Critical error when loading Windows XP guest OS after upgrading VirtualBox to v5.1.18

[Hugo_Pt]

I am running as a host OS Linux mint 17.3 Xfce 32-bit in Live mode from a USB thumb drive with a casper-rw partition for persistence, for over 1 year.

However, the active kernel is still that of Linux mint 17.2, that is, 3.16.0-38 (3.16.7-ckt10), because, some time after Linux mint 17.3 was released (on January 9th, 2016), I tried to upgrade system choosing that option when it became available in the Update Manager, but kernel was not updated, probably because this is not a truly installed Linux system, but rather a Linux Live USB system with persistence, which doesn't allow kernel changes.

Nevertheless, following that occurrence and up until yesterday, I had never got any critical error when running my guest OS in VirtualBox, Windows XP Virtual machine, only there was a period of time in which I got an invalid settings error stating that I had to disable 3D acceleration so that the Virtual Machine could run (all my Snapshots had this option enabled).

But even this error disappeared since recently, when Linux mint Update Manager installed most recent updates to my graphics card driver.

However, a major problem started yesterday: I ran VirtualBox for the first time after Update Manager updated VirtualBox package from 5.0.34-113845~Ubuntu~trusty to 5.0.36-114008~Ubuntu~trusty on March 19th. Just as the program started, it prompted me to download the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack that matches the currently installed VirtualBox version, as it always do. But, as the program failed to download this Extension Pack, I checked VirtualBox website and realized that VirtualBox was currently at version 5.1.18, and decided to install this version.

I downloaded virtualbox-5.1_5.1.18-114002~Ubuntu~trusty_i386.deb, and ran it, but installation process through the GDebi Packages Installer failed, it returned an error. Then, I run the command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-5.1

in the Terminal and this way I could successfully install VirtualBox 5.1.18.

The problem started when I tried to run my Windows XP virtual machine after installing this latest VirtualBox version. Running Windows XP in Safe Mode doesn't trigger any error: I could install latest VirtualBox Guest Additions inserting virtual CD in virtual drive in Safe Mode.

But then, rebooting Windows XP triggers a critical error/Guru meditation dialog box during loading Windows in normal mode and virtual machine execution is stopped immediately. When this happens, my mouse buttons even stop working, I can move the mouse pointer anywhere on the screen, but clicking on any button do nothing, neither in the Guru meditation dialog box buttons, nor in the host Linux buttons in the taskbar, and the Windows L and R keys and the menu key in my keyboard stop responding too. The only way to close Virtual Machine and regain control of my PC is to press TAB key which toggles between the 'Ignore' and the 'OK' button in Guru's meditation dialog box and when the 'OK' button is highlighted, to press the Spacebar key.

I tried also to disable 3D acceleration in VM settings before running VM, with no success: the same critical error pops up when Windows XP is loading!

Besides the Vbox.log and VBox.png files (from [custom path]/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP virtual machine/Logs/ directory), I included as attachment a screenshot of virtual machine details.

[Mod edit: Removed the screenshot of the VM details. The details are included in the logs in any event. At 1/3 of the size. And the startup of the WinXP doesn't add any valuable information.]

[socratis]

00:00:21.530345 !!         VCPU0: Guru Meditation -2301 (VERR_REM_VIRTUAL_CPU_ERROR)

The solution to this is to enable VT-x in your computer (see tickets #13350, #14597 and #15618 for example). However,

00:00:02.862364 HM: HMR3Init: Falling back to raw-mode: VT-x is not available
00:00:21.572563 Full Name: "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz"

your processor does not support VT-x. Your only solution is to downgrade to whatever used to work. Most probably the latest 5.0.x series (5.0.36 as of this writing) and stick with that.

[Hugo_Pt]

Thanks for the support, socratis. I'll take a look at those tickets. That's not good news

So, if my processor really does not support VT-x (I don't know what it is), does it mean that I'll not be able to use any future version of VirtualBox beyond v5.0.x series? Or rather this problem is restricted to the v5.1.x series and may be fixed in future versions?

Are you sure that my processor does not support VT-x, or there may be an option in my BIOS settings that enables it?

