🧩 Problem

I attempted to install ESXi 8 on my Dell OptiPlex homelab machine, but during boot, I encountered a Pink Screen of Death (PSOD) with errors like:

  • Fatal CPU mismatch on feature
  • HW feature incompatibility detected

This prevented ESXi from installing or booting successfully. !Image Description

🛠️ Root Cause

The issue is caused by modern Intel CPUs (12th Gen and newer) using a hybrid architecture with:

  • Performance cores (P-cores)
  • Efficiency cores (E-cores)

ESXi expects uniform CPU cores, so it crashes when it detects different core types.