Ubuntu 16.04 Guest Random Freezes

[zap150]

Sorry for the GB MB error. Anyway, you are saying that if the host does not have the memory I request for the guest, the proper response of VirtualBox is to completely freeze the virtual OS with the only option to reset it via the VirtualBox menu (even the ACPI shutdown does not work)? Why does it start in the first place then? Again, no problem with 15.04 - 'matter of circumstances' is an explanation applicable to any problem, the same setting for the guest and the same state of host does not trigger this bug in 15.04, it does trigger it in 16.04.

Thank you for your time looking at this, but I do not think I am doing anything wrong here...

[socratis]

Please read the following threads. They actually deal with the same problem as yours:

• Reasons of vm to get into "aborted" state,
• Virtual box and memory management, and most importantly
• What happens if I exceed my RAM? (especially Ramshankar's answer).

All three of them are a great reading.

[zap150]

Thanks, I'll have a look at these. Still, it seems strange to me that the previous version of Lubuntu works with no problems...

[yurtesen]

I also tried 5.1.6 and same problem occured. I have 16GB RAM so it is not related to memory setting. I only allocated 8GB to guest and I am running a single guest and only firefox on host.
Log attached...

[socratis]

Still, it seems strange to me that the previous version of Lubuntu works with no problems.

As I said, it's a matter of circumstances. There are a couple of things you can do that might help you.

First of all, install a monitor for your system's resources. I do it for every OS I'm working on. Right now I have 3 (three) monitors running in parallel. At login. In your case I would suggest to look in the the Software center for "System monitor" or something similar. I don't have Ubuntu 16.04, only 12.04, but "System Load Indicator" seems like a good choice.

Second, if you want to prevent the lazy memory allocation use the following from the links that I gave you (you read them, right?), use the following:

• VBoxManage setextradata "<VM_Name>" VBoxInternal/RamPreAlloc 1

That way you'll get a crash when launching the VM and not later down the road. You will know from the get-go...

[socratis]

I also tried 5.1.6 and same problem occured.

First of all, to get a misconception out of the way; changing OS type does not do anything at run-time, as far as I know. Or maybe it does. Anyhow, here are the differences between the "Ubuntu (64-bit)" and the "Other/Unknown (64-bit)", directly from "Global.cpp" where the hints for the creation of a new VM are stored (slightly changed the formatting to make it fit):

Ubuntu (64-bit)
{ "Linux", "Linux", "Ubuntu_64", "Ubuntu (64-bit)",
VBOXOSTYPE_Ubuntu_x64,	VBOXOSHINT_64BIT | VBOXOSHINT_HWVIRTEX | VBOXOSHINT_IOAPIC |
			VBOXOSHINT_RTCUTC | VBOXOSHINT_USBTABLET | VBOXOSHINT_X2APIC,
			1024,  16,  8 * _1G64, NetworkAdapterType_I82540EM, 0,
			StorageControllerType_PIIX4, StorageBus_IDE,
			StorageControllerType_IntelAhci, StorageBus_SATA,
			ChipsetType_PIIX3, AudioControllerType_AC97, AudioCodecType_AD1980 }
Other/Unknown (64-bit)
{ "Other", "Other", "Other_64", "Other/Unknown (64-bit)",
VBOXOSTYPE_Unknown_x64,	VBOXOSHINT_64BIT | VBOXOSHINT_PAE | VBOXOSHINT_HWVIRTEX | VBOXOSHINT_IOAPIC,
			64,   4,  2 * _1G64, NetworkAdapterType_Am79C973, 0,
			StorageControllerType_PIIX4, StorageBus_IDE,
			StorageControllerType_PIIX4, StorageBus_IDE,
			ChipsetType_PIIX3, AudioControllerType_AC97, AudioCodecType_STAC9700 }

Pretty much nothing that matters after the VM is created (notice the HINT in most of the "instructions"). Neither PAE/NX, nor the pointing device, the NIC type, the RAM or the Storage controller change in the settings "automagically". Maybe the AudioCodec? I doubt it.

As I said, I don't know if there are run-time implications when changing the guest type, but from a couple of quick test where I changed the heck out of the combinations, only the 32- to 64-bit change seemed to matter (does not apply in your case). I may be wrong about the run-time behavior, I'd love to hear/learn about it.

40:49:28.382518 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
43:22:43.178604 Console: Machine state changed to 'Stopping'

Now, the log that you attached does not show a "hang". Maybe that's a good thing because it allows us to see what happens till the end. What I did notice is that at about 40:49 hours of operation you get a "hearbeat" missing error, and after that at 43:22 a power down is initiated. Was the VM unresponsive during that time?

[yurtesen]

@socratis Changing OS type obviously does something because me and my colleague had the same problem in our computers. I told him that I switched to Other 64bit OS and it solved the issue. He switched also to Other 64bit OS and he tells me he didn't have any freezes since then. I also never had this issue when I was using Other64bit but I went back to Ubuntu setting so I can give you guys vbox logs. Maybe it does not change anything in VirtualBox, but maybe it causes Linux to behave differently for some reason. I don't know. But this is tested and repeatable result.

