VB 2.2 crashes after three or four starts

[donkaron]

A report of my experience:

Yesterday I upgraded my Ubuntu 8.10 64 bit laptop to VirtualBox 2.2, upgrade went smoothly and VB seems to be running fine, no crashes, no problems.

So I decided 2.2 was trustworthy and upgraded my desktop machine (Intel Dual core 3.0 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Ubuntu 8.10 64 bit). It ran fine for three or four restarts and then crashed, wouldn't start, I couldn't figure out how to roll back to 2.1.4. So, I tried all I could think of, failed, then decided to re-install 2.2 after deleting all the VirtualBox data. It ran fine for three or four re-starts (while I was reinstalling all the XP stuff) then crashed and wouldn't restart. Error message, which I didn't write down, stated some type of COM error.

I then tried to re-install 2.1.4 which wouldn't install. I deleted everything related to VB and then was able to re-install 2.1.4. So far it is running w/o a burp (2.1.4 has always been perfectly stable on that machine) but I am reluctant to try 2.2 again. Of course, on the laptop 2.2 is just fine. I plan to sit tight for a while before going through this process again. I have no idea why VB 2.2 is fine and healthy on one of my machines and unstable on the other.

[BassKozz]

Sounds Familiar: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16451


Can you elaborate on how you ended up getting 2.1.4 running again?

I deleted everything related to VB and then was able to re-install 2.1.4.

Did you have to delete your VM(s)?
I am trying to revert back to 2.1.4, but I don't want to delete my VM(s).

[donkaron]

I uninstalled with the commands sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-2.2
sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-2.1

Then I deleted the hidden folder /home/don/.VirtualBox
I believe this folder has all the configuration info as well as (alas!) all the data and programs on my virtual disk.

I then removed my name from the group of VirtualBox users. (I forget the file name but you edit it when you install VirtualBox. I found the name on a Google search.)

Then re-installed with sudo apt-get install virtualbox-2.1

Added my name to the group of VB users and all was working. Then I spent the afternoon rebuilding everything. While it was educational I would rather not have had to do the work. More sophisticated users than me probably could have figured out a way to recover from the crash I had but I could not.

Don

[BassKozz]

Thanks don,

I was able to get my VMs back w/out having to recreate them thanks to ColdCanuk's post here: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 409#p69403

-BassKozz