[Solved] FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System Halted!

[Hoggio]

Hi

I am trying to boot Window 8.1 on Mac El Capitan 10.11.6.

Am using Virtualbox 5.1.18

I updated last night to this versions and all was well. Went to boot up this afternoon and got the error message FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! Sysytem Halted.

I have looked through previous posts and can't find anything that is the same as that which I am experiencing and would be grateful for some help.

Here is the log in case it helps:

[Mod edit: removed partial, text only VBox.log]

Thanks in advance...

[socratis]

Partial logs are not that useful. Please ZIP and attach the whole VBox.log.

Just to confirm, this was a previously working VM, and you were not trying to start from a CD/DVD.

[Hoggio]

As far as I am aware it boots from an ISO but have also tried vdi which might be the wrong way of going about it!

The ISO file though says it was created in March 2015 and hasn't been used since. Maybe the current one has been deleted? Or am I getting that wrong?

Anyway, full log attached.

[Hoggio]

Thanks for replying, by the way!

[socratis]

00:00:07.877870 VMMDev: Guest Log: BIOS: Boot : bseqnr=3, bootseq=0002
00:00:07.928889 VMMDev: Guest Log: BIOS: Booting from Hard Disk...
...
kaboom

Have you checked your host's physical hard drive for errors? Do you have a backup?

[Hoggio]

Yes, I do have a backup.

I haven't checked the physical hard drive for errors. How would I do that?

[socratis]

Yes, I do have a backup.

Excellent, not many do . You might need it...

I haven't checked the physical hard drive for errors. How would I do that?

Open Utilities » Disk Utility » First Aid. Post any error messages.

[Hoggio]

Hi. No errors reported.

[socratis]

OK, then you should restore the backup and hope for the best...
Have you backed up the whole folder (/Users/timhodgson/VirtualBox VMs/), the VM folder (/Users/timhodgson/VirtualBox VMs/Windows 8.1 Full/), or just the VDI (/Users/timhodgson/VirtualBox VMs/Windows 8.1 Full/Windows 8.1 Full (original).vdi) ?

[Hoggio]

I have all options backed up in timemachine.

Windows 8.1 Full.vdi is simply a duplicate of Windows 8.1 Full(Original).vdi which I made just in case when this all happened and I was trying various options before contacting you.

[socratis]

I'm sorry... what??? Can you please clarify the last message? Did I understand correctly that you had a problem, and then you made a copy of the .VDI, and then you posted the message about the problem, after you've switched HDs in the VM configuration? Did I understand it correctly?

[Hoggio]

I do have a problem. I am unable to boot the VM and am getting the 'FATAL: Could not read...' error message.

I'm a little bit miffed here now. What have I done wrong?

The error came after updating to 5.1.18. I tried to find out how to solve the problem and have had no luck and have ended here on this forum as could really do with some help.
Have I done something wrong?

[socratis]

I understand that you have a problem.
I understand that you want help.
Do you understand that if you want help you have to answer the questions?
It's simple... You answer the questions => you get help.

[Hoggio]

My apologies! I thought I had answered the question. I'm not sure why I am getting this reaction.

However, to clarify:
I got the FATAL: Could not read... error the morning/afternoon I had updated to 5.1.18. The evening I updated the VM ran fine.
Upon getting the error message I looked up if there was a way to solve the issue and found various ways including some suggestions on this forum but nothing seemed to match my problem exactly.
I then found a video on youtube which I used to try to fix the issue. As part of doing this (so that I had a duplicate state) I duplicated the vdi which is why you can see there is the original and another).
I made a feeble attempt of changing Primary Master and Primary Slave but I still got the same error message. Frustratingly my bluetooth mouse and keyboard also disconnect which means I have to reboot my mac!

I hope this helps to clarify. Perhaps we can continue now?

And, yes, after doing all that I posted on here because I had hit a brick wall!!

[socratis]

I asked you a simple question:

you made a copy of the .VDI, and then ... you've switched HDs in the VM configuration?

That was it. You came back with repeating the error message (I've memorized it by now) and you didn't answer the question, only questioned what you did wrong. the only thing wrong is that you didn't tell me the whole story from the beginning. Have you heard "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" ? Well, that "whole" part was missing. You just answered it in your last post. Now I can have a clearer picture of what happened.

If you made a copy of a corrupt file, then the copy will be corrupt as well. So changing disks, moving them from primary to secondary or anything else won't matter. Your only hope is that the backup is not corrupt.

Since you know how to replace a VDI in a VM, I'm going to try and keep it simple for you and me:

• Release the current HD from the VM.
• You can delete it if you want, just make sure that if you go to the Media Manager (Cmd-D) it's not there.
• Restore the VDI from the TimeMachine backup and add it back to your VM.