VirtualBox 4.1.12 r77245 BSOD

[DNS]

Hi, I encounter a BSOD intermittently when I shutdown an XP guest on an old Vista rig. I think it's important to note that this happens whether I use snapshots or not. It also doesn't matter if it is ACPI or a command from within the guest. I always do a clean uninstall/install of new VirtualBox versions since otherwise I encounter a problem with upgrading extension packs. I also upgrade guest additions with every new version.

I must admit I've had this problem for quite some time even with past versions. I thought it was a one time thing that would be resolved with coming versions.

I noticed an indiciation of the problem at the end of the log:

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00:00:49.314 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false
00:00:50.314 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false
00:00:50.502 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false
00:00:51.314 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false
00:00:52.164 Changing the VM state from 'DESTROYING' to 'TERMINATED'.
00:00:52.618 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false

I am grateful for any assistance I could get. Please let me know if I need to open a bugtracker ticket. I have attached the full log for clarity.

--Guest Log deleted because it does not reflect current configuration--

[Perryg]

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VirtualBox 4.1.12 r77245 win.x86 (Apr  3 2012 14:46:16) release log
00:00:11.224 Guest Additions information report: Version 4.1.10 r76795 '4.1.10'

You need to update your Guest additions again because they still are 4.1.10

Is it the host that is going to BSOD?
You need to record what the error message is and post here.

[DNS]

yes it is the host that crashes. This was the case even when the GA and VMM were the same versions. For some reason, the guest addtions installer always assures me that it has upgraded even though it throws up a couple of errors. I've tried uninstalling the reinstalling GA but to no avail.

[mpack]

The "indication you noticed at the end of the log" seems to be normal in recent VirtualBox versions. I guess that some worker threads are trying things that are being blocked because the main thread is in the process of shutting down. I see no indication of a BSOD in this log. I see a clean shutdown.

As Perry said, you'll need to be clearer that the BSOD is in the guest, and what exactly that BSOD is.

It's worth noting that a BSOD in the guest would be a guest problem, not necessarily a VirtualBox problem. The physical PC I'm using now very occasionally crashes when shutting down, due to a buggy Acrobat Reader browser plugin that I never remember to update. So just because you get a crash doesn't mean that VBox did something wrong.

[DNS]

The "indication you noticed at the end of the log" seems to be normal in recent VirtualBox versions. I guess that some worker threads are trying things that are being blocked because the main thread is in the process of shutting down. I see no indication of a BSOD in this log. I see a clean shutdown.

I don't claim to be a knowledgeable authority when diagnosing problems with VBox (hence why I asked you guys ). I am usually adept at figuring out what's wrong with software though so please point me in the direction I should go next. I have disabled memory dumps along while ago, but could enable them if needed. I could also try and induce the crash in that case. Would a minidump be enough, or just if I tell you what error message I get?

As Perry said, you'll need to be clearer that the BSOD is in the guest, and what exactly that BSOD is.

I aplogize if I haven't been clear enough in the past, but it's always the Host itself that crashes rather than the Guest. In fact, the Guest shuts down fine in fact, but a split second later everthing crashes.

It's worth noting that a BSOD in the guest would be a guest problem, not necessarily a VirtualBox problem. The physical PC I'm using now very occasionally crashes when shutting down, due to a buggy Acrobat Reader browser plugin that I never remember to update. So just because you get a crash doesn't mean that VBox did something wrong.

Please don't misinterpret what I've said as criticism of VBox. It's good software and nothing can deny that. From my experience however this happened almost always as theVBox guest was shutting down. A BSOD was always triggered on the Host itself not in the Guest. Maybe looking at the Guest logs was the wrong place then.

[Perryg]

You should set your Windows host to *not* automatically reboot and record the screen somehow. We really need the error message to be able to tell you where to go next.
If need be you will be required to send a mini dump of the host and if needed the DEVs will ask for a full dump. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Post the error message and since the host is creating a BSOD there should be an error report that might help as well.

Also look in the system event logs of the Windows host to see what it might say.

