sony-vaio-z-series team mailing list archive

[Raphael Gradenwitz <raphael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Easter Master,

thank you for your reply,

Am Montag, den 10.08.2009, 17:53 +0200 schrieb Easter Master:
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 03:19, Raphael Gradenwitz<raphael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Q: is VT not already enabled on sony z-series under Linux completely
> > independent from bios?
> >
> > Simple test on cpu flag 'vmx' like:
> >
> >  # begin test
> > echo; echo -n "  Full-Virtualization is ";\
> > grep '^flags.*vmx' /proc/cpuinfo || echo -n "not ";\
> > echo "suported by your CPU"; echo
> >  # end test
> 
> The CPU Flags are only flags, indicates the capabilities available on
> the Processor.

OK. Meanwhile I got that ;-)

> To check if that capabilities are enabled you need to check the MSR register.
> 
> In Linux you can use the "msr-tools" package; with the "rdmsr" utility
> you can check the VMX MSR register numbered 0x3A:
> 
> $ rdmsr 0x3A
> 5
> 
> That shows bit-2 (0x04) and bit-0 (0x01) of MSR 0x3A are set. bit-2 is
> the VT enable bit.

I did apt-get install msr-tools, the /usr/sbin/rdmsr binary is present but a

$ rdmsr 0x3A

or

$ sudo rdmsr 0x3A

gives me

rdmsr:open: No such file or directory


> >
> > and a working kvm (out of the box) makes me suspect that it does..
> 
> A working virtualization environment does not means that you are using
> the processor capabilities to support virtualization.
> 
> Try loading the Linux KVM modules
> 
> $ sudo modprobe kvm-intel
> $ lsmod | grep kvm
> kvm_intel              47768  0
> kvm                   152984  1 kvm_intel
> 
> If VT wasn't enabled, there are error reports in /var/log/kern.log  or
> /var/log/messages:
> 
> kernel:  kvm: disabled by bios

I have got nothing in syslog, it allready gave me this error message on
the console:

FATAL: Error inserting kvm_intel
(/lib/modules/2.6.31-5-generic/updates/dkms/kvm-intel.ko): Operation not
supported

> 
> >
> > The report this link [2] is pointing to is speaking about bios. But one
> > can eg. completely bypass any bios update by simply installing the
> > newest Linux Processor Microcode Data File from Intel [1]:
> >
> > sudo apt-get install intel-microcode microcode.ctl
> 
> An updated CPU microcode is very useful to correct processor bugs but
> it cannot enable a disabled MSR register and cannot add capabilities
> not available on the processor.
> The BIOS updates correct firmware bugs and not only Processor microcode.
> 
> >
> > But even without the newest microcode installed I have got full
> > virtualisation support on my VGN-Z21MN (ubuntu-jaunty and -karmic).
> > Without any changes to the bios.
> >
> > Or did I just misunderstood everything?
> 
> Maybe you are using "software only" virtualization; you can be sure
> only checking the VMX MSR register (after checking the CPU Flags).
> Hope that this is more clear, anyway ask here anything you don't understand.

Thank you all!
I see the difference, my eyes are opened now.

My conclusion since I need vt in future (and that was one of the main
reasons why I bought this piece of hardware): this was my first but
certainly will be my last Sony Product!
Nothing in the glossy brochures hints to the fact this feature (i paid
for) is crippled by default... and that's what makes me so angry!

Raphael

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