VirtualBox module start fails in CentOS 4.4

[richard_bowden]

I am trying to install VirtualBox 2.1.4 from the rpm VirtualBox-2.1.4_42893_rhel4-1.i386.rpm under CentOS 4.4. During the install I got a message that it failed to compile a kernel module because the sources are not installed. I placed the sources at /usr/src/linux and ran /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup as instructed and the recompile goes [ ok ] but it fails to start the VirtualBox kernel module suggesting I look in dmesg. The last 5 messages in dmesg are " vboxdrv: Unknown symbol smp_call_function_single". I have searched this string in Google and got no hits so I am at a loss as to what is wrong. Can anyone help me out?

Cheers

Richard

[fixedwheel]

failed to compile a kernel module because the sources are not installed. I placed the sources at /usr/src/linux

you only need the sources if you compiled your own kernel, and then you need all the files left over from kernel build too.

otherwise, if you run a stock kernel you need the matching kernel headers as written in the manual: 2.3.2 The VirtualBox kernel module

Otherwise, there are only two situations in which you will need to worry about the
kernel module:
1. The original installation fails. This probably means that your Linux system is not
prepared for building external kernel modules.
Most Linux distributions can be set up simply by installing the right packages -
normally, these will be the GNU compiler (GCC), GNU Make (make) and packages
containing header files for your kernel - and making sure that all system
updates are installed and that the system is running the most up-to-date kernel
included in the distribution. The version numbers of the header file packages must
be the same as that of the kernel you are using.
• ...
• ...
• On Fedora and Redhat systems, the package is kernel-devel.
• ...

HTH

[richard_bowden]

I am running a kernel built specifically for this setup with a few patches. In particular we have SMP turned off in the kernel and the error shown in dmesg does appear to relate to wanting some SMP support. I am finding it hard to believe that VirtualBox requires SMP support from the kernel but does anyone know whether this is the case?

Richard

[fixedwheel]

I am running a kernel built specifically for this setup with a few patches.

i have compiled kernels for my debian hosts, the debian way from source in e.g. /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.18 ... after compilation left everything there and /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup found the source and compiled with no error

hard to believe that VirtualBox requires SMP support from the kernel but does anyone know whether this is the case?

that should be no problem: i disabled SMP on my single-core non hyperthreading machines