Fedora guest aborts at PulseAudio init

[bgee22]

I am not sure exactly how to describe this problem in the short subject line. Basically I have a Fedora 29 virtual machine which will not start. It runs for a few seconds and then aborts.

The first and last few lines of Vbox.0.log are

Code: Select all

VirtualBox VM 5.2.22 r126460 linux.amd64 (Nov  8 2018 21:08:34) release log
00:00:00.423733 Log opened 2018-11-13T22:56:47.466341000Z
00:00:00.423734 Build Type: release
00:00:00.423738 OS Product: Linux
00:00:00.423740 OS Release: 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64
00:00:00.423741 OS Version: #1 SMP Tue Oct 9 17:27:49 UTC 2018
00:00:00.423762 DMI Product Name: C7SIM-Q
00:00:00.423770 DMI Product Version: 0123456789
00:00:00.423849 Host RAM: 16040MB (15.6GB) total, 3240MB (3.1GB) available
00:00:00.423854 Executable: /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox
00:00:00.423854 Process ID: 5564
00:00:00.423855 Package type: LINUX_64BITS_EL_6
00:00:00.431955 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:00.431969   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (Version: 5.2.22 r126460; VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP)
00:00:00.433004 Console: Machine state changed to 'Starting'
00:00:00.433269 Qt version: 5.6.1
00:00:00.433279 X11 Window Manager code: 6
00:00:00.443485 VRDP: Statistics created: [full], enabled: 0.
00:00:00.444650 VRDP: VRDP: VD: Frames=10 MinMS=15 MaxMS=300 HistoryMS=2000 VideoMS=300
00:00:00.444892 VRDP: Failed to query a property: 9, rc = VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED
00:00:00.446011 VRDP: TCP server listening on port 3407 (IPv4 and IPv6).
00:00:00.446578 VRDP: Audio: rate correction mode 0x3.
00:00:00.446786 VRDE: loaded version 4 of the server.
00:00:00.446799 VRDE: [IMAGE]
00:00:00.446807 VRDE: [MOUSEPTR]
00:00:00.446812 VRDE: [SCARD]
00:00:00.446817 VRDE: [TSMFRAW]
00:00:00.446822 VRDE: [VIDEOIN]
00:00:00.446829 VRDE: [VRDE::INPUT]
00:00:00.449148 SUP: Opened VMMR0.r0 (/usr/lib/virtualbox/VMMR0.r0) at 0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
00:00:00.451335 Guest OS type: 'Fedora_64'
00:00:00.453725 fHMForced=true - SMP
00:00:00.453738 fHMForced=true - 64-bit guest

(skip a bunch of lines ...)

00:00:10.356465 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::NotifyChange: Screen=0, Origin=0x0, Size=800x600, Sending to async-handler
00:00:10.370165 GUI: UIMachineView::sltHandleNotifyChange: Screen=0, Size=800x600
00:00:10.370187 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::handleNotifyChange: Size=800x600
00:00:10.370201 GUI: UIFrameBufferPrivate::performResize: Size=800x600, Directly using source bitmap content
00:00:12.450052 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: host-version: 5.2.22r126460 0x1
00:00:12.451099 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.2.0 r68940 '5.2.0'
00:00:12.451143 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Interface = 0x00010004 osType = 0x00053100 (Linux >= 2.6, 64-bit)
00:00:12.451328 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state change event came, notifying listeners.
00:00:12.451347 VMMDev: Guest Additions capability report: (0x0 -> 0x0) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: no
00:00:12.451362 GUI: UIMachineLogicNormal::sltCheckForRequestedVisualStateType: Requested-state=0, Machine-state=5
00:00:12.451423 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state change event came, notifying listeners.
00:00:12.451431 GUI: UIMachineLogicNormal::sltCheckForRequestedVisualStateType: Requested-state=0, Machine-state=5
00:00:12.451545 VMMDev: Guest reported fixed hypervisor window at 00041c00000 LB 0x1000000 (rc=VINF_SUCCESS)
00:00:12.451575 VMMDev: vmmDevReqHandler_HeartbeatConfigure: No change (fHeartbeatActive=false).
00:00:12.451609 VMMDev: Heartbeat flatline timer set to trigger after 4 000 000 000 ns
00:00:12.452277 VMMDev: Guest Log: vbg_heartbeat_init: Setting up heartbeat to trigger every 2000 milliseconds
00:00:12.454240 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state really changed, notifying listeners.
00:00:12.454270 GUI: UIMachineViewNormal::adjustGuestScreenSize: Adjust guest-screen size if necessary.
00:00:12.454278 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state change event came, notifying listeners.
00:00:12.454284 GUI: UIMachineLogicNormal::sltCheckForRequestedVisualStateType: Requested-state=0, Machine-state=5
00:00:12.462880 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: misc device minor 58, IRQ 20, I/O port d020, MMIO at 0x00000000e2400000 (size 0x0000000000400000)
00:00:13.043779 AC97: Reset
00:00:13.043959 AC97: Reset
00:00:13.052469 PulseAudio: Failed to initialize stream 'VirtualBox Line In [Fedora64bit]' (state 3)

