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5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 18. Jul 2017, 22:17
by evanb
I upgraded my Windows 7 host from 5.1.22-115126 to 5.1.24-117012 using the Windows installer. Afterwards, starting my Ubuntu Linux guest in headless mode caused the VBoxHeadless.exe instance running the VM to consume all available host memory (out of 12GB total), causing sufficient instability that I needed to forcibly power the host off to regain control (no reset button). This did not occur when running the same guest in normal, standalone mode. The problem occurred with and without guest additions installed, and remained after I uninstalled and reinstalled 5.1.24.
I reinstalled 5.1.22, which works properly, as it did before the upgrade.
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 09:28
by Haeckli
So it happened to me.
Everything was fine and smooth on 5.1.22 but after upgrading to 5.1.24, the VM in which I run my Servers eat up all physical memory (32GB), the whole system gets stuck and unresponsive and finally ends in a Blue-Screen of the host.
Host: Windows 7 Pro/64
Guest WIndows 7 Pro/64, running "headless" in the background.
It already happened twice, but I can't reproduce this intentionally.
Edit: I can reproduce! It now happens each time I start this VM in headless.
Will downgrade to .22 version because I need my Servers...
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 10:04
by socratis
Do you observe the same thing if you're running the VM as Normal or Detachable?
For a reference, there is a similar report on Solaris hosts:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=83860
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 10:16
by Haeckli
It seems to occurr just headless. I was able to run normal mode.
For reference I attach a log-file where I was able to "kill" the VM while it was "eating" memory before the host got blocked. Maybe it can deliver more background info...
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 11:51
by michael
Would anyone be interested in bisecting this if I made builds available?
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 11:59
by Haeckli
I could...
Right now I'm back to .22 but I can revert to .24 (or any other buld)...
Just let me know...
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 12:25
by michael
Uploading builds now. The first uploaded is:
https://www.virtualbox.org/download/tes ... 15-Win.exe
Revisions 115433 115604 115801 116038 116227 116406 116603 116807 to follow over the next half hour or hour. Just adjust the file name to the revision.
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 13:43
by michael
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 13:48
by socratis
@michael
Why all these builds? What's different about them, what should they be looking for, which one should they pick over the other?
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 13:49
by Haeckli
So now what?
Which one to start with and what to look at?
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 13:54
by scottgus1
- Alice - Mad Tea Party_small.jpg (52.13 KiB) Viewed 12156 times
Start at the beginning. And when you get to the end.... stop.
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 14:42
by socratis
OK people, I got the explanation from "michael" about the different builds. They are intermittent builds at different points between 5.1.22 (no problem) and 5.1.24 (problem). At some point one of the builds will start exhibiting the problem. That's where things went wrong.
Your help (and the VBox.log.ZIP) is appreciated...
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 14:42
by Perryg
socratis wrote:@michael
Why all these builds? What's different about them, what should they be looking for, which one should they pick over the other?
This is the progression of builds since it worked until the latest release. michael is attempting to see where the actual issue occurred to isolate it down to a workable area.
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 17:08
by michael
The normal way for working through series of builds like this is to start in the middle, and if the middle build is affected choose a build half way between that and the first one, and so on, always choosing a build half way between the latest known-good one and the first known-problematic one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisection ... neering%29
Edit: that Wikipedia article is interesting. I know what bisection is and still have trouble understanding what it says.
Re: 5.1.24-117012 excessive memory use
Posted: 19. Jul 2017, 18:32
by Haeckli
OK - Done...
What happens to the memory on my host you can see from the attached screenshots.
This covers 2 such crashes which I was able to stop by killing the process from the task-manager.
I tested on a Win7-64 Pro host with a Win7-64 Pro guest.
Here are my findings:
- the error can 100% be reproduced
- the first of the 5.1.23 versions having the problem is 115801. Version before that seem OK.
- the error NEVER occurs on unmanaged machines running headless in the background.
- User interaction is needed to force the error
- the error CANNOT be forced in the Vbox GUI. Regardless whether running normal or headless with detachable GUI, it is always fine.
- the error ONLY can be produced when using a remote sessions to the machine (I use Windows Remote Desktop).
- even in remote sessions, the error CANNOT be produced during "normal" use. I can run whatever program I want, it's always fine.
- ONLY when in a Remote-Session I use a function requiring UAC action (like starting progams requiring adminstrator rights) it immediately acquires ALL available physical memory from the host.
- This happens immediately when starting the action; it is not necessary (not even possible) to confirm or deny the UAC sceen.
- This is independent from the machine running headless or in normal mode. Even when I connect a Remote-Session to a machine already running in normal mode, I can produce the error with any UAC action.
- When having a remote-session connected I can force the error also from the Vbox-GUI, so it seems to be just depending on the fact that a remote session is connected, not from operating from inside a remote-session.
So, here I finish for the moment. Now its up toothers working on that...
I'm back to 5.1.22. Let me know if you need more info/testing...