Ubuntu host freeze when starting VirtualBox VM

[Jrminot]

Hello all,

I'm running an ubuntu host of the following make:
Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.13.0-101-generic i686)

I have installed Virtuabox and created a VM that I want to PXE boot a Centos 6.9 x32 image onto.

When I start the VM, the host locks up which requires a reboot to fix.

The defaults I have changed are that the boot order has Network at the top and the network is attaching to a bridge network.

I noticed that I am able to start the VM if the network adapter is disabled.

Anyone know what the issue may be or what steps I should take as I try to troubleshoot the issue?

Thanks in advance

[mpack]

Please provide a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click it in GUI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

[Jrminot]

Please provide a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click it in GUI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

Attached VM Log

centostest1-2017-07-06-19-59-38.zip

Uploaded VM log as requested

(17.73 KiB) Downloaded 21 times

EDIT: Reattached, log was empty for some reason. Included the correct one this time.

[mpack]

VirtualBox VM 4.3.36_Ubuntu r105129 linux.x86

You are using an old Ubuntu fork, you are not using VirtualBox. You need to go to the Ubuntu forums for support. Or you could install the version we support, and then we could have a discussion (if you still have the problem).

By the way, I am seeing no sign at all of a host freeze. I see a perfectly normal error and a termination of the VBox_ubuntu application.
The error is:

00:00:47.404690 Guest Log: No bootable medium found! System halted.

[Perryg]

As mpack says your issue is the distro fork. I don't believe the Ubuntu extpack supports the pxe boot rom that is provided by VirtualBox because it is closed source.

[Jrminot]

Thank you for the replies.

I'm not 100% what you are saying the issue is. On my Ubuntu 14.04 server. I did an apt-get install virtualbox. That is what I was running and having issues with.

Now, you all mentioned my virtualbox version. I spent some time trying to get the latest version of virtualbox onto the server. Even after performing upgrades/updates on the server, I couldn't get it to pull anything but version 4.3. I then manually downloaded the latest version from the website (that said it was for 14.04) and installed that. I could not create a vm due to errors. I then followed some dialogue on the website such as adding a link into my sources file, and then used apt-get to install 5.1. I ended up with 5.1.22. I then decided to temporarily and completely remove the virtual bridge I was using on the server. I was using OpenVSwitch as the bridge manager so I removed all interfaces from it and deleted it. I then used my new 5.1.22 Virtual Box to spin up a centos 6.9 image and selected bridge (eth0) as the networking option. THis allowed me to successfully PXE boot. 5.1 also now allows me to launch in headless (which also a requirement). THe only issue I am having now is that when I launch virtualbox I get the following error:
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 145 (Unknown), sequence: 171, resource id: 0, major code: 139 (Unknown), minor code: 20

My next steps are to recreate the bridge and then try to migrate the VM onto that bridge.

As a summary:
Upgraded to VirtualBox 5.1.22
Removed virtual Bridge
Was able to Create Centos 6.9 VM
Was able to PXE boot
Currently receives error "Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 145 (Unknown), sequence: 171, resource id: 0, major code: 139 (Unknown), minor code: 20
"
Will test migrated back onto bridge this week.

Thanks all

[mpack]

Now, you all mentioned my virtualbox version.

Actually we're saying that you don't have VirtualBox installed at all. You have someone's fork of it installed, and we don't support third party forks here because we have absolutely no idea if they work, what they changed, etc. If someone wants to do a fork that's fine, but they also take on the responsiblity for support.

If you want to install VirtualBox then you need to download the appropriate package from the Downloads area of this site, and then install it. That entire page is worth reading, plus there are install instructions are in the user manual, which can be read online here.

[Perryg]

Actually it looks to me like the OP has added the VirtualBox repo to the host repo list which should pull the proper version in from VirtualBox. Using apt-get though could be a problem because it might still try to pull info in from the distro repo as well. Plus the extension pack is not linked to the VirtualBox repo and still needs to be downloaded separately. Normally I work around distros package manager by using wget to download the package I want and then install with dpkg. It has never failed me and give visual information during the install process.

Now the error you are getting is with QT and that may be because you are running on a server. Servers usually don't have QT nor do they have Xorg/wayland which means you must run the guests headless only and remote into the desktop. How this works with PXE I don't know as I do not run PXE but maybe the information I have provided with point you in the right direction.

You should look at /var/log/vbox-install.log and see if you can find an issue and if you need to post here with questions again you need to provide a guest log showing the issue along with the install log ( as an attachment ).

[mpack]

Well, I can only go by the log provided, which is certainly from the Ubuntu fork.

[Perryg]

Very true but the explanation later shows they added the VirtualBox repo and was successful with the PXE boot ( easily missed unless you are familiar with Linux and the VirtualBox repo ). Now we have a different issue. I would like a confirmation that the original install was in fact purged prior to the install of the official version though has not purging would create a conflict.

[Jrminot]

Hey Perryg,

I did purge the original install before installing the new version. I did a dpkg -s and here is what I currently have installed:

Package: virtualbox-5.1
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: contrib/misc
Installed-Size: 169769
Maintainer: Oracle Corporation <info@virtualbox.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 5.1.22-115126~Ubuntu~trusty
Replaces: virtualbox
Provides: virtualbox

So the PXE problem was solved by temporarily using the network mode "Bridge Adapter" through eth0. I still do have the issue though where if I create a bridge br0, and then tell the VM to use the bridge adapter through br0, it immediately panics the host and we have to reboot the machine. I am trying to figure out a way to troubleshoot this issue.

[Jrminot]

I figured out the freezing issue (at least partially).

if I attached a vm to br0 via the bridge adapter, that caused a host panic.

if I create a tuntap vnet0 on br0 and then attach the vm to vnet0, it comes up fine. I cannot seem to get internet access through vnet0 yet but at least the host is no longer panicking