Ubuntu 16.04 guest fails to start after upgrade to VirtualBox 5.2.10 (#17707)

[SamH]

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[ModEdit; related ticket: #17707: Ubuntu 16.04 guest fails to start after upgrade to VirtualBox 5.2.10]

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Ubuntu 16.04 guest fails to start after upgrade to VirtualBox 5.2.10. Please see attached video of this happening.

Attachments don't seem to work so I am adding a link to the video capture: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aZfyo ... NEVMWjQEHE

One more detail: I was able to start the guest after upgrade to VirtualBox 5.2.10 . I installed guest additions. And the thing is not working any more... Same as last time. Something is broken with guest additions.

I tried to disable 3D acceleration. It does not help...

[socratis]

Ubuntu 16.04 guest fails to start after upgrade to VirtualBox 5.2.10.

Mine, and as far as I know a lot more people's U16.04, work just fine.

We're going to need to see a VM log from a complete VM run:

• Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe error / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

[SamH]

Attaching a zipped log.

Here is also the link to it: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Zn34s ... 33TIFxPQ0V

[andyp73]

I'm not sure this is entirely related to the upgrade...

00:00:00.304481 Host RAM: 15936MB (15.5GB) total, 13951MB (13.6GB) available
00:00:00.356633 RamSize <integer> = 0x000000036b300000 (14 683 209 728, 14 003 MB, 13.6 GB)
00:00:00.356977 VRamSize <integer> = 0x0000000008000000 (134 217 728, 128 MB)

You have allocated more RAM to the guest (RAM + video RAM) than you have free on your host. I'm not sure an Ubuntu guest needs 13.6GB RAM. 2GB or at most 4GB should be sufficient.

-Andy.

[SamH]

I haven’t changed RAM settings for at least three years and it survived all the upgrades.

To eliminate the concern that this RAM setting is the cause I have changed the RAM settings now well below available on the system. And the guest still does not start...

[andyp73]

Can you post a new log file and we will have a look to see what else there is in there that might be causing the problem?

-Andy.

[socratis]

I haven’t changed RAM settings for at least three years and it survived all the upgrades.

You don't seem to understand a key piece of information. VirtualBox couldn't care less about your memory settings, or your host settings. What really matters is the amount of available RAM. And that can change in 3". If in the past 3 years you were launching the VM as the first order of business, before running anything else, then yeah, your host could have plenty of available RAM.

If you now changed your habits and you have Firefox open with 293 tabs, then the amount of available RAM is going to drop dramatically. In the case where you posted the log, it was below the required limits.

I would keep a System Monitor of sorts open at all times....


PS. You didn't actually have to open a ticket as well about that, did you?

[SamH]

Attached please find log while running guest with significantly reduced RAM. Guest does not start even though RAM is significantly reduced.

I also did open a bug report since I understood you want to have these things properly tracked in your ticket system. If it is not a bug you will of course close it.

[andyp73]

There are two things from the latest log file...

Firstly, you have a processor with 4 hyper-threaded cores and you have allocated them all to the guest. I would set that down to 2.

Secondly, there are a lot of display resize events which suggest the guest has booted but you can't see anything on the screen. We have seen this issue when Gnome is using Wayland. To fix it, switch to a text console and edit

/etc/gdm3/custom.conf

and uncomment the following line:

Code: Select all

#WaylandEnable=false

Reboot and see what happens.

-Andy.

[SamH]

Secondly, there are a lot of display resize events which suggest the guest has booted but you can't see anything on the screen.

Please see the video capture. This is what I see. Yes, a lot of resizing and then back to screen with dots (please see video capture).

We have seen this issue when Gnome is using Wayland. To fix it, switch to a text console

I tried to switch to console but no Host + combination of keys works... What is the correct sequence? Host (Right Ctrl) + ? thanks for telling how to switch.

and edit

/etc/gdm3/custom.conf

and uncomment the following line:

Code: Select all

#WaylandEnable=false

Reboot and see what happens.

-Andy.

[andyp73]

I tried to switch to console but no Host + combination of keys works

You want to switch console inside the guest so that you can login to a text mode screen to edit the file. I think the keystroke is something like Alt and a function key or Ctrl-Alt-Fn (using the left control key).

-Andy.

[SamH]

So, I have set number of processors down to 2. Result is the same. Ubuntu does not start with all the symptoms already reported (please see captured video).

I can't sustainably switch to terminal. I manage to do it for a second or twobut then it goes back to (randomly, after second or two) into violet screen with Ubuntu and dots and then to resizing black screens and back to violet screen with Ubuntu ... So can not do much in the terminal...

I am attaching screen shot of /etc/gdm3/custom.conf , There is no #WaylandEnable=false (please see attachment).

What to do next? Thanks.

[socratis]

The way that you switch to a console in a physical system is "Alt+Ctrl+F1/F2", no? Well, not many people realize that the "HostKey" in VirtualBox is actually an "Alt+Ctrl" combination. That's why on Win guests you need to press "HostKey+Del" to invoke the login screen...

So, for a *nix guest, if in real life you need to press "Alt+Ctrl+F1", well that's "HostKey+F1" in VirtualBox.

In some laptops the functions keys are not the ones when pressed alone, you need to press the "Fn" key as well, as in "Fn+F1"^[1]. So if you're in such a laptop you need to press "HostKey+Fn+F1". If not, simply "HostKey+F1".


^[1]: Not on my Mac, thank you very much, I won't be having any. I've had enough multimedia keys, I simply want F1, to actually mean F1.

[SamH]

Very strange things happening.

After typing I managed to reinstall VirtualBox Guest Additons as per this recipe: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ho ... rver-host/

What happened?

1. After the step of removing Guest Additions 5.2.10 normal Ubuntu log in appeared. And then disappeared (back to problems)
2. I was then stuck back to terminal which screenshot you can see below...
3. Nothing works anymore (now only black/violet screen is being displayed)

Is these enough proof that Guest Additions 5.2.10 are causing problems? How can I prove to you that it is not RAM, number of processors etc. but again new Virtual Box Guest Additions causing problems?

[SamH]

I have removed Guest additions. Now, I get the login screen from Ubuntu. But can not log in. I get returned to login screen after inserting correct password...

What to do here?