That's correct.  Here are the BIOS Options <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell> I see.  If one of those means "virtualization", I don't know which one it would be.  Should I be looking somewhere else?

Athenian,

Are you saying you do not see an option in the bios for virtualization?

see http://amalgamman.livejournal.com/3212.html

An upgrade to the bios (Dell Optiplex 740 version 1.2.3) and flipping the a couple switches in the bios (TPM Activation= Deactivate and No Execute = Off) fixed the issue.

OK I've got a tricky problem for you guys.  As described I'm able to configure the TPM/No Execute settings after upgrading my BIOS to 2.2.5.  The problem is that I had to downlevel my BIOS in order to install ESXi in the first place to 1.1.8 in order to install ESXi!!  Now after flashing the BIOS ESXi will no longer boot.  Arrgh!  Does anyone happen to know the magical BIOS level that will allow me to configure TMP/No Excute while NOT breaking ESXi?

This is for a Dell Optiplex 740.

Hey guys,

Answered my own question, it appears that BIOS ver 1.1.8 has the options mentioned above and also allows you to boot ESXi.  Next I need to figure out why I'm unable to use Vmotion on these machines.

:emotion-18:

Folks, you've got me puzzled. . . .

Here I am with an Optiplex 740, AMD 3800+ processor (that supposedly supports hardware virtualization) and I tried your trick after updating to the 2.2.5 BIOS.

What I did:

• I did not see a "TPM Activate" so I turned the TPM function "on", whereupon I got that.  I made sure it was disabled (which it was by default)
• NoExecute was already set "off"
• I tried setting both options the other way, saved settings, returned them to the other value, saved settings - and so on.
• Tried re-loading BIOS defaults, and repeating the above. . . .  No joy.

I'm just not getting anything anywhere that even SMELLS like hardware virtualization - let alone LOOKS like it.  Any hints as to what I'm doing wrong here?  Where should I be seeing this?

Frustration reigns supreme!  :emotion-39:

Jim

I Jim,

I have never ever ever had it work with any BIOS ver other that 1.1.8.  Downlevel to that and try the install again.

Good luck!

D',

I tried that, and did everything I was supposed to.  I still do not see anything in the BIOS that talks about virtualization.  Is this a "silent" feature?  (i.e. it works but doesn't tell you it's there?)

Thanks!

Jim

Strange, as soon as I installed that BIOS level it worked right away, no messing around with BIOS settings at all.  Are you installing ESX or ESXi?  At what point does it fail during the install?

I gave up and used a different brand machine for my virtualization work.  I think it's interesting that after  two years, no one from Dell has provided any help at all to customers who have this model.