Still can't install ecs 2.1

[Yoda]

RC3 on XP32.
During phase 1 install of base system, Vbox crashes with Guru Mediation.
Used default options for everything.
Seems to happen randomly during installation - not at any specific point.

[michaln]

During phase 1 install of base system, Vbox crashes with Guru Mediation.

The screenshot is worthless... a log file might have been useful.

[Yoda]

Hmm, I did add both log and png. Don't know what happened. Trying again.
OK, too big...zipped now

[michaln]

You have a pretty old and rare CPU (Yonah)... hard to say if that might be part of the problem. Does the installation work in VirtualBox 4.1.20? That is, is this a regression?

[Yoda]

You have a pretty old and rare CPU (Yonah)...

This is the only PC I have with VT-X support.

hard to say if that might be part of the problem. Does the installation work in VirtualBox 4.1.20? That is, is this a regression?

I saw equal Guru Mediation at random places during install on 4.1.xx too. Haven't tried .20 (went for beta/RC instead.)

On an installed eCS 2.0 I see the attached Guru Mediation during boot, if ALT-F2 is activated - again after a random
driver during boot (3 tests).

[michaln]

Hmm, I just tried installing eCS 2.1 on my only slightly newer Core 2 Quad, and it worked without a hitch.

The problem with your CPU is that it was one of the very first VT-x implementations and was never used with VT-x a lot (basically it became outdated long before VT-x was widespread). The T2300 was launched in January 2006, just two months after the very first VT-x capable Intel processors. It could be that there's some bug in VirtualBox that shows up only on this old CPU, or there could be some bug in the CPU itself.

If you are seriously interested in virtualization, I can highly recommend a newer CPU. Current CPUs are so much better than your Core Duo (or even this Core 2 Quad) that it's not even funny.

[Yoda]

Well, it isn't that easy to change the CPU in this laptop

I don't really want to use VT-X; but Vbox sadly requires this when using
eComStation or OS/2 as guest. It is actually really annoying, as I have plenty
of computers here - but only this laptop has VT-X. Are there no plans to
add the missing instructions ?

When I run eCS as host, I can run XP as guest quite stable; but this is
with VT-X disabled. It sure looks like some kind of VT-X problem.

[michaln]

I don't really want to use VT-X; but Vbox sadly requires this when using
eComStation or OS/2 as guest. It is actually really annoying, as I have plenty
of computers here - but only this laptop has VT-X. Are there no plans to
add the missing instructions ?

No. Unfortunately for you, CPUs without VT-x or AMD-V are getting more and more rare. The effort required to get OS/2 (and eCS) working without virtualization just isn't worth it at this point, and it's less and less important as time goes on because CPUs without good hardware virtualization are simply dying out. It's just too bad that OS/2 is considerably more tricky to virtualize than Windows and Linux and does not allow software virtualization to work.

In my opinion, any Intel CPU before the Nehalem microarchitecture is not worth using for virtualization in 2012. Believe me - I've owned plenty of Core 2 systems, and they just don't cut it anymore. Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge systems are easily 2x-10x faster for virtualization than Core 2, and probably even more so than the original Yonah Core Solo/Duo.

It sure looks like some kind of VT-X problem.

Certainly. Again unfortunately for you, I don't think we have any system with such an old CPU. Unless this bug pops up on newer, more commonly used CPUs, I don't see it getting fixed anytime soon. Since the source code is all available, anyone can fix it with enough determination, if it's worth the effort it for them.

You could look into qemu - it will probably run eCS without needing hardware virtualization, although it may be so slow as to be unusable.

[Yoda]

Well, since VT-X support is now rewritten in 4.3 I thought I'd better try it again on this PC.

Now, I however just gets an error, just after the VM starts:

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine eCS21.

VT-x setup failed: VERR_HM_UNSUPPORTED_CPU_FEATURE_COMBO (VERR_HM_UNSUPPORTED_CPU_FEATURE_COMBO).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392}

If this is supposed to be a msg telling me, that my VT-X capable CPU is not supported,
it might be a good idea with a bit better information.

PS: Now a lot of NLS are missing again (for me, Danish)

[Ramshankar]

A debug build of VirtualBox should tell for sure what it doesn't like about your CPU. In release builds I don't think the error would show up in VBox.log, if you're lucky (depending on your host), you might find something in the system log. (/var/adm/messages in Solaris, dmesg output on Linux, no idea on Windows).

[Yoda]

Well, this is same PC as the thread was started on.

This is as previously a winXP 32 host

Attached the vbox.log

If a debug build is needed, tell me where to get it.

[Technologov]

speaking of CPUs: does the latest 4th generation Core i7 4770 "Haswell" brings anything new to the VT-x table ? (compared to Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge)
Rumors say "VMCS shadowing – nested virtualization" - possible with Haswell ?

Yoda: What about other OSes (Windows XP, Linux, ...) ? Are they work well on your Core 1 with VBox 4.3.x (VT-x mode)?

[Yoda]

Yoda: What about other OSes (Windows XP, Linux, ...) ? Are they work well on your Core 1 with VBox 4.3.x (VT-x mode)?

It is not related to eCS at all this time.
The error pops up as soon at the guest is started;
nothing has been booted yet. I don't even see the
BIOS splash screen, before it halts.

[michaln]

speaking of CPUs: does the latest 4th generation Core i7 4770 "Haswell" brings anything new to the VT-x table ? (compared to Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge)
Rumors say "VMCS shadowing – nested virtualization" - possible with Haswell ?

The documentation has been out for nearly a year for everyone to read.

[Yoda]

I still get this error with Beta 2 and 3:
Failed to open a session for the virtual machine eCS21.

VT-x setup failed: VERR_HM_UNSUPPORTED_CPU_FEATURE_COMBO (VERR_HM_UNSUPPORTED_CPU_FEATURE_COMBO).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {8ab7c520-2442-4b66-8d74-4ff1e195d2b6}