Workaround for VMware bug 2293 on OpenSUSE 11.4

Submitted by gunnar on

After setting up my new Dell Precision T1600 with OpenSUSE 11.4 I found that I could no longer run VMware. Got a message about some NMI problem and bug # 2293. I searched for a solution and found the following article apparently describing my problem:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cm…

In short it says that I need to add the kernel option nmi_watchdog=0 to my boot entry. I did, but it did not solve the problem. Disappointed! I kept searching and came upon some forum entries somewhere discussing different NMI related problems and some of them talked about adding the option nmi_watchdog=0 but also adding nowatchdog. Tried it and it worked! Now VMware starts without problem.

I don't know what this option does and why nmi_watchdog=0 is not sufficient but that is to me less important than getting VMware started.

 

 

 

Anonymous

Mon, 08/15/2011 - 23:06

That worked for me as well! I have been struggling with this issue for several weeks...
[OpenSuse 11.4, VMware Workstation 7.1.4]