ERROR: Too many CPUs (272) for the GIP (max 256)

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Post Reply
shandoshando
Posts: 1
Joined: 2. Jun 2018, 02:22

ERROR: Too many CPUs (272) for the GIP (max 256)

Post by shandoshando »

Currently trying to get VirtualBox downloaded on Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS Desktop running on an Intel® Xeon Phi(TM) CPU 7250 @ 1.40GHz × 60. I consistently receive an error in starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module when attempting to download any version of VirtualBox.
LSB-error.png
LSB-error.png (113.23 KiB) Viewed 596 times
Upon running 'dmesg' I see that the last output is "Too many CPUs (272) for the GIP (max 256)" and I'm curious if this has anything to do with why the installation is failing.
too-many-cores.png
too-many-cores.png (10.17 KiB) Viewed 596 times
Any insight as to what might be going wrong?
andyp73
Volunteer
Posts: 1631
Joined: 25. May 2010, 23:48
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Assorted Linux, Windows Server 2012, DOS, Windows 10, BIOS/UEFI emulation

Re: ERROR: Too many CPUs (272) for the GIP (max 256)

Post by andyp73 »

Having looked at Intel® Xeon Phi™ Processor 7250 then it doesn't appear to support VT-x and has big warnings about not supporting virtualisation and so it may not be a good candidate for running VirtualBox.

Looking at your output then I am guessing your system has four of these wee beasties* which in fact each contain 68 cores (4 * 68 = 272) which is more than a maximum of 256 which is either more than VirtualBox ever thought it would find on a host system or more than you can allocate to a single guest (I forget which)

It may be that it is just a case of increasing the size of a structure within VirtualBox in which case one of the devs may be able to create a quick test build to fix it - or it may be way more complicated than that - I haven't been and looked yet.

-Andy.

*A Scottish expression meaning a small creature.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
Post Reply