Z800 (E5620) vt-d & vt-x

[UtilityPanel]

I've exchanged a few messages with some Qubes users on their support forum, and the best option I've heard yet involves preventing Zen (the hypervisor upon which Qubes is built) from engaging with the two crippled functions served up by the chipset, which in turn will prevent Qubes from recognizing that those features are functioning incorrectly.

The relevant procedure is explained here:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX136517

No one can guarantee that this solution will work; but because the current consensus is that the chipset in the Z800 never worked correctly in the first place, it's my only hope for a solution.

I imagine the fault lies more with the chip manufacturer than with HP. Design flaws in chips often remain undetected for quite some time before being exposed. Nonetheless, I'll miss the Z800 if it turns out to be incapable of performing its function.

[UtilityPanel · Accepted solution]

I spoke too soon. The defect is fatal:

https://www.qubes-os.org/faq/#can-i-install-qubes-4x-on-a-system-without-vt-x-or-vt-d

If anyone is interested in purchasing a pair of lightly-used Z800s with 96GB of RAM each, please contact me off list. They're great machines, but if they cannot run Qubes, they are of no use to me.

I'll close this ticket now. Thanks to all who contributed.