Issues running in OS X 10.11

[TVick]

All, I've installed VirtualBox 5.0.6 on OS X 10.11 and am unable to boot an OS X 10.9 guest.

Each time the machine boots I get different errors and messages. Sometimes the machine just hangs at "Waiting for DSMOS" and other times it makes it all the way to the end of the boot sequence and then dies. I've attached the logs and screenshot if anyone can find something there.

Every time I boot I get the error "SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MMIO regMap == NULL - fall back to old SMC mode" Sometimes the machine dies right away here and other times I get to init, probe, start, DSMOS has arrived and then it dies. Very inconsistent which makes it hard to pinpoint a particular problem. I've done copious amounts of Google searching and cannot find an answer here. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[socratis]

Your MacMini was originally shipped with OSX 10.8.1, so it should certainly support OSX 10.9 (that means that you don't have to fake it). Having said that, I took a look at your logs and I noticed some strange messages, which I haven't seen before:

Code: Select all

...
00:01:13.779295 E1000#0 No complete packets in TxD cache! Fetched=1, current=0, TX len=1.
00:01:13.779309 -- Transmit Descriptors (384 total) --
00:01:13.779313 >>> 0000000000016000: Type=Legacy Address=C0692DD26B00000E DTALEN=000A5
00:01:13.779320         CMD: STA: DD EC LC CSO=00 CSS=b6 SPECIAL:cfi VLAN=1d2 PRI=6
00:01:13.779326 0000000000016010: Invalid Transmit Descriptor
00:01:13.779330 0000000000016020: Type=Legacy Address=B60FC0B60F2DC06B DTALEN=0028C
00:01:13.779331         CMD: RPS EOP STA: CSO=00 CSS=00 SPECIAL:CFI VLAN=60f PRI=5
00:01:13.779349 0000000000016030: Type=Context
00:01:13.779350         IPCSS=06 IPCSO=6B IPCSE=27C9 TUCSS=69 TUCSO=C0 TUCSE=00F7
00:01:13.779351         TUCMD: IDE TSE IPv4 UDP PAYLEN=f0000 HDRLEN=000f MSS=c0b6 STA: DD
00:01:13.779356 0000000000016040: Invalid Transmit Descriptor
...
...
00:01:13.781860 00000000000177f0: Type=Legacy Address=FA7FC069F0458BFF DTALEN=00ED3
00:01:13.781862         CMD: IDE IC EOP STA: LC CSO=03 CSS=fe SPECIAL:CFI VLAN=fff PRI=7
00:01:13.781865 -- Transmit Descriptors in Cache (at 0 (TDH 0)/ fetched 1 / max 64) --
00:01:13.781869 >>> 0000000000016000: Type=Legacy Address=C0692DD26B00000E DTALEN=000A5
00:01:13.781873         CMD: STA: DD EC LC CSO=00 CSS=b6 SPECIAL:cfi VLAN=1d2 PRI=6
00:01:13.781877 AssertLogRel /Users/vbox/tinderbox/5.0-mac-rel/src/VBox/VMM/VMMAll/PGMAllPhys.cpp(2650) VBOXSTRICTRC pgmPhysWriteHandler(VM*, PGMPAGE*, RTGCPHYS, const void*, size_t, PGMACCESSORIGIN): PGM_HANDLER_PHYS_IS_VALID_STATUS(rcStrict, true)
00:01:13.781888 rcStrict=VERR_NET_INCOMPLETE_TX_PACKET GCPhys=00000000e8403818 pPage=Za-:BAD:000314660000:0000000:-0000 
00:01:13.781909 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
00:01:13.781910 !!
00:01:13.781910 !!                 Guru Meditation -467 (VERR_NET_INCOMPLETE_TX_PACKET)
00:01:13.781912 !!
00:01:13.781935 !!
00:01:13.781935 !! {mappings, <NULL>}
00:01:13.781936 !!
00:01:13.781944 
00:01:13.781945 The mappings are DISABLED.
00:01:13.781948 00000000fe800000 - 00000000ffbfffff  Hypervisor Memory Area
00:01:13.781956 00000000fec00000 - 00000000ffbfffff  Above 4GB Base RAM

I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems like network traffic of some sort??? I don't know. Could you disable all networking and see what happens? Also, could you zip and attach your "SEA-WS00.vbox"?

And finally (actually this should have been first), could you lower the memory allocated to the guest to 2GB. I didn't like that "Above 4GB Base RAM" message at the end...

[TVick]

Alright, I lowered the RAM to 2GB. The machine takes forever when it gets to "Waiting for DSMOS..." I let it run and it was stuck there for 10+ minutes until it finally moved to the "SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MMIO regMap == NULL - fall back to old SMC mode" error. Then it sits there for a while and finally .. The whole process from start to crash took over 40 minutes. Once it crashed I put the ISO installer back in and restarted and it booted into the OS X installer no problem.

