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XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 2. Feb 2010, 19:46
by tyctor
hi

i am using VirtualBox 3.1.2 from virtualbox repository under Ubuntu 9.10 64bit.
i have problem with XP freezing, it freezes for 2-3seconds and it repeats sporadically once per minute.
when i restart XP, sometimes it is OK for moment. but after few minutes it is back.

host: 4GB RAM, C2D
guest: 2GB RAM, 128MB for graphic, 1processor

is there any setting to avoid this behaviour?
thanks for answer

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 2. Feb 2010, 21:45
by vbox4me2
Disable all the stuff you don't directly need like the lan, usb, etc... and see how that goes, enable one by one to see where the problem starts.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 4. Feb 2010, 11:28
by tyctor
i have tried to disable USB and LAN, but problem is still persisting.
i have tried to set force_async_tsc=1 to vbox kernel module and add nohz=off
to kernel boot parameters but nothing helped.

have you another advice?
thanks

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 4. Feb 2010, 12:18
by vbox4me2
And the other options such as apic, smp, vt-x? I see this as well but only once when vbox is started and the Host is still loading stuff after starting up, but thats not vbox related. Is the Host freezing as well or just the Guest? vbox guest additions does sync the Guest time every minute, it might be freezing at that moment for some reason.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 4. Feb 2010, 15:06
by tyctor
IO APIC I have disabled - should i try to enable it?
smp - I dont know to fiand such option/chcekbox
vt-x I have enabled, so i will try to disable it a check if its help

freezing is related only to Guest, Host is OK

thanks

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 4. Feb 2010, 19:51
by JKyleOKC
I had a somewhat similar problem with WinXP guest on Xubuntu 8.04.3 host with dual-core processor and 2 GB RAM; in my case the guest did not totally freeze but it quit responding at all to keyboard and mouse actions after several seconds running a program that did large amounts of (virtual) disk i/o in a tight loop. Going through the VB manual for ideas I came across section 11.2.3 (troubleshooting) that suggested possibly the much faster response to IRQs could be causing it. I used the suggested command:

Code: Select all

 VBoxManage setextradata <VM Name> "VBoxInternal/Devices/piix3ide/0/Config/IRQDelay" 1
to delay IRQ response by one millisecond, and it appears to have solved my problem completely. The title for Section 11.2.3 makes it appear to only apply to Win2K guests -- but it may solve your problem also. The delay can be increased by as much as 5 ms, but it will definitely slow down the guest actions. In my case the slowdown was minimal, and the ability to retain control of the guest is well worth it.

Note that my guest itself kept running normally; it just lost touch with the host keyboard and mouse, making it impossible to get out of fullscreen until the non-responsive program completed its actions and allowed the guest to recover.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 5. Feb 2010, 15:13
by tyctor
thanks for tip
but i already have tried it, but it didnt help.

my conditions are as follows:

problematic guest is copy from another computer.
i only made scp -r for .Virtualbox directory, so the settings are exactly same as in original machine.
i had to change MAC for ethernet adapter to avoid arp conflicts.

guest on original machine is running without freezing.
copied guest is freezing, but is exactly the same, same HW, same host, same guest as original guest.

is OK to make copy vbox settings and machines this way (through scp)?

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 5. Feb 2010, 15:56
by vbox4me2
It should be ok, but you could do it from scratch to see if it makes any difference.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 5. Feb 2010, 16:13
by tyctor
do you think to try fresh install of XP, to see if a problem is still persisting?

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 5. Feb 2010, 22:14
by vbox4me2
No I meant create VM(settings) from scratch but re-use the VDI.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 8. Feb 2010, 11:55
by tyctor
create VM(settings) from scratch and reuse VDI, didnt help.

and freezing is back on the first (original) machine too, so problem will be somewhere else.

on this guest now i see that time is slowing, and guest is freezing very often.

could be a problem that VirtualBox is running that guest without restart?
Because on friday this guest worked without problems and i left it started all weekend,
now is monday and i see this problems, without any touch to guest/host for two days.

have anyone such a problem with "long running" guests?

can be problem, that host is 64bit?

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 8. Feb 2010, 20:06
by vbox4me2
Long running problem?? xp64 host, HOST-VM1 has been up for: 23 day(s), 23 hour(s), 26 minute(s), 13 second(s)
Sounds like a Host problem somewhere.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 8. Feb 2010, 22:11
by tyctor
oki great.
now i am trying older version of ubuntu desktop, so i will let knkow how it works...

please can you post your current stable configuration (host/guest, kernel)?

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 8. Feb 2010, 22:40
by vbox4me2
Stable? the Host is xp64, stable as a rock.

Re: XP guest freezes under VirtualBox 3.1.2

Posted: 9. Feb 2010, 12:16
by tyctor
ok, so yout host is either XP ...

i have downgraded to ubuntu 8.04 and it seems that problem is solved...
thanks for patience ;o)
regards