Guest fails to start

[vthokies96]

I'm running a Linux Mint 19.1 guest in Win7 host. Everything had mostly been well, but now the VM won't start, despite multiple attempts. Last known good attempt shutdown cleanly, but has no failed to start since, even after multiple host restarts. Can anyone see anything in the logs to suggest what the problem is?

[socratis]

Everything had mostly been well, but now the VM won't start

So, what changed? And what does "won't start" mean? It aborts? Crashes? Errors out? If yes, what's the exact error?

00:00:01.910566 supR3HardenedErrorV: supR3HardenedScreenImage/NtCreateSection:
    rc=VERR_BAD_EXE_FORMAT fImage=1 fProtect=0x7 fAccess=0x2
    \Device\HarddiskVolume6\Windows\System32\drivers\atikmdag.sys:

You have a hardening error with your ATI drivers. Please read really carefully the following FAQ: Diagnosing VirtualBox Hardening Issues for some generic guidelines/ideas. Remember, these are guidelines, not the exact solution, you have to use your judgement as to which program might be responsible.

00:02:09.879562 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_UNRESOLVED_ERROR iSector=0x9401380 cSectors=0x20)

I'm not sure I like that part. When was the last time you run a "chkdsk" on your hard drive? Could you run one soon?

[vthokies96]

So, what changed? And what does "won't start" mean? It aborts? Crashes? Errors out? If yes, what's the exact error?

Nothing has changed AFAIK. I see the LM startup screen, which is something like in the first 2 images here: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/37
The dots keep moving, for hours on end, but the machine never starts.

You have a hardening error with your ATI drivers.

Thanks for this pointer -- I'll take a closer look in the next day or so.

When was the last time you run a "chkdsk" on your hard drive? Could you run one soon?

I saw that too -- I can run a chkdsk later and report back if it finds anything.