I intend very soon to replace the host OS, by the most recent version of Linux mint Xfce 64-bits, because I'm almost 100% sure that my processor supports 64-bit technology. I'll buy also 2 additional RAM modules of 2 GB each. Is it worth trying then the 64-bit version of VirtualBox 5.1.x, or it is not worth trying?

[Perryg]

I'm almost 100% sure that my processor supports 64-bit technology

It's not that your processor does or does not support 64-bit it is that it does not support VT-x ( hardware virtualization ) See link below:
https://ark.intel.com/products/27447/In ... 33-MHz-FSB

[mpack]

So, if my processor really does not support VT-x (I don't know what it is), does it mean that I'll not be able to use any future version of VirtualBox beyond v5.0.x series? Or rather this problem is restricted to the v5.1.x series and may be fixed in future versions?

VT-x (and AMD-v on AMD processors) is hardware assistance for virtualization. VirtualBox requires it for all 64bit VMs, plus VMs which use certain processor features (multiple cores, nested paging etc). Nominally VirtualBox should be able to run a 32bit XP guest. However I note that in addition to the problem Socratis points out, you are also overcommitting host RAM, i.e. allocating RAM for the use of the VM which is already being used by the host OS (you have 700MB-ish available, but have assigned 1000MB+128MB).

Or rather this problem is restricted to the v5.1.x series and may be fixed in future versions?

I think it's just a bug - but don't quote me. Maybe there will be a fix. However, VT-x has been around for around a decade now, so I'm afraid that it's just a fact of life that the devs priority will be the processors which most customers now have, which will be Core 2 and later (or AMD of course).

Are you sure that my processor does not support VT-x, or there may be an option in my BIOS settings that enables it?

Pretty sure. Most Pentium 4s did not have VT-x, and the VBox log is saying that your P4 has no VT-x, which means that the CPU itself reported to VirtualBox that it has no VT-x capability.

Is it worth trying then the 64-bit version of VirtualBox 5.1.x, or it is not worth trying?

A 64bit OS will take more RAM (happily you intend to get more) and allow you to run 64bit host apps. Otherwise it will make no difference: your problem is with your CPU, not your host OS.


I would suggest: reducing RAM allocation to something your PC can better afford, which would be (say) 512MB RAM plus 48MB graphics RAM. Also test the effect of disabling 3D acceleration in the guest. Test if the guest XP will boot in safe mode. If all else fails you'll have to revert to an older VirtualBox version as Socratis suggested.

[Hugo_Pt]

It's not that your processor does or does not support 64-bit it is that it does not support VT-x ( hardware virtualization ) See link below:
https://ark.intel.com/products/27447/In ... 33-MHz-FSB

A 64bit OS will take more RAM (happily you intend to get more) and allow you to run 64bit host apps. Otherwise it will make no difference: your problem is with your CPU, not your host OS.

I only mentioned the 64-bit feature, because I hypothesized that there might be the chance that the issue of the v5.1.x Virtualbox causing crashes on host systems which don't support VT-x might be exclusive to the 32-bit version of the VirtualBox program, and might not exist in the 64-bit version of the program. It was merely a long shot. If an issue of some kind or a bug occurs with the 32-bit version of Virtualbox, I guess it will occur too in the 64-bit version, isn't that right?

I know for sure that there are many different models of "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz" The page of that specific model Perryg linked to, for example, does not support Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, while mine does. The same about Intel® 64 architecture, some models have it while others don't. I installed an Intel application in my real Windows XP system (not the Virtual Machine), which helps identify my specific model and features it supports. I will run it soon and look for the VT-x feature, although I don't hold great expectations. But there may be that VT-x is not supported by all the Pentium(R) 4 CPU processors, that's one of the questions I asked in previous post. mpack says most Pentium 4s did not have VT-x.

VT-x (and AMD-v on AMD processors) is hardware assistance for virtualization. VirtualBox requires it for all 64bit VMs, plus VMs which use certain processor features (multiple cores, nested paging etc). Nominally VirtualBox should be able to run a 32bit XP guest. However I note that in addition to the problem Socratis points out, you are also overcommitting host RAM, i.e. allocating RAM for the use of the VM which is already being used by the host OS (you have 700MB-ish available, but have assigned 1000MB+128MB).

