[FIXED] Beta issue? 100% CPU use for an idle guest OS

[FranceBB]

FranceBB: your issue is actually not what is the topic of this thread: you see high CPU usage inside the guest (caused by VBoxTray). The originally reported issue was a busy loop in the NAT code (which happened when the guest OS was really idle).

The latest dev snapshot test builds (the r164434+ ones) have the NAT issue fixed.

Actually, I had them both, which is why I thought they were the same issue!
Testing between bridged and NAT actually made this very clear.
Let me recap.

Test 1:

Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164369 / r164395
Guest Additions: 7.1.0 r164395
Network: NAT

Guest CPU: 25% for a 4c configuration (infinite loop in VBoxTray.exe in one core)
Host CPU: 66% for a 4c/8th configuration (high CPU usage beyond 1 core in infinite loop)




Test 2:

Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164369 / r164395
Guest Additions: 7.1.0 r164395
Network: Bridged Network

Guest CPU: 25% for a 4c configuration (infinite loop in VBoxTray.exe in one core)
Host CPU: 15% for a 4c/8th configuration (1 core stuck in infinite loop changing every few seconds, typical in Linux + a little vm overhead, which is normal)




Test 3:

Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164369 / r164395
Guest Additions: 7.0.19 r163782
Network: NAT

Guest CPU: 5% for a 4c configuration (normal usage)
Host CPU: 55% for a 4c/8th configuration (high CPU usage)




Test 4:

Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164369 / r164395
Guest Additions: 7.0.19 r163782
Network: Bridged Network

Guest CPU: 5% for a 4c configuration (normal usage)
Host CPU: 9% for a 4c/8th configuration (normal usage)




In other words, using the old guest additions makes the infinite loop in the guest go away, however it does nothing to prevent the infinite loop in the host if you're using NAT. That isn't the case if you're using bridged network, though.
That is until yesterday's release Virtualbox 7.1.0 r164443.
With yesterday's release, I can confirm that the NAT infinite loop on the host is solved:

Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164443
Guest Additions: 7.0.19 r163782
Network: NAT

Guest CPU: 5% for a 4c configuration (normal usage)
Host CPU: 9% for a 4c/8th configuration (normal usage)


Virtualbox: 7.1.0 r164443
Guest Additions: 7.0.19 r163782
Network: Bridged Network

Guest CPU: 5% for a 4c configuration (normal usage)
Host CPU: 9% for a 4c/8th configuration (normal usage)

So... one problem down, one to go.
Thank you for fixing this by the way. Now all is left is to also fix the issue in the guest addition for the guest.

[pentagonik]

Thanks for report; I'll have a look at the Guest Additions issue.

Edit: Which exact guest is this?

[Air Force One]

I can confirm that with the r164442, the original issue with high load on the host is resolved. I have an idle host if the guest is idle. But I don't know about this additional issue that has been reported lately.
Thank you, everybody, for the successful merge and solution.

[FranceBB]

Thanks for report; I'll have a look at the Guest Additions issue.

Edit: Which exact guest is this?

It's Windows XP Professional x86 with PAE enabled.
Since it's part of an Active Directory domain it has received all the Microsoft Extended Support updates via WSUS until July 2019 (EOL).

[birdie]

Confirming fixed in Beta 2.

[pentagonik]

Thanks for report; I'll have a look at the Guest Additions issue.

Edit: Which exact guest is this?

It's Windows XP Professional x86 with PAE enabled.
Since it's part of an Active Directory domain it has received all the Microsoft Extended Support updates via WSUS until July 2019 (EOL).

Ok thanks. Does this still apply for Beta 2, i.e. did you upgrade the Guest Additions within your XP guest to Guest Additions Beta 2?

[FranceBB]

Ok thanks. Does this still apply for Beta 2, i.e. did you upgrade the Guest Additions within your XP guest to Guest Additions Beta 2?

Yep, Virtualbox 7.1.0 r164448 (aka BETA 2) installed, extension pack updated and new guest additions installed.
Same as before:

Screenshot from 2024-08-25 18-48-32.png (16.62 KiB) Viewed 35224 times

New logs here:

WindowsEmbedded-2024-08-25-18-51-31.zip

(46.38 KiB) Downloaded 1046 times

[FranceBB]

To add to this, reverting to the guest additions from 7.0.19 r163782 is no longer an option as the mouse integration is broken when using 7.1.0 r164448 (aka BETA 2).
I've tried disabling Drag n Drop and Shared Clipboard, but it didn't help, still 25% CPU usage (i.e 1 core always at 100% out of 4 cores).

[dgrigorev]

To add to this, reverting to the guest additions from 7.0.19 r163782 is no longer an option as the mouse integration is broken when using 7.1.0 r164448 (aka BETA 2).
I've tried disabling Drag n Drop and Shared Clipboard, but it didn't help, still 25% CPU usage (i.e 1 core always at 100% out of 4 cores).

