VMware ESXi 5.x host experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning E1000PollRxRing, E1000DevRx and Net_AcceptRxList
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VMware ESXi 5.x host experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning E1000PollRxRing, E1000DevRx and Net_AcceptRxList

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Article ID: 339918

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • The ESXi 5.x host fails with a purple diagnostic screen.
  • The ESXi host is running virtual machines that use an E1000e virtual network adapter.
  • The purple diagnostic screen contains entries similar to:

    @BlueScreen: #PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
    PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000PollRxRing@vmkernel#nover+0xeb7
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000DevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x18a
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]IOChain_Resume@vmkernel#nover+0x247
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]PortOutput@vmkernel#nover+0xe3
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]EtherswitchForwardLeafPortsQuick@<None>#<None>+0xd6
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]EtherswitchPortDispatch@<None>#<None>+0x13bb
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Port_InputResume@vmkernel#nover+0x146
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Net_AcceptRxList@vmkernel#nover+0x157
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]NetPollWorldletCallback@vmkernel#nover+0x5c
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]WorldletProcessQueue@vmkernel#nover+0x488
    0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]WorldletBHHandler@vmkernel#nover+0x60
     
Note: Ensure that the issue you have encountered in your environment matches the symptoms specified in this Knowledge Base article. The Knowledge Base article ESXi 5.x with E1000e adapter fails with purple diagnostic screen (2059053) shows some of the symptoms similar to this Knowledge Base article and the work around is same. However, the offsets of the functions in the back trace are different.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Resolution

This issue is resolved in these versions of ESXi 5.x.

ESXi 5.0</u>

This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.0 Patch 10, available at VMware Download Patches. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch Release ESXi500-201412001 (2088715).
 
ESXi 5.1</u>
 
This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.1 Patch 5, available at VMware Download Patches. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch ESXi510-201407401-BG: Updates esx-base (2079118).

ESXi 5.5</u>

This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.5 P03, available at VMware Download Patches. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.5, Patch Release ESXi550-201410001 (2087358).

Work around:

To work around this issue, identify the virtual machines that use the E1000e virtual network interfaces (as described below) and then perform one of these options:
  • Use the VMXNET3 virtual adapter and reduce the usage of the E1000e adapter as much as possible. For more information on adding or modifying a virtual machine's virtual network interfaces, see the Change the Virtual Network Adapter (NIC) Configuration in the vSphere Web Client or Change the Virtual Network Adapter (NIC) Configuration in the vSphere Client section in the VMware vSphere 5.5 Virtual Machine Administration guide.
     
  • In the virtual machines that use the E1000e adapter, disable RSS in the guest operating system or replace the E1000e adapter with the VMXNET3 adapter. Disabling RSS may have performance implications for your virtual machine. For more information, see Poor network performance or high network latency on Windows virtual machines (2008925).

Identifying the virtual machines that use E1000e network adapters

Use the VMware vSphere PowerCLI to identify the virtual machines that use E1000e network adapters. For more information on installation and use of PowerCLI, see the VMware vSphere 5.5 Command Line Documentation guide.

To identify the virtual machines that use E1000e network adapters:
  1. Open the vSphere PowerCLI.
  2. Connect to vCenter Server using the command:

    Connect-VIHost vCenterServerHostnameOrIPAddress

    Note: In PowerCLI 5.5, the command is:

    Connect-VIServer vCenterServerHostnameOrIPAddress
     
  3. Generate a list of virtual machines with E1000e network adapters using this command:

    ForEach( $VM in (Get-VM) ) { $VM|Where{ $VM|Get-NetworkAdapter|Where{ $_.ExtensionData -like "*e1000e" } } }

    You see output similar to:

    Name PowerState NumCPUs MemoryGB
    ---- ---------- ------- --------
    VirtualMachineA PoweredOn 2 4.000
    VirtualMachineB PoweredOff 1 2.000

    Each virtual machine in this list has one or more E1000e virtual network interfaces.
     
  4. Perform one of these options:
     


Additional Information

Choosing a network adapter for your virtual machine
Poor network performance or high network latency on Windows virtual machines
ESXi 5.x with E1000e adapter fails with purple diagnostic screen
VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch ESXi510-201407401-BG: Updates esx-base
VMware ESXi 5.x ホストの画面が、E1000PollRxRing、E1000DevRx、および Net_AcceptRxList と表示された紫色の診断画面になる
VMware ESXi 5.5, Patch Release ESXi550-201410001
VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch Release ESXi500-201412001
VMware ESXi 5.x 主机出现紫色诊断屏幕，提及 E1000PollRxRing、E1000DevRx 和 Net_AcceptRxList

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