Windows 7, cannot rate computer performance

[cbreaker]

Hello,

First I'll say that I'm very impressed with Virtualbox. It's really quite good, and I'm a real big VMware guy (it's my primary job to manage VI3/VS4 systems.) I think I'll run it on my notebook instead of VMware workstation. I run Ubuntu 9.04 on the notebook at the moment.

Everything seems to work great with a 32-bit Ubuntu and a 32-bit Windows 7. It's quick, and the tools all installed fine. Sound is choppy at times but it really doesn't matter too much to me.

The problem I have is that I can't run a system rating. When I run it, it will run through a slew of tests and they all seem to work fine, but at the end after the CPU stuff I get an error that says "The Windows Experience Index for your system could not be computed." And below that "Could not measure system memory performance."

It therefore doesn't count any of the results.

Any ideas? I mean, it's not like this is a huge problem - the system runs okay - but I was wondering if anyone else has run into this problem before.

Thanks.

[Sasquatch]

I had the same problem. It hangs on the "Computing video decoding" step, which is probably a test to see how well it can play video files. It will probably fail on other virtualization programs too.

[Credomane]

I too am stuck with the unable to determine system memory performance. Anyone come up with any ideas for that yet? I've tried everything I can think of. I've got every option enabled that is in VirtualBox. The only one I noticed acting weird is 3d acceleration. Enabled 3d acceleration for the virtual machine and installed the 3d acceleration driver in the win7 guest. However I did notice that DxDiag claims direct3d and agp acceleration is not available. Dunno how to test if 3d acceleration is really working or not.

Since i don't know how Win7 goes about testing memory performance I don't know if 3d acceleration needs to be working or not.

I had the same problem. It hangs on the "Computing video decoding" step, which is probably a test to see how well it can play video files. It will probably fail on other virtualization programs too.

I got past the decoding video performance by enabling PAE/NX on the system -> Processor tab and both VT-x/AMD-V & Nested Paging on the system -> acceleration tab.

Host stats:
Intel i7 920
6gb RAM
Vista 64bit

Guest:
2gb ram
2 processor
Windows 7 Professional build 7600 (retail release)
Yes, the real deal coming out on Oct 22nd. I'm special because Devry is in bed with Microsoft.

[RudeBoySes]

I dont have any problems ...
Sorry if i don't have any suggestions ..
as im a VBox novice ..

[Credomane]

I see you are using the 32bit windows 7. I'll have to see if that makes a difference as I am using the 64bit version.

[Sasquatch]

Excuse me, but a 7,9? That's impossible for a VM. You ran it on the Host, there is no other way to get near the max.

[RudeBoySes]

Excuse me, but a 7,9? That's impossible for a VM. You ran it on the Host, there is no other way to get near the max.

it's a trick that can be done to Vista and 7 ..
but it can only be done after a "Formal Assessment" ..

that's what i was trying to convey..
not the score

P.S.
If you're wondering why i did it ?
* Because i thought it would enable Aero Theme .. but no luck..

[Sasquatch]

So you faked the score, then the test still didn't run as it should have. And to make Aero work? Even if your system is unrated, unable to be rated or rated 1,0, you will still be able to use Aero if the video card supports it. The VB graphics card doesn't, even with the GA installed from safe mode.

[RudeBoySes]

So you faked the score, then the test still didn't run as it should have. And to make Aero work? Even if your system is unrated, unable to be rated or rated 1,0, you will still be able to use Aero if the video card supports it. The VB graphics card doesn't, even with the GA installed from safe mode.

that's what im trying to tell you..
if you would listen rather than being envious of the score..

you can only adjust the score after a "Formal Assessment" has been done..
Formal Assessment = Performance Rate

which then.. i can go in and adjust the numbers the PC issued me ..

Here's my first comment:

but it can only be done after a "Formal Assessment" ..

P.S.
If you don't know how it's done.. please don't assume ..
Because when you assume.. you make an ass out of you and me


Lastly..
Aero is not supported in VBox ...
Atelast that's what i found from my research ..
Can you show me documentation that VBox supports Aero Theme ?
I would really love it ..
I spent hours looking into the matter ...
You would be helping me out ..

[Sasquatch]

Envious of a score? Why would I be envious of a faked score? So what if I could make it appear I have a 1 THz octacore processor, it's still a fake result.

Instead of throwing insults and useless information, post what you did and what settings for the VM you have to get the test to run without crashing.

[RudeBoySes]

Envious of a score? Why would I be envious of a faked score? So what if I could make it appear I have a 1 THz octacore processor, it's still a fake result.

Instead of throwing insults and useless information, post what you did and what settings for the VM you have to get the test to run without crashing.

It's obvious you are only reading what you want..
that's the envy in you coming out..
not very professional

Lastly..
Aero is not supported in VBox ...
Atelast that's what i found from my research ..
Can you show me documentation that VBox supports Aero Theme ?
I would really love it ..
I spent hours looking into the matter ...
You would be helping me out ..

[Sasquatch]

You still didn't give any answer. Now you have a week to cool down. There have been numerous posts here that Aero is NOT supported. I never assumed anything here about that, I stated the facts.

[Graham Norris]

Right, getting back to the original subject, does anyone have any idea what causes the memory test to fail? On a few occasions I've had it work, but usually (including today), it won't.

I have noticed that W7 x64 lists no installed RAM in the "basic information about your computer" panel, but it does show the correct amount in the "more details about my computer" panel.

[TheOtherPhilC]

After a bit of Googling, I came up with the answer to this one. Turns out, the test can be run from the command line, which reveals the issue. Not only that, you will be able to see actual test result values, rather than the dorky "index". By comparing these with host machine numbers, you might get a clue to relative performance.

The command is:
winsat formal

Turns out, on my system, the system memory performance assessment fails due to:
"Error: The buffer size is too small. Min is 64KB"

I have no idea what buffer size was used, or why.
Possibly the following message is relevant:
"Warning: Can't get CPU L2 cache size"

[TheOtherPhilC]

The best answer for VBox VMs seems to be to run the tests indivually form the command line. You can collect a wealth of data. Look up winsat in the Win7 help (even better on Technet)

From Technet:
The following example runs the [memory] assessment for a minimum of 4 seconds and no longer than 12 seconds, using a 32MB buffer size and saving the results in XML format to the file memtest.xml.

winsat mem -mint 4.0 -maxt 12.0 -buffersize 32MB -xml memtest.xml