What I don't understand is that the installation works just fine. I load the 10.9 ISO image and boot the machine and it starts no problem. The OS installs ok, it reboots when it's done and then it just never works.

On top of it, I have noticed issues with networking on other host OSes. I have a few VMs running on a 10.8.5 host and VirtualBox 5.0.4. If I try and change the network adapter after the machine is configured (while it's powered off) and then try and restart it, it doesn't like that at all. Maybe there is a duplicate MAC address conflicting with another VM on the network?

Googling a bit for the smcInitHelper error looks like there is an issue with the host OS... Right?

.vbox attached as ZIP.

[TVick]

Got it working!

First, I changed the MAC address of the bridged adapter. Then the machine would boot but the network cable showed as unplugged and I could not obtain an IP address. I deleted the interface in the OS X network preferences.

Next, I shutdown the machine and disabled networking entirely. Rebooted the VM and no adapters were available.

Next, I shutdown the machine and re-enabled the network adapter and rebooted the machine. Then I could see an adapter in the OS X profiler. I went into network preferences and an ethernet adapter was available. I added there interface and it connected just fine. I rebooted the machine a few times and it seems to be working fine.

Definitely appears to be a networking issue in version 5.

[socratis]

Definitely appears to be a networking issue in version 5.

Definitely NOT. I have every OSX guest from the early days that they moved to Intel (VBox cannot run 10.3 for example, it's PPC only), to the latest 10.11.1b. NONE has problems with the network. For every guest (9 of them), I have 4 network cards with HostOnly, Internal, NAT and Bridged. I've tried 5.0.0, 5.0.2, 5.0.4, and 5.0.6 (as of this writing), plus several test builds in between. I've never had an issue with networking. And I'm willing to take an educated guess (based on the reports so far) and say that so does the majority of OSX on OSX users.

But, there is a great chance that you messed up something in you network setup. Did you by any chance clone a previous VM? And neglected to re-initialize the MAC addresses? I don't know, I'm shooting in the dark here...

I'm definitely glad you got it working...

PS. A couple of things that will make your life prettier:

• Under Storage, SATA Controller, Use Host I/O Cache. Enable that. It's kind of faster...
• With VBox shut, fire up the terminal and give the following command to change your display to 1280x1024. For more info, see Ch. 3.12.1 Video modes in EFI:

     VBoxManage setextradata "SEA-WS00" VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 3

[loukingjr]

I agree with socratis. The vast majority of networking issues on any host are bad configurations.

[TVick]

Thanks for the tips. Clearly a new here so I appreciate your help.

The VM was a brand new machine. Not cloned or anything like that... I have other hosts running virtual box so how do I ensure the MAC addresses are not duplicated? Changing it manually seems to have helped. I have six guests across a few hosts so far and I've just been enabling adapter one with a bridged configuration. Why do you select four cards? It seems OS X is the pickiest because all the Linux hosts I configured were a breeze.

Thanks again for your help!

[TVick]

I'm continuing to have issues with OS X hosts. Running VBox 5.0.6 on OS X 10.8.5, I have several Linux machines built and they are working great but OS X guests are crashing like crazy.

It appears to be a networking related issue and the log issues are very similar to the previous posts. When I build the machine I select a bridged adapter and the setup process runs fine. OS X installs and then on regular startup it crashes just as the OS loads. If I leave the adapter enabled but "remove the cable" the machine boots fine. As soon as I "plug the cable in" it crashes.

I've tried:

1. Delete interface in guest OS System Preferences, shutdown machine, disable adapter, reboot machine, confirm the adapter is no longer attached.
2. Shutdown the machine, re-enable the bridged adapter but leave it disconnected, reboot machine, Ethernet interface is now in system preferences and disconnected.
3. Connect the cable and the machine crashes.

I don't know what else to do here.

I've attached the log and config file. I've had this issue on multiple versions of OS X now and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong and why this is not working... It's incredibly frustrating.

My apologies for the duplicate posts.

[socratis]

OK, although the two systems that you're running on are different hardware (but close, MacMini5,3 vs MacMini6,2), the symptoms are exactly the same; a flood of network related messages (384 in both cases to be exact), followed by a Guru Meditation (Guru Meditation -467 VERR_NET_INCOMPLETE_TX_PACKET).

Problem is that I can't remember anyone having this kind of trouble with networking on a Mac guest. Heck, I've never seen this error before, and from the looks of it, neither has Google! Not only that, but you're getting a GURU MEDITATION, which is a rather difficult achievement! Kudos! With that in mind:

• Could you switch from "Bridged" to "NAT"? With the cable connected of course.
• Can you remember doing anything out of the ordinary in your two systems? Like installing some firewall, antivirus, VPN, or anything that could be interfering with the native OSX network stack?
• Post the output of the command:

    kextstat | grep -v com.apple

• I have a bad feeling about this... Which means that if we don't resolve it here, you might have to head down to the Bugtracker so that the developers can have a look at it.

