I have exactly the same issue:
#gpuvm
-Nothing-
#nvidia-smi
NVIDIA: could not open the device file /dev/nvidiactl (No such file or directory).
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with NVIDIA driver. Make sure that latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
#esxcli software vib list | grep NVIDIA
NVIDIA-VMware_ESXi_5.1_Host_Driver 304.76-1OEM.510.0.0.802205 NVIDIA VMwareAccepted 2013-05-31
#esxcli system module load -m nvidia
Unable to load module /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/nvidia: Failure
Also got in the kernel log:
2013-06-01T20:38:20.605Z cpu2:5636)Loading module nvidia ...
2013-06-01T20:38:20.614Z cpu2:5636)Elf: 1852: module nvidia has license NVIDIA
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)module heap: Initial heap size: 8388608, max heap size: 68476928
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)vmklnx_module_mempool_init: Mempool max 68476928 being used for module: 69
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)vmk_MemPoolCreate passed for 2048 pages
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)module heap: using memType 2
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)module heap vmklnx_nvidia: creation succeeded. id = 0x410031000000 NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter found!
2013-06-01T20:38:20.706Z cpu2:5636)nvidia failed to load.
2013-06-01T20:38:20.709Z cpu2:5636)WARNING: Elf: 2767: Kernel based module load of nvidia failed: Failure <Mod_LoadDone failed>
However I don't see in the "Sensor List" any GPU, Just CPU and software modules. But I can perform the esxci pci search and find the device correctly.
I'm trying to setup sVGA, using latest VIB from NVIDIA and latest vsphere 5.1
As suggestion of the whitepapper I tried to move the GPU in different slots but the issue was always the same, I don't have onboard VGA just single Quadro 4000.
Any conclusions on this problem? In normal Linux OS the GPU works fine with nvidia drivers.
Passthru not enable, I'm using Asus Z9PE-D8 WS.