I would suggest: reducing RAM allocation to something your PC can better afford, which would be (say) 512MB RAM plus 48MB graphics RAM.

Maybe I had Firefox browser opened (which has multiple tabs opened) at the time of the log, which was consuming a considerable amount of system memory. In fact, if I have not any browser opened, and only VirtualBox Manager and Peerguardian Linux opened (for added protection), the "system load monitor" application that I have always active in my taskbar reports that I have 772MB being used out of 2019MB installed, which means I still have 1247MB available to run the virtual machine, not "700MB-ish". In VM settings, I have nearly the maximum memory permitted by VirtualBox to be assigned to the VM, that is, 1000MB base memory assigned (more than 1009MB triggers the "Invalid settings detected" warning), which is nearly half the total system memory, which still leaves 247MB free remaining available for the host when VM is running. Besides, I had created a 1GB Linux swap partition in the same pendrive from which I'm running the Linux host, this Linux swap partition works as a virtual RAM extension when it is needed. Before creating that partition, several times in past, I inadvertently used Chromium/Chrome browser in host when I had virtual machine running simultaneously and my system freezed almost completely, it stopped responding, so I decided to create this swap partition for safety until I install more RAM.
128MB is the video memory assigned to the VM, which is the maximum that can be selected in my case. But is this video memory not taken from the graphics card internal memory? Or is it taken from the system RAM available to the host? My graphics card has 512MB graphics RAM, if I remember correctly. If I assign 128MB of those to virtual machine, that would leave a remaining 384MB of video memory to the host. Isn't this sufficient if I do not use any video application or browser in the host while I'm running the virtual machine?

Also test the effect of disabling 3D acceleration in the guest. Test if the guest XP will boot in safe mode. If all else fails you'll have to revert to an older VirtualBox version as Socratis suggested.

As I wrote in post#1, disabling 3D acceleration in VM settings doesn't prevent the crash, and the guest XP boots ok in Safe mode, but not in normal mode. What about the PAE/NX option in VM settings under System>Processor. Is it better to leave this disabled or rather enable it?

[socratis]

Your CPU does not support VT-x. Period. End of discussion.
Even if you write 3x "War and Peace", it still won't support it. Sorry for being realistic, but that's life...

[Hugo_Pt]

Yes, socratis, I don't argue that. Yesterday I ran the Intel Processor Identification Utility installed in my real Windows XP system. Under advanced processor features, Intel Virtualization Technology is listed with 'no'. It seems I have no alternative but to downgrade VirtualBox to v5.0.x and hope that this issue will be considered indeed as a "bug" by developers (according to mpack's opinion) and fixed in future versions

VT-x (and AMD-v on AMD processors) is hardware assistance for virtualization. VirtualBox requires it for all 64bit VMs, plus VMs which use certain processor features (multiple cores, nested paging etc).

Thank you for pointing this out. I intended to create a VM with Windows 10 64-bit as guest OS, once I bought a new Hard Drive and 2 additional RAM modules, with the purpose of testing that OS before try to install real Windows 10 64-bit. Given what you said, I'll not try to create that VM.

[mpack]

You can't create any kind of Win8.x or Win10 guest without VT-x, since both of those require some of those modern processor features I mentioned. Win7-32bit is the latest Windows you can create in theory, though the lack of RAM will be a hindrance.

[Hugo_Pt]

You can't create any kind of Win8.x or Win10 guest without VT-x, since both of those require some of those modern processor features I mentioned. Win7-32bit is the latest Windows you can create in theory, though the lack of RAM will be a hindrance.

So, you're saying that I will not be able to create even 32-bit Win10 guest VMs. Do you think my system will be able to run real (not virtual) Win10 64-bit? My system has 2 RAM modules DDR2 1GB 667MHZ and I wish to buy 2 modules DDR2 2GB 667MHZ, ending up with 6GB RAM.

[mpack]

Your host is probably capable of running Win10 64bit natively, but you should really ask Microsoft to answer that question. I assume you understand that running Win10 as a host won't change the capabilities of the CPU.