Hello FranceBB.
Could you collect logs directly from VBoxTray?
Here are the steps to do it:
1. Create an empty folder on Windows XP guest, for example C:\MyLogs
2. Add the VBOXTRAY_RELEASE_LOG_DEST variable to environment of the user who logs on to guest and set it to the value 'file=C:\MyLogs\VBoxTray.log'.
To check if the variable set correctly just run 'set' command and find the following line in the output:
VBOXTRAY_RELEASE_LOG_DEST=file=C:\MyLogs\VBoxTray.log
3. Restart your XP guest and reproduce guest CPU throttle issue

Hope that having such VboxTray.log will help to identify a problem easily.
With best regards, Dmitrii

[Air Force One]

To add to this, reverting to the guest additions from 7.0.19 r163782 is no longer an option as the mouse integration is broken when using 7.1.0 r164448 (aka BETA 2).
I've tried disabling Drag n Drop and Shared Clipboard, but it didn't help, still 25% CPU usage (i.e 1 core always at 100% out of 4 cores).

Did you try the new version of the GAs and the VBox itself from the test builds page? There is a new version (164481) of the 7.1 GAs and a new version of the VBox and 7.0.21 GAs (164394) here.
I even tested the latest 7.0.21 version with 7.1 GAs and everything, including mouse integration, worked for me.

[FranceBB]

Did you try the new version of the GAs and the VBox itself from the test builds page?

I've just installed the new Guest Addition version 7.1.0 r164481 and the problem persists.
I tried to set the environment variables as it says here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/AdditionsLogging
however it didn't work as it didn't create any file in the specified folder

Screenshot from 2024-08-28 10-13-45.jpg (221.84 KiB) Viewed 34853 times

In attachment the normal logs for 7.1.0 r164481

WindowsEmbedded-2024-08-28-10-17-42.zip

(45.62 KiB) Downloaded 981 times

[Air Force One]

I tried to set the environment variables as it says here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/AdditionsLogging
however it didn't work as it didn't create any file in the specified folder

I see the following possible causes of these troubles:

- In Dmitri's example, the variable pattern is slightly different from the pattern in the wiki; it isn't 'name=path' but 'name=file=path'. I don't know which one is correct. Maybe there were some changes, and the information in the wiki is old. You should probably try the other pattern with the 'file'
- You have spaces in the file's path, and this path is very long. In the Dmitri's example, the folder was created directly in the root of the C: and its name has no spaces. Try this. It could also avoid some troubles with user rights and permissions.
- The last one is that you forget to reboot your guest after you set the environment variable.

Try this, and it should help. Otherwise, we need to look for another source for the issues with GA logging.

[pentagonik]

I tried to set the environment variables as it says here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/AdditionsLogging
however it didn't work as it didn't create any file in the specified folder

I see the following possible causes of these troubles:

- In Dmitri's example, the variable pattern is slightly different from the pattern in the wiki; it isn't 'name=path' but 'name=file=path'. I don't know which one is correct. Maybe there were some changes, and the information in the wiki is old. You should probably try the other pattern with the 'file'
- You have spaces in the file's path, and this path is very long. In the Dmitri's example, the folder was created directly in the root of the C: and its name has no spaces. Try this. It could also avoid some troubles with user rights and permissions.
- The last one is that you forget to reboot your guest after you set the environment variable.

Try this, and it should help. Otherwise, we need to look for another source for the issues with GA logging.

Thanks for the helpful hints -- yes, the Wiki information indeed is pretty old and I've just updated it. Dmitrii's syntax is the correct one. And yes, when using paths which contain spaces, it needs to be quoted accordingly when setting the environment variables. A guest reboot (or restarting VBoxTray) is mandatory.

[birdie]

First of all, FranceBB's issue deserves a separate topic.

Secondly, I feel like there's something specific to his guest because no one else can reproduce it. I wonder what it is.

[FranceBB]

Well thank you for the updated instructions.
I went into
https://i.imgur.com/h29cOtm.png
and I created the DWORD entry LoggingEnabled with Decimal 255 (Hex ff)
https://i.imgur.com/jQm7dm8.png
Then I added the two Environment Variables:
https://i.imgur.com/EG2lk2c.png
and I created the "Temp" folder in C: to allow logs to be written there:
https://i.imgur.com/1HWMLaQ.png
At this point, I rebooted and logged in with my normal Active Directory user and sure enough the logs were there.
https://i.imgur.com/s2uUBqR.png
Unfortunately, however, when I opened them, I was a bit surprised by the lack of details.
It looks like there isn't much being logged...

Code: Select all

00:00:00.011718 main     VBoxTray 7.1.0_BETA2 r164482 win.x86 (Aug 21 2024 16:45:56) release log
00:00:00.011718 main     Log opened 2024-08-30T06:41:27.714716700Z
00:00:00.011718 main     OS Product: Windows XP Professional
00:00:00.012695 main     OS Release: 5.1.2600
00:00:00.012695 main     Executable: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VBoxTray.exe
00:00:00.012695 main     Process ID: 3836
00:00:00.012695 main     Package type: WINDOWS_32BITS_GENERIC
00:00:00.012695 main     Verbosity level: 0

https://i.imgur.com/RETtXI0.png
When I shut down the guest, then I've got the message that VBoxTray couldn't be stopped correctly (probably 'cause it was still using resources being stuck in an infinite loop with the same 25% CPU usage in a 4c/4th configuration):
https://i.imgur.com/mJMxc2c.png
Then I killed it and I shut down the host:
https://i.imgur.com/FdWbHad.png


Anyway, in attachment you can find the logs, both from the Host and the Guest.

VBoxTray.zip

(473 Bytes) Downloaded 1003 times

WindowsEmbedded-2024-08-30-07-50-45.zip

(45.21 KiB) Downloaded 1022 times