[DNS]

Just an extra thing I noticed, I seem to be having a bunch of files in the snapshot folder even after I've resotred the machine tothe original state and deleted all the snapshots in the payne. When I deleted them (not permanently) I got a machine inaccessible error, so I had to restore them once more for the guest to work. So how do I get rid of them? Could their presence be the reason for the instability I've been experiencing?

[Perryg]

Post the *.vbox file (as an attachment) so we can see what is going on.

Note: you will need to rename the file to .txt or you will not be able to attach it.

[DNS]

Ok here it is.

[Perryg]

According to the *.vbox file you still have the snapshots and they are attached. I don't know how you removed them but they are still there.

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 <HardDisks>
        <HardDisk uuid="{2b4cec18-4a65-4971-a6d5-0659475a1b7b}" location="XP.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal">
          <HardDisk uuid="{83c8037d-0f75-4c1b-b79b-b2c6684c1709}" location="Snapshots/{83c8037d-0f75-4c1b-b79b-b2c6684c1709}.vdi" format="VDI" autoReset="true"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{6bf8313d-06c0-48b3-a1de-5ee84b160d03}" location="Snapshots/{6bf8313d-06c0-48b3-a1de-5ee84b160d03}.vdi" format="VDI"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{cfe67527-fd0b-4ac6-9be9-9edfe0c53d96}" location="Snapshots/{cfe67527-fd0b-4ac6-9be9-9edfe0c53d96}.vdi" format="VDI" autoReset="true"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{0244263b-66e0-4403-ac76-d82c35b9e411}" location="Snapshots/{0244263b-66e0-4403-ac76-d82c35b9e411}.vdi" format="VDI"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{b8ba6162-afe2-424e-95cb-c8c63e6dbe8f}" location="Snapshots/{b8ba6162-afe2-424e-95cb-c8c63e6dbe8f}.vdi" format="VDI" autoReset="true"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{fe1dcb45-f2f4-4f28-9a7c-20fedb0de2c5}" location="Snapshots/{fe1dcb45-f2f4-4f28-9a7c-20fedb0de2c5}.vdi" format="VDI"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{f566a185-6f28-4501-b47b-05e06cf12306}" location="Snapshots/{f566a185-6f28-4501-b47b-05e06cf12306}.vdi" format="VDI" autoReset="true"/>
          <HardDisk uuid="{698f5f40-9c69-4ded-b0c7-5fb4f217b235}" location="Snapshots/{698f5f40-9c69-4ded-b0c7-5fb4f217b235}.vdi" format="VDI"/>
        </HardDisk>

[DNS]

That's weird. I always deleted them AFAIK. I've got some good news and bad news

Good: I went ahead and unattached the main disk and the snapshots listed in the Virtual Media Manager. Then I deleted them physically from the folder, this time I get no errors and it seems to be resolved.

Bad: So I now manage to uninstall GA from the Guest in safe mode. Clicking the install GA from the VMM's Devices menu gives me what appears to be GA 4.1.12 installer prompts in the guest. After reinstalling GA, I still get 4.1.10 lsited as the GA version. Any ideas on what to do ?

EDIT: seems that after deleting the ghost snapshots, my previous un/reinstall of newest version of GA wasn't recorded to the main disk. Now all is well and 4.1.12 is listed as the version. Now I will work on reproducing the crash. Thanks for your help.

[DNS]

Ok I managed to reproduce it quickly. Here are the images from BlueScreen View:





The attached log is simply what's in the first picture. I would note that I don't have USB enabled for any of my VMs, however I need the Extension pack for its remote connecting features, otherwise I would do without it. A brief search turned up a bug ticket for the same process; https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/5327. I don't know if this is the same as my problem or not, if it is then no need to open a new report right?

[Perryg]

Disable USB2 in the guest. That way the USB devices will not be an issue and see if it still produces the error.

[DNS]

It already is disabled though and this happens. All boxes are unchecked under usb settings for all guests.

[Perryg]

Then I would create a new ticket at bugtracker and attach a guests log file. You can reference this topic there as well.