REDHAT KNOWLEDGEBASE PROD

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Dec 31 06:43:33 CBSPRDB2 kernel: Performance Events: PEBS fmt1+, 16-deep LBR, IvyBridge events, full-width counters, Broken BIOS detected, complain to your hardware vendor. Dec 31 06:43:33 CBSPRDB2 kernel: [Firmware Bug]: the BIOS has corrupted hw-PMU resources (MSR 38d is 330)

Knowledgebased:

https://access.redhat.com/solutions/55862

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03265132

Environment

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

    • HP ProLiant Servers

Issue

    • On Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6, the following messages are logged during boot:

Performance Events: PEBS fmt1+, Westmere events, Broken BIOS detected, complain to your hardware vendor. [Firmware Bug]: the BIOS has corrupted hw-PMU resources (MSR 38d is 330) Intel PMU driver. ... version: 3 ... bit width: 48 ... generic registers: 4 ... value mask: 0000ffffffffffff ... max period: 000000007fffffff ... fixed-purpose events: 3 ... event mask: 000000070000000f NMI watchdog enabled, takes one hw-pmu counter.

Resolution

    • These are expected, informational messages added in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 which do not affect the normal usage of the system.

    • Kernel version 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6 or later includes a fix which allows the performance events subsystem to load when using these servers, but only using the same counter that the BIOS uses. Performance counter (profiling) data may be unreliable due to the HP ProLiant BIOS design.

    • These messages can be ignored per HP Advisory c03265132.

Root Cause

    • The problem is that the BIOS should normally release the performance counters, but instead holds them and updates them for itself. This shouldn't adversely affect system performance, but rather when attempting to measure it, things might not appear reliable.

    • The kernels performance counting and metrics are "off" as it doesn't expect any other hardware/software to be messing with them.

    • In some models you can remove the bios' grip on the counters by configuring BIOS low-latency options using RBSU

    • 1. Press F9 during POST to enter RBSU.

    • 2. Press CTRL-A to open the menu.

    • 3. Select Service Options.

    • 4. Disable either or both of the following options:

        • Raw

        • * Processor Power and Utilization Monitoring * Memory Pre-Failure Notification

    • If this doesn't work, engage HP and let them know about the problem.

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