PS. Thank you for keeping it concise and all in one thread...

[TVick]

Ok, some interesting new details.

On the 10.8.5 host machine I ran kextstat | grep -v com.apple and it returned:

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sea-sv1-01:~ svadmin$ kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) <Linked Against>
   69    0 0xffffff7f81e9a000 0x1c5000   0x1c5000   com.airgrab.driver.AirGrabFirewallModule (3.0) <5 4 3 1>
  109    3 0xffffff7f82176000 0x5f000    0x5f000    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.0.6) <7 5 4 3 1>
  111    0 0xffffff7f821d5000 0x8000     0x8000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.0.6) <109 43 32 7 5 4 3 1>
  112    0 0xffffff7f821dd000 0x5000     0x5000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.0.6) <109 7 5 4 3 1>
  113    0 0xffffff7f821e2000 0x6000     0x6000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.0.6) <109 5 4 1>

I have no idea what the AirGrabFirewallModule is...

Also on the 10.8.5 host I changed the adapter to NAT and it still won't boot. I removed Sophos AV and rebooted the host but no changes. No other firewalls or VPN software, but again, I have no idea what AirGrab is. The other OS X host on the machine is running fine.

But, now on a third machine, a Mac Mini 5,3 running a brand new install of OS X 10.11 on a freshly formatted and erased HDD, I created another 10.9 guest. It is the only guest on the machine. Same settings for network (bridged adapter) with just a different MAC address. The install went fine (as usual), it booted, and it runs fine. I did have more networking issues but this time they didn't crash the machine. This time I was able to configure the network in system preferences and it connected fine and it looked like all was good but it would not pass traffic. I couldn't ping in or out of the machine. So I shut it down and changed the MAC address, rebooted, and it the whole machine works just fine. It's very strange and seemingly erratic behavior across multiple host machines.

Ultimately what I might do, since the host machines have two HDDs and the VMS are on the non-startup disk, I might format and install brand new OS X 10.11 on the 10.8.5 machine and try rebuilding the whole lot using the same VDIs. The only other difference between the 10.8.5 machine and the 10.11 machine is I have a monitor attached the 10.11 machine and I'm not doing the install headless using ARD...

On the bright side, once the machines are running they are rock solid and have no issues.

[loukingjr]

AirGrab is a third-party Network Packet Analyzer so it's something you must have installed. It is not from Apple.

[socratis]

On the 10.8.5 host machine I ran kextstat | grep -v com.apple

What about the 10.11 host? Did you have similar results?

First, I changed the MAC address ... how do I ensure the MAC addresses are not duplicated? Changing it manually seems to have helped ... with just a different MAC address ... I shut it down and changed the MAC address ...

May I ask your obsession with the MAC addresses? You are changing them all the time. Why? I've never found the need to mess with a MAC address on a guest. Ever.

I have several Linux machines built and they are working great but OS X guests are crashing like crazy.

OK, if we resolve this, we'll most probably have to figure out why it's the problem is exhibited with OSX guests only. But first, try to get the AirGap kext out of the way and see if it works...

[TVick]

kextstat | grep -v com.apple on the 10.11 host returns:

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sea-sv1-03:~ svadmin$ kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
   72    3 0xffffff7f81d87000 0x5f000    0x5f000    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.0.6) FB8B8CAC-638F-3853-9CF3-5A0229B47B68 <7 5 4 3 1>
  132    0 0xffffff7f82c51000 0x8000     0x8000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.0.6) 0585ED0B-8D0D-3F96-8BF9-EA50FB281D2A <131 72 40 7 5 4 3 1>
  134    0 0xffffff7f82c5e000 0x5000     0x5000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.0.6) C5D7E667-CAFE-3B85-AE60-441006FB2BC0 <72 7 5 4 3 1>
  136    0 0xffffff7f82c68000 0x6000     0x6000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.0.6) 1A232B48-34B8-3B06-8963-662FD1DE7542 <72 5 4 1>

Changing the MAC addresses seems to the only way to get the VM "working." I would agree that there should be no reason to change the MAC address but that seems to be the hiccup here. On the new 10.9 VMs that are working, the networking didn't work until I shuffled the MAC address.

[loukingjr]

FWIW, like socratis, I've never had to change MAC addresses of a guest with any version of OSX. I'm up to OSX 10.11.1 Beta (15B30a).

[TVick]

Alright, now I have a second 10.9 guest on the same 10.11 machine. I set it up the same way I did the first one. OS installed, booted, everything worked. Configured the network and no crashing but still wouldn't pass traffic. The adapter showed connected but no traffic would go.

Sooooo, rather than jumping right in and changing the MAC address, I tried a couple other things first. First, while the guest was running I disconnected and reconnected the cable. It changed the state in the system preferences but still no connectivity. I rebooted the machine with the cable connected and disconnected. Still no connectivity. I finally rebooted the host entirely and restarted the guest. Now connectivity is good.

Maybe that means something maybe it doesn't.