp=0x3563f88
vmkernel: 2:17:53:48.630 cpu2:1131)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1131, ebp=0x35aff88
vmkernel.1---vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)WARNING: World: vm 1136: 6012: vmm0:<VM-Name>:vcpu-0:SyncCB failure: 4408b65 (bug #4938)
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1136, members = 1
vmkernel: 2:09:56:43.671 cpu2:1136)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1136, ebp=0x35c3f88vmkernel: 3:06:14:23.172 cpu2:1131)WARNING: World: vm 1131: 6012: vmm0:<VM-Name>:vmk: vcpu-0:VMM DoubleFault @ 0x46793 (0x5fc4, 0x5fcc)
vmkernel: 3:06:14:23.172 cpu2:1131)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1131, members = 1
vmkernel: 3:06:14:23.172 cpu2:1131)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1131, ebp=0xc3fc14vmkernel.2---vmkernel: 1:20:57:09.892 cpu2:1132)WARNING: World: vm 1132: 6012: vmm0:<VM-Name>:vcpu-0:VMM fault: regs=0x2e48, exc=14, eip=0x3cca8
vmkernel: 1:20:57:09.892 cpu2:1132)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1132, members = 1
vmkernel: 1:20:57:09.892 cpu2:1132)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1132, ebp=0x35b3f88vmkernel.3---vmkernel: 0:00:42:56.240 cpu2:1109)WARNING: World: vm 1109: 6012: vmm0:<VM-Name>:vcpu-0:VMM fault: regs=0x2704, exc=14, eip=0x309d0
vmkernel: 0:00:42:56.240 cpu2:1109)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1109, members = 1
vmkernel: 0:00:42:56.240 cpu2:1109)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1109, ebp=0x3557f88vmkernel: 1:05:29:16.295 cpu2:1146)WARNING: World: vm 1146: 6012: vmm0:<VM-Name>:vcpu-0:VMM fault: regs=0x2f94, exc=13, eip=0x6acc1
vmkernel: 1:05:29:16.295 cpu2:1146)World: 6015: vmm group leader = 1146, members = 2
vmkernel: 1:05:29:16.295 cpu2:1146)Backtrace for current CPU #2, worldID=1146, ebp=0x35ebf88
VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-52797]
Exception type 14 in world 1091:vmm0:HSCTKIM @ 0x64dc24
gate=0xe frame=0x350fdac eip=0x64dc24 cr2=0x401e8fb5 cr3=0xe4da1000 cr4=0x669
eax=0x405e8fb3 ebx=0x1 ecx=0x405e8000 edx=0x405e8000 es=0x4041 ds=0x4041
fs=0x4048 gs=0x4041 ebp=0x350fe28 esi=0x860bba91 edi=0x92cc7687 err=0 ef=0x11002
cpu 0 1024 console: cpu 1 1111 vmm0:HSCD: CPU 2 1091 vmm0:HSCT: cpu 3 1093 mks:HSCTK:
cpu 4 1098 mks:HSCTK: cpu 5 1116 vmm0:HSCD: cpu 6 1121 vmm0:HSCD: cpu 7 1123 mks:HSCDK:
@BlueScreen: Exception type 14 in world 1091:vmm0:HSCTKIM @ 0x64dc24
0x350fe28:[0x64dc24]PShareHashTableWalk+0x58(0x1479b20, 0x0, 0x1)
0x350fe64:[0x64def6]PShareAddPage+0x6a(0x1479b20, 0x77fe12, 0x860bba91)
0x350fea0:[0x64ee56]PShare_AddIfShared+0x96(0x860bba91, 0x92cc7687, 0x77fe12)
0x350ff58:[0x607588]AllocCOWSharePage+0x354(0xcd66fc, 0x656f, 0x407ca710)
0x350ff84:[0x60832b]AllocCOWSharePages+0x4b(0xcd66fc, 0xc, 0x407ca000)
0x350ffb0:[0x608424]Alloc_COWSharePages+0x94(0xc, 0x2d58, 0x61dd90)
0x350ffe8:[0x61de1a]VMKCall+0x8a(0xc, 0x2d58, 0x1246)