I had exactly the same problem using custom kernel on Debian GNU/Linux / qemu-kvm 1.1.1 or 1.2.0.
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2667 0 @ 2.90GHz stepping 7 microcode 0x70b I have two solutions: (VERY UGGLY) patch the kernel to remove intel perf events (hardware events): --- ../linux-3.4.10-fai-server/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event.c 2012-08-27 00:02:10.000000000 +0200 +++ arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event.c 2012-09-10 18:56:11.870774243 +0200 @@ -1324,7 +1328,8 @@ struct event_constraint *c; int err; - pr_info("Performance Events: "); + pr_info("Performance Events: (DISABLED BY UGGLY PATCH)"); + return 0; switch (boot_cpu_data.x86_vendor) { case X86_VENDOR_INTEL: *OR* Add support for KVM Guest in the *GUEST* kernel config: +CONFIG_KVM_CLOCK=y +CONFIG_KVM_GUEST=y +CONFIG_PARAVIRT=y +# CONFIG_PARAVIRT_SPINLOCKS is not set +CONFIG_PARAVIRT_CLOCK=y -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of qemu- devel-ml, which is subscribed to QEMU. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1037675 Title: Guest Kernel Panic if using "-cpu host" in qemu-kvm 1.1.1 Status in QEMU: New Bug description: After Upgrading to qemu-kvm-1.1.1-r1 from version 1.0.1-r1 my virtual machines (running gentoo linux) panic at intel_pmu_init. (detailed information including stacktrace are in the uploaded screenshot). When i remove the "-cpu host" option, the system starts normally. the command line from whicht the system is bootet: qemu-kvm -vnc :7 -usbdevice tablet -daemonize -m 256 -drive file=/data/virtual_machines/wgs-l08.img,if=virtio -boot c -k de -net nic,model=virtio,macaddr=12:12:00:12:34:63,vlan=0 -net tap,ifname=qtap6,script=no,downscript=no,vlan=0 -smp 2 -enable-kvm -cpu host -monitor unix:/var/run/qemu- kvm/wgs-l08.monitor,server,nowait also reported on gentoo bug tracker (with some more details of the host): https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=431640 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1037675/+subscriptions