Refresh Issues with 10.6.1 Host & Win XP Guest

[LP81]

Hey All,

At work they recently took away our Mac and PC towers and replaced them with new MacBook Pros. They opted to install VB sinc they took away our PCs which are needed as a testing environments.

My issue is this - I am loading up XP in the Host and the VB box doesn't seem to keep it's picture on it unless something changes in a specific area - For example, My whole scrren is blue except i see the cursor blinking and the chat window scrolls when I get a new message, but then disappears after about 30 seconds or so because there is no new info on it...

This happens on both the main screen and when I have it on a separate monitor.

I have played with the setting allocating more memory and graphics memory, also lowering them up and down to no avail. I ranged the Memory from 256MB up to a Gig and the Graphic Memory from 24MB up to 128MB

Base settings given to me when I got the machine are:

?
General
Name:
WinXP

OS Type:
Windows XP
?
System
Base Memory:
256 MB

Processor(s):
1

Boot Order:
Floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, Hard Disk

VT-x/AMD-V:
Enabled

Nested Paging:
Enabled
?
Display
Video Memory:
24 MB

3D Acceleration:
Enabled

Remote Display Server:
Disabled

?Hard Disks
IDE Primary Master:
winxp.vdi (Normal, 21.19 GB)
?
CD/DVD-ROM
Not mounted

Floppy
Not mounted
?
Audio
Host Driver:
CoreAudio

Controller:
ICH AC97
?
Network
Adapter 1:
PCnet-FAST III (Bridged adapter, en0: Ethernet)
?
Serial Ports
Disabled
?
USB
Device Filters:
0 (0 active)
?
Shared Folders
None

I'd really like the XP to be fluid as I plan to do most my mail and CHatting on that side rather than on my Mac side

Any thoughts?

[Perryg]

Have you installed the guest additions?

[LP81]

I am a rookie when it comes to this - What do you mean Guest Additions?

I have found a work around for now... I pumped up the memory and graphics memory and when i keep that window on the laptop's main screen it is fine - if I drag it to another monitor, it flips out, so for now I am keeping it on the laptop side and moving all the Mac items to the separate monitor.

[Antoine_R]

Hi,

I have the same problem, and I'm also using Mac OS 10.6.1 as host and XP SP3 as guest. I've installed the Guest Additions and the problem is still here...

=/

[Oliver_Z]

I have the same problems after updating to Snow Leopard. I'm using Mac OS 10.6.1 Host and Win XP SP1 as Guest system with Guest Additions installed.
The problems remain after updating VirtualBox from 3.0.6 to 3.0.8.

[knitd]

I had the exact same problems here (OS X 10.6.1 host and Win XP SP3 guest). I found the following workaround:

Go to System Preferences -> Monitors -> Colors. You need to use the exact same profile on all monitors. I know that the wrong profile looks ugly - but that workaround works perfectly for me.

[Jooosh]

Thanks KNITD! Totally fixed my issue. I was having the same problems as described above. Would never have thought to look there.

[WickedEwok]

Thanks KNITD +1

Was acting really crazy - was using RDP into my Windows machine from the same Mac until this fix. I hope they fix this in the next release. Not sure if it's Snow Leopard specifically or 3.0.8.

[quatch]

I'm having this too.

OS X 10.6.2, Vbox 3.1.4, guest winXPsp3. I have two monitors, guest window is on primary display (toolbar yes, dock is set to right side, which is other monitor). guest is running in windowed mode, maximized or otherwise. Screen goes black and can be temporarily restored by clicking on windows or dragging around. This just started happening today, been running Ok on this setup for at least a week now.

Edit: Yes, workaround works, but only after require restart of virtualbox.

[vrillusions]

FWIW this issue is still present in vbox 3.1.8 and 3.2 on snow leopard 10.6.3. KNITD's fix works although it's rather annoying since I can't find a color profile that looks good on both the laptop and external display.

[krohrbaugh]

I'm still experiencing this problem as well:

- Host OS: MacOS X 10.6.4
- VirtualBox v3.2.6 r63112
- Guest OSes: Windows XP, Vista, 7

If I don't use the same color profile across monitors, the VMs are near unusable due to the partial refresh issues. The screen doesn't repaint consistently, regardless of whether I keep focus inside the VM or not.

Should a new ticket be opened?

[lootsd]

I am running VirtualBox 3.2.8 on MAC OS X 10.6.4 and I run into this problem only when I run in 64bit mode (by holding down "6" and "4" while booting).

When my MacBook Pro boots in 32bit mode, this is not a problem at all, even though I use dual screens (Laptop PLUS External screen) and they use different Display (Color) Profiles.

When it boots in 64bit mode, the guest OSes (Windows XP and Ubuntu Desktop) are hardly useable because of this problem, the screen is mostly black and does not draw correctly.

[kant23]

Hi,

Exactly the same issue here:

OSX 10.6.6 (running 64bits Kernel)
VBox 4.0.4 (guest: XP SP2)

Workaround also seems to work (although it's really ugly!!)

Cheers,

[kant23]

Ok this is an open issue:
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/4942