Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

Hello everyone.

The crashing/error has started to occur again so I have attached VBox.log (I had to zip it up to meet the minimum file requirements).

Right before the crash/error occurred, my OS was in the process of booting up.

As I stated in my OP, I'm running Windows XP SP3 and the crashes/errors have happened three separate times. Each of the three times they have occurred, I removed the affected VM, created a new VM, and reinstalled Windows XP. The crash/error can and will happen at any time, and I can be doing any one thing. On average it would crash/error within 3 days of creation of the VM and installing Windows XP.

If anyone can offer any help and/or a solution, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.
Attachments
VBox.rar
(39.38 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
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Location: Greece

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by socratis »

You're getting this:
00:00:15.620073 !!         VCPU0: Guru Meditation -2301 (VERR_REM_VIRTUAL_CPU_ERROR)
most probably because of this:
00:00:02.134122 HM: HMR3Init: Falling back to raw-mode: AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS (or by the host OS)
So, if you go into your computer's BIOS and enable virtualization, shut down your computer for a minute or so, reboot and launch your VM, your problem will most probably go away.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

Hello, thanks for your response. The problem is, I cannot access BIOS on the Host OS before it/Windows crashes/errors.

I know it's the Host OS BIOS that I need to modify because I've encountered this problem before with a different VM and version of Windows. In that case, I needed to modify the BIOS in this manner on my computer, so I already have Virtualization enabled.

Any further suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
Last edited by socratis on 30. Jun 2017, 06:38, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by socratis »

Todd N wrote:The problem is, I cannot access BIOS on the Host OS before it/Windows crashes/errors.
I'm sorry, I don't understand that. What's crashing? Shutdown your computer. Start your computer and before it starts booting, get into your BIOS. Fix the problem. Power down the computer for 15 sec. Boot the computer, your OS, login, launch VirtualBox, your VM. Done.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

I'm sorry. I mean I've already enabled Virtualization on my Host OS. Do I need to modify the BIOS on my Guest OS? If so, I am unable to do so for the reasons I stated in my previous post.

Thanks.
Last edited by socratis on 30. Jun 2017, 06:56, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

socratis wrote:
Todd N wrote:The problem is, I cannot access BIOS on the Host OS before it/Windows crashes/errors.
I'm sorry, I don't understand that. What's crashing?
My Windows XP VM.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by socratis »

The message is quite clear: Virtualization is not enabled in your BIOS. Double check please, and as I said shut it down completely and pull the plug from the computer for 15 sec.

Your guest does not have a BIOS, so when I refer to BIOS, I always refer to the host's BIOS.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
BillG
Volunteer
Posts: 5102
Joined: 19. Sep 2009, 04:44
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10,7 and earlier
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by BillG »

No, there is nothing to modify in the vm. The problem is somewhere in the host.

If hardware virtualization is enabled in the host and your vms works sometimes, hardware virtualization must be enabled in the BIOS, as you say. My guess is that some program which runs from time to time on your host uses hardware virtualization. If this is not running, your vms work - if it is running, your vms crash.

If that is the case, what you need to do is track down what that program is, and that won't be easy.
Bill
socratis
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Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
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Location: Greece

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by socratis »

Thanks Billg, I keep forgetting the antivirus thing, which BTW is becoming more and more prominent. But I think that the message would be "VT-x is not available", unless something is not right in the VT-x detection.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

socratis wrote:The message is quite clear: Virtualization is not enabled in your BIOS. Double check please, and as I said shut it down completely and pull the plug from the computer for 15 sec.

Your guest does not have a BIOS, so when I refer to BIOS, I always refer to the host's BIOS.
Oh I see. Thank you very much. I am fixing to check.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

BillG wrote:No, there is nothing to modify in the vm. The problem is somewhere in the host.

If hardware virtualization is enabled in the host and your vms works sometimes, hardware virtualization must be enabled in the BIOS, as you say. My guess is that some program which runs from time to time on your host uses hardware virtualization. If this is not running, your vms work - if it is running, your vms crash.

If that is the case, what you need to do is track down what that program is, and that won't be easy.
Thanks man. I am fixing to check in my BIOS and I'll let you know if it's enabled.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

Okay guys, I just double-checked and sure enough, Virtualization is enabled.

I use Avast Antivirus and Malwarebytes, so what do I need to add to these program's Exclusions lists? VirtualBox?

Thanks in advance.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by scottgus1 »

I have had antivirus use VT-x and stop Virtualbox from using it. Maybe your antivirus is using your computer's AMD-V. Adding an exclusion will not stop your antivirus from using AMD-V, if that is really what is wrong.

For temporary purposes, uninstall Malwarebytes completely, and see if the AMD/V issue goes away. If not, then uninstall Avast and try again. If that clears up the problem, look at the manuals for the program whose uninstallation cleared up the issue, and see if there is a setting where the program can be told not to use virtualization technology or VT-x or AMD-V. Also ask on the program's forums. If you can set the program to not use AMD-V, then you can reinstall it and make the change.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

scottgus1 wrote:I have had antivirus use VT-x and stop Virtualbox from using it. Maybe your antivirus is using your computer's AMD-V. Adding an exclusion will not stop your antivirus from using AMD-V, if that is really what is wrong.

For temporary purposes, uninstall Malwarebytes completely, and see if the AMD/V issue goes away. If not, then uninstall Avast and try again. If that clears up the problem, look at the manuals for the program whose uninstallation cleared up the issue, and see if there is a setting where the program can be told not to use virtualization technology or VT-x or AMD-V. Also ask on the program's forums. If you can set the program to not use AMD-V, then you can reinstall it and make the change.
Thank you very much. I will try your suggestions and report back with my findings.
Todd N
Posts: 20
Joined: 30. May 2017, 04:42

Re: Three of my VMs have crashed in a one-month span

Post by Todd N »

Todd N wrote:
scottgus1 wrote:I have had antivirus use VT-x and stop Virtualbox from using it. Maybe your antivirus is using your computer's AMD-V. Adding an exclusion will not stop your antivirus from using AMD-V, if that is really what is wrong.

For temporary purposes, uninstall Malwarebytes completely, and see if the AMD/V issue goes away. If not, then uninstall Avast and try again. If that clears up the problem, look at the manuals for the program whose uninstallation cleared up the issue, and see if there is a setting where the program can be told not to use virtualization technology or VT-x or AMD-V. Also ask on the program's forums. If you can set the program to not use AMD-V, then you can reinstall it and make the change.
Thank you very much. I will try your suggestions and report back with my findings.
UPDATE: For the second time, I opened my VM and it didn't crash/error. This happened once before when I previously replied to this thread saying I could not recreate the crash/error, so I could not post the Logs. The VM kept working normally for some time, however as soon as it started to crash/error again, that's when I finally posted the Logs. I was given suggestions which I followed, but no luck.

I was just about to start trying scottgus1's suggestions (quoted above) when I decided to load my VM and saw that it is working again (no crash/error). I never got the chance to try uninstalling Avast and Malwarebytes and at times my VM has both worked and crashed/errored with each of these program installed and enabled.

TWO QUESTIONS: With that said, does anyone still believe this crash/error is related to Avast and/or Malwarebytes? Does anyone have any new/different suggestions now that my AV programs might not be the issue?

Thanks in advance.
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