Ubuntu freeze when upgrade from VB6.1.22 to 24 or 26

[mkendallm]

Everything works very stable on MacBook Pro 2018 (BigSur 11.5) running VirtualBox 6.1.22 and Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS.

If I upgrade to 6.1.24 or 6.1.26 then it freezes either on the login screen or shortly after attempting to resize the display. I downloaded the guest additions ISO, mounted it, and installed guest additions 6.1.26, and then upgraded my VirtualBox installation to 6.1.26, but that got me into a state of not being able to boot the VM at all when I rolled back to 24 or 22.

I tried messing with "Enable PAE/NX", "Enable Nested Paging", "Enable 3D Acceleration", changing graphics controller VBoxVGA/VMSVGA/VBoxSVGA, changing amount of video memory (128MB), paravirtualization interface set to "default", 4 processors, 14116MB RAM, 1 monitor, and mostly default settings outside of that.

Any help in troubleshooting would be appreciated. I'm not sure how best to check the logs of failed VM for information, and I'm not sure if VirtualBox has a verbose logging mode I could utilize as well. If you have any questions or require further information, then I will monitor this post for activity and get back to you as soon as possible.

[scottgus1]

Please reset all the settings to the way they were.

Start the VM from full power off, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set.

Please right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip the log file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

[mkendallm]

I sent you the log file as 2 private messages. Thank you for looking at this issue with me!

[mkendallm]

I also posted this issue in the Linux forum as I continue to search for answers.

[scottgus1]

Duplicates are not allowed per forum rules, it dilutes the help.

Please check your PM, the second PM with the second half of the log did not come through.

[mkendallm]

That is the whole log.

[mkendallm]

OK, I got a chance to go through the whole log and redact the sensitive information. Log attached.

[scottgus1]

I regret that I don't see anything in the log to indicate a problem with the running VM. Maybe someone else could see a problem.

[mkendallm]

I regret that I don't see anything in the log...

I'm thinking the issue is on the Ubuntu side. I'm going to try and examine logs on that side, but to be quite honest I'm not the best at troubleshooting these kinds of problems.

[fth0]

Please describe what you mean by "freeze". What can you do in this state, and what not?

Additionally, reproduce the issue, select another resolution from the VM window's View menu twice, then try to close the VM window by its close button. Afterwards, please post another (zipped) VBox.log file.

[mkendallm]

I've noticed a few different behaviors as I was troubleshooting, and rebooting over and over:
1. VM boots, shows me login GUI, the cursor is blinking in the password field, and then stops... total freeze. Can't shutdown. Have to force quit the VM to close.
2. VM boots, shows me login GUI, allows me to type in the password field, screen normally resizes a couple of times, but it stops after the first resize. Can't shutdown. Have to force quit the VM to close.
3. VM boots, shows a black screen. Can't shutdown. Have to force quit.

#1 is by far the most common experience, and this is what happened that started me troubleshooting after upgrading. I tried all of the common things like turning off 3D acceleration, among other suggestions found on the web. I posted here once I basically ran out of processor, display, memory, and other such suggestions to try. Downgrading to 6.1.22 is the only thing that helps. I experience the issue on 6.1.24 and 6.1.26.

[fth0]

Some things that you may not have tried:

In the VM configuration, disable audio with either "Audio > Enable Audio" or "Audio > Host Audio Driver > Null Audio Driver". There have been many audio-related problems in VirtualBox <= 6.1.22, with freezes for other users, that have been solved by a major rewrite in VirtualBox 6.1.24. It could be different in your case.

When the VM is frozen, try to ping it via network. When users report freezes in Linux guests, sometimes "only" the VirtualBox VM window is not usable, but the VM is running fine otherwise. That's also why I asked for your definition of "freeze".

[mkendallm]

In the VM configuration, disable audio with either "Audio > Enable Audio" or "Audio > Host Audio Driver > Null Audio Driver". There have been many audio-related problems in VirtualBox <= 6.1.22, with freezes for other users, that have been solved by a major rewrite in VirtualBox 6.1.24. It could be different in your case.

I will try this eventually, and keep you posted.

When the VM is frozen, try to ping it via network. When users report freezes in Linux guests, sometimes "only" the VirtualBox VM window is not usable, but the VM is running fine otherwise. That's also why I asked for your definition of "freeze".

I hadn't thought of this, and it is an interesting question. I'll have to figure out what address the VM is using, and how to confirm that even when it has crashed. I will also keep you posted on troubleshooting this.

I have attached a few log files. First I provided a clean log of the VM launching in 6.1.22 which works just fine. Then I installed 6.1.26, got the black screen, tried to close with button, failed, and then forced closed the VM via activity monitor. I then put that log in the zip.

Next I launched the VM, and it too crashed with black screen, but I tried to resize the screen a few times. By setting it to a resolution like 1024x768, change 100% to 125%, and scaled/non-scaled, but that just resized the window, and didn't improve anything. The window still won't close, however, and it still requires me to force close the VM in activity monitor.

This black screen before login GUI is not new behavior, but I was expecting the crash on login GUI, but I did not encounter that scenario this time. All I got was black screen at boot.

I installed 6.1.22 again, and it boots right up.

[granada29]

Maybe try turning off 3D Acceleration in the Display settings. Also set Video Memory to max - 128MB

[fth0]

00:00:19.075491 CoreAudio: macOS 10.14+ detected, checking audio input permissions

This is the last log message in the VBox_6.1.26_black_screen_crash.log file. In the VBox_6.1.26_black_screen_crash_tried_to_resize.log file, this log message is only followed by log messages showing your attempt to change the display resolution to 800x600 and 1024x768. In the VBox_6.1.22_no_crash.log file, this message occurs several times, indicating a different strategy regarding the audio input permissions check. When checking the audio input permissions inside macOS, don't forget the camera, which can also be an audio input device.