Yes, Linux freezes completely and can't even ping it. It does not respond do anything. Acpi-shutdown doesn't work. It uses less than 0% CPU and less than 1% if I try to click around in the frozen guest. Normally when the guest is idle, it uses about 1% to 3% CPU time in taskmanager.

Yes, when it says that heartbeat message, guest is frozen. I waited few minutes and tried to ping, ssh to it etc. but it didnt help.So what now?

[yurtesen]

Thanks, I'll have a look at these. Still, it seems strange to me that the previous version of Lubuntu works with no problems...

I think it would be best if you reduce the guest memory and reproduce the error and attach vbox.log. Then there would be no memory assignment issue to think about...

[yurtesen]

One thing I realized is that when I select Ubuntu 64bit it automatically selects KVM Paravirtualization and if I select Other 64bit then it is not selected (I believe it defaults to 'none' then). It may be doing other stuff also I guess...

[socratis]

Not on my system.
The only differences are the ones noted in "Global.cpp". It's no different if you change the OS version at creation time, or after the VM is already created. I just tried creating two new VMs with the defaults, one Ubuntu-64 and one OtherLinux-64. I then compared the two. The only system differences were the PAE/NX setting (not enabled in Ubuntu-64). Due to space/size, I included only the differences between the two .vbox files and not all of them (MAC addresses, UUIDs, etc):

Ubuntu-64

• <VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.16-macosx">
    <Machine uuid="..." name="Ubuntu-64" OSType="Ubuntu_64" ...
          <PAE enabled="false"/>
        <Memory RAMSize="1024"/>
        <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" driver="CoreAudio" enabled="true"/>
  </VirtualBox>

Other-64

• <VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.16-macosx">
    <Machine uuid="..." name="OtherLinux-64" OSType="Linux_64"...
          <PAE enabled="true"/>
        <Memory RAMSize="512"/>
        <AudioAdapter driver="CoreAudio" enabled="true"/>
  </VirtualBox>

[yurtesen]

Socratis, you are wrong. If you have in System->Acceleration->Paravirtualization Interface the setting 'Default'. If you select Ubuntu 64bit it defaults to KVM and if you select Other 64bit OS then it defaults to 'None'. The OSType effects the defaults for the VM, you won't see them in the conf file.

You can see this if look at the VM dashboard where you see the 'Acceleration: ...' line. If you select Ubuntu 64bit the text 'KVM Paravirtualization' appears, and if you select Other 64bit OS and save then the text disappears. As simple as that...

But also in VBOX log the KVM related line disappears and also from Linux dmesg... I did not waste more time hunting them for you. I am sorry to say but how this problem is being treated is just annoying.

Settings default paravirtualization

settings.png (5.41 KiB) Viewed 8531 times

Dash Ubuntu 64bit

dash1.png (6.61 KiB) Viewed 8531 times

Dash Other 64bit

dash2.png (6.61 KiB) Viewed 8531 times

EDIT:
By the way, I think there are other few people having this problem too:
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/15525
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/16107

[socratis]

I did not waste more time hunting them for you. I am sorry to say but how this problem is being treated is just annoying.

Oh, boy, now I remember you, after I looked at your previous posts. I should have looked you up before engaging in a dialog. My bad. Won't happen again. Have a good evening.

[yurtesen]

I did not waste more time hunting them for you. I am sorry to say but how this problem is being treated is just annoying.

Oh, boy, now I remember you, after I looked at your previous posts. I should have looked you up before engaging in a dialog. My bad. Won't happen again. Have a good evening.

Socratis, perhaps this explains why you also do not remember many things about VirtualBox. I have to explain to you something in every post, send screenshots, put benchmark results. Still day after day, same things repeat itself. It is like you reset yourself everyday. I still remember you sent a benchmark graphic and told you did the benchmark, then I asked on what machine it was done and how, you said you have no idea. WTF. Is all you post random stuff? (I actually showed it to few colleagues and they were also like WTF. Nobody can comprehend some of your responses.)

As a matter of fact, in this same thread I already told you before that we tested changing OS type on multiple machines and it makes a real difference in the end result, therefore it changes some other seemingly invisible settings (at that time I did not know what). Then I came back with more information about it what it changes. But you keep giving misinformation still. I had to spend even more time to make screenshots for you only so you would believe. How is this not wasting my time...

Was I wrong? NO. Were you wrong? YES. How do you respond? again with something which makes no sense...

[socratis]

It seems that you're always eager to pick a fight, you have an axe to grind, be it the AMD cores conspiracy (oh, boy), the defaults or anything else, either with the users, the volunteers, the moderators, the developers (with their "silly excuses") or anyone else that doesn't accept your "Galileo: E pur si muove" logic. That's what you referred to yourself in the bug tracker, no? You almost got banned from the bug tracker for your attitude; you're in a good track for the forums as well. Consider this a warning for "personal insults". Strike one.

I was wrong in one thing, I'm going to correct it and let you be:

Have a good evening life.