Virtualbox is slow

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
Bear96708
Posts: 5
Joined: 16. Mar 2019, 19:32

Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by Bear96708 »

I'm not certain how to attach log as you have described. I have attached the log from "show log" in VM Manager.

I went to msconfig and increased cores from 1 to 4. I still can't select more than one when I go to Processor in the System area of Settings.

I have two laptops running identical operating systems and the same program in VM. One has no problem with the program, the other slows down and consumes 100% of memory with long processing times. I compared settings and the one which doesn't slow down has acceleration and available cpu's of 4, although it only uses 1 cpu.

I went ahead and did suggestions on this forum like "enable I/O APIC" and "enable EFI". The other computer which is working does not use these settings so I don't think it will make a difference.

I have increased the base memory from 780 mb to 3000mb on both machines. Once again, the machine which is working has a 780 mb setting so I don't think this will be the solution.

Along with showing more cpu's, how do I set acceleration in the one which does not allow me to do so?
Attachments
xp32 Clone-2019-03-15-12-06-14.log
(101.37 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
andyp73
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VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by andyp73 »

VBox.log wrote:
00:00:02.543979 HM: HMR3Init: Falling back to raw-mode: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes
You need to enable this in the motherboard / PC / laptop BIOS. Your Intel Core i7-640M CPU supports it. See your PC's manufacturer help on how to do this. Also, make sure that nothing else has an exclusive hold on the VT-x.
VBox.log wrote:
00:00:03.623269 CPUM: Logical host processors: 4 present, 4 max, 4 online, online mask: 000000000000000f
00:00:03.623273 CPUM: Physical host cores: 2
As you host only has two physical cores (the thing VirtualBox cares about) then the best you can do is assign 1 to the guest (as you have) and leave the other one for the host.

-Andy.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
Bear96708
Posts: 5
Joined: 16. Mar 2019, 19:32

Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by Bear96708 »

Thank you, I'm new to this posting environment so if I don't give you what you need, I'll try again.

I have enabled visualization in Bios. I can now turn on Acceleration. The core processor still gives me 2. I've increased the memory allocation to 3gb and taskmgr shows a much better memory and cpu usage performance.

I will give you the log from the machine (m520) that shows 4 cpu's in my next posting, I have to change machines, I'm on the (m640) in the moment.
Bear96708
Posts: 5
Joined: 16. Mar 2019, 19:32

Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by Bear96708 »

Here's the log from the M520 machine. I did increase the cpu's to 2 since it showed 4. Intel claims that both 520 & 640 have 2/4 cpu's/threads. So, I'm not certain how the 520 allows me to go to 4 cpu's unless it's the other setting which you showed in the prior reply that indicates that possibility. Thanks again for your time and attention.
Attachments
xp32 Clone-2019-02-23-12-43-05.log
(105.08 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
socratis
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Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by socratis »

@Bear96708
To clear one thing; VirtualBox will allow you to take the CPU number to as high as the thread count, 4 in your case. But it's not suggested to use equal or more CPUs than the cores. So, sticking with 1 CPU in your case is strongly suggested.
00:00:27.760018 VRamSize <integer> = 0x0000000001800000 (25 165 824, 24 MB)
00:00:36.989533 GUI: 2D video acceleration is disabled
2D/3D acceleration is disabled. Shutdown the VM and enable them in the VM settings » Display. You'll also notice that the max VRAM will jump from a max value of 128 to 256 MB after that; max the VRAM as well.

Then re-install the Guest Additions (GAs) in the guest. In order to get the benefits of the 3D acceleration, you'll need to boot WinXP into safe mode. You do that by smashing the F8 key at the boot screen. If you don't get it with the first, try again.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
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Bear96708
Posts: 5
Joined: 16. Mar 2019, 19:32

Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by Bear96708 »

I enabled 2d video acceleration and 3d acceleration in under Display in Virtual Box before booting. I still have the following issue which I would like to determine if there's an answer:

I have a M620 and M640 i7 laptops. In virutal box, I can get the M640 to give me only 2 CPU's for divide between guest (XP) and host (W7). On the M620, I can use 4 CPU's on the guest of 8 available CPU's. Both machines are the same Lenovo T510, and both show 2 CPU's/4 threads on the processor spec's.

The problem is with CPU usage. On the machine with only one CPU available, I max out CPU usage at 100% which completely hangs Windows Explorer with W7 operations. I don't have the problem with the M620 machine, I can run duel processes on the XP and W7 without issue.
Last edited by socratis on 31. Mar 2019, 00:34, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed formatting.
socratis
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Location: Greece

Re: Virtualbox is slow

Post by socratis »

We're steering away from the main issue that you had, I mean we don't even know that we were supposed to do comparisons, we were trying to figure another kind of a problem, no?

But here's a quick answer; is it really a surprise that a host with more CPUs is going to use less total CPU? The less powerful host is going to go through a higher level of stress/strain than the most powerful one...
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.
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