black screen when starting Debian VM

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asateriksi
Posts: 5
Joined: 4. Nov 2019, 01:15

black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by asateriksi »

I have a Windows 10 Pro 1809 Host with VB 6.0.14 installed.
When I try to create a Debian machine, after starting it stuck in a black screen saying "Running".
I have tried changing the Chipset PIIX3-ICH9, graphics controller VMSVGA-VboxVGA and some other parameters without success.
I can Power Off the machine but is the same after starting it again. I have tried different versions of Debian.

The only error that I see in the logs is:
00:00:57.227304 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_VM_ERROR (0x80bb0003) aIID={ab4164db-c13e-4dab-842d-61ee3f0c1e87} aComponent={DisplayWrap} aText={Could not take a screenshot (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)}, preserve=false aResultDetail=-37
Please help my figure out where is the problem.
vm.jpg
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scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by scottgus1 »

asateriksi wrote:I have tried changing the Chipset PIIX3-ICH9, graphics controller VMSVGA-VboxVGA and some other parameters without success.
This isn't a good idea. If you tell Virtualbox you want to install a Debian guest, let whatever the guest wizard wants to do stand, except for disk size, ram, and CPU count. Delete this guest completely and start over.

Give the guest more video ram, 128MB, unless you plan to have 3D on, too, after which slide the video up to 256MB. Also give the guest 2 CPUs and 2GB, maybe 4GB RAM. Your host has room.
asateriksi
Posts: 5
Joined: 4. Nov 2019, 01:15

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by asateriksi »

Give the guest more video ram, 128MB, unless you plan to have 3D on, too, after which slide the video up to 256MB. Also give the guest 2 CPUs and 2GB, maybe 4GB RAM. Your host has room.
I gave 128MB of video RAM, 2 CPU, 10 GB storage and 4 GB RAM bur still same problem.
Even downgraded to 6.0.10 version but without success.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by scottgus1 »

scottgus1 wrote:Delete this guest completely and start over.
I think this part might be pertinent to the rest of those suggestions...
asateriksi
Posts: 5
Joined: 4. Nov 2019, 01:15

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by asateriksi »

I deleted the guest when I downgraded.
I have tried before uninstalling the VB software with the extension and then deleted all the folders without success.
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: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by socratis »

00:00:06.111678 File system of 'C:\Users\seadd\Downloads\debian-8.11.1-amd64-CD-1.iso' (DVD) is ntfs
This seems like an old version of Debian. The latest stable release of Debian is 10.1, as of 2019-09-07. Are you sure you want to try an older version of Debian? Just wondering in case I have to replicate your setup...
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.
asateriksi
Posts: 5
Joined: 4. Nov 2019, 01:15

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by asateriksi »

I have tried debian 10.1 with same outcome
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: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by socratis »

OK, let's start fresh then...

Create a new VM. Increase the RAM to 2048 MB, the VRAM to 128 MB. Try with Debian 10. Post the log of that attempt, here's how...

We need to see a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run, where the problem occurs:
  • Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe or recreate the problem / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
  • With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
  • Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response.
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.
asateriksi
Posts: 5
Joined: 4. Nov 2019, 01:15

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by asateriksi »

log attached as you requested
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kkobashi
Posts: 1
Joined: 4. May 2020, 03:27

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by kkobashi »

Although this post is a few months old, the way around this is to hit Hostkey + F to switch into full screen/window mode.

I get the black screen problem every time after logging into Debian Buster running Gnome 3. Maybe a Guest Additions problem as prior I did not have it installed and did not get this.

Some specifics:

VirtualBox running on Windows 10 Build 1909 as Host
Debian Buster running as VM Guest 10.3.0
Guest additions for Debian installed
2560x1440 144Hz Gsync display
128MB video memory
VMSVGA graphics controller
3d Acceleration enabled
Maximum Guest Screen Size automatic
Scale factor 100%

If any ideas to eliminate this is out there, that would be great.
creatldd1
Posts: 2
Joined: 18. Mar 2023, 13:45

Re: black screen when starting Debian VM

Post by creatldd1 »

I have the same problem running Debian11 VM under host Windows 10, Virtual Box 7.
Each time I lock or auto-lock my screen, when I come back Debian11 shows me the black screen.
I tried disabling acpi, it turned out to be a major mistake because the VM wouldn't restart.
Then I tried to disable only apm but to no avail.
Sometimes I manage to open a Linux console from which I do `sudo systemctl restart gdm`. And that's when I'm lucky because it allows to recuperate the control of the VM, until next lock ...
The worst is that sometimes the VM doesn't respond to acpi shutdowns...
The only workaround I've found is to save the vm state before locking to avoid the potential cold reboot when I come back.

On the side, I also have a Ubuntu and Fedora VMs and I've never experienced this problem under those.
So I would say that the problem is likely Gnome/Gdm related.
A workaround could be to have Openssh Server installed and try to restart Gdm remotely.
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