The host computer is CentOS 6.7, 64 bit.

Code: Select all

uname --all
Linux vmhost2 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Oct 9 17:27:49 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

VirtualBox is version 5.2.22_126460_el6 installed from the VirtualBox yum repository. The guest machine has guest additions from this version installed.

The guest computer is 64-bit Fedora 29 with patches as of 12 Nov 2018. It has been working for a couple of years through various Fedora and VirtualBox iterations. It failed after I applied "dnf upgrade" a couple of days ago.

I tried booting an older kernel. I tried editing the kernel line to force runmode 3. Neither of these made any difference.

The same host computer has a 32-bit Fedora 29 guest which was patched at the same time as the failing machine. It still works.

I did some searching on the error reported in the last line of the VBox.0.log file but found only a few hits, and none of them were useful.

Where do I go next? What else can I try?

Thanks - Bill Gee

[andyp73]

I did some searching on the error reported in the last line of the VBox.0.log file

Don't assume that the last line of the VBox.log file is the cause of your problem. The truth may be hidden somewhere in the bits that you chose not to post. Zip the entire VBox.log file so we can take a look and offer some guidance!

-Andy.

[bgee22]

Complete VBox.log file is attached.

I did a bit more testing and found some interesting things. If I disable audio for the VM, it will boot successfully. If I change the host audio from PulseAudio to ALSA, it will boot successfully.

However, there are other guests on this host which are set with host audio = PulseAudio. These guests include CentOS 7, Windows 7 and Windows 10. The Fedora 32-bit guest I mentioned in the original post is set for Alsa. I did not try changing it to PulseAudio.

Bill Gee

[mpack]

00:00:00.459544 Host RAM: 16040MB (15.6GB) total, 3241MB (3.1GB) available
..
00:00:00.551338 RamSize <integer> = 0x00000000c1800000 (3 246 391 296, 3 096 MB, 3.0 GB)

Regardless of other problems, the above doesn't bode well for long term stability.

[bgee22]

It is true that 3gb of memory is a bit on the small side. But in this case I don't think it is a problem, and I am sure it has no bearing on the problem I am asking about. Although I have discovered a work-around, there is still the question: Why does that one virtual machine fail to boot when set to use the host's PulseAudio driver? It was working up to a few days ago. My understanding is that PulseAudio is the recommended and preferred interface, and most of the other VMs on the host are using it.

The host machine is not capable of running more than 16gb of memory. It is at maximum capacity. There are always 6 other virtual machines running on it, and often as many as 8 or 9. Windows 10 is among them, and it needs memory more than Fedora. Also, only one of the VMs is running anything near critical. The rest are mainly for testing or for special applications. They do not see heavy use. The memory I allocated to guests is a balance between giving them enough to run and avoiding swap.

Bill Gee