modprobe vboxdrv failed, nmi_watchdog=0 not working

[ctflora]

I've been trying to install VirtualBox with no luck so far. I've read through the forums, and can't seem to find anyone with this problem, and I'm hoping someone can help me out.

I tried installing the VBox 3.0 from the 'VirtualBox-3.0.0-49315-Linux_x86.run' package. Everything seemed to work right, but when I ran it, I could make a VM, but not start it. I started hunting through the forums and saw that I should add 'nmi_watchdog=0' to the boot options in grub, so I did that, thinking I was a pretty smart fella. Unfortunately, that didn't work either.

Looking at dmesg:

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$ dmesg | grep nmi
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-2-generic root=UUID=4bff55a4-2798-40d9-ad57-9799a026098e ro splash nmi_watchdog=0

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$ dmesg | grep NMI
[    0.000000] ACPI: LAPIC_NMI (acpi_id[0x01] high edge lint[0x1])
[    0.000000] ACPI: LAPIC_NMI (acpi_id[0x02] high edge lint[0x1])

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$ dmesg | grep vbox
[  221.422515] vboxdrv: Trying to deactivate the NMI watchdog permanently...
[  221.422519] vboxdrv: NMI watchdog either active or at least initialized. Please disable the NMI
[  221.422521] vboxdrv: watchdog by specifying 'nmi_watchdog=0' at kernel command line.

I'd be happy to try absolutely anything at this point. If you need any more information, I'd be happy to provide it.

Thanks!

[Perryg]

I have never had to add anything like watchdog to get VBox installed in any Linux Distro that I have.
There are 3 Ubuntu (your profile says Ubuntu other) packages and they all end in .deb Any reason yours ends in .run?
"http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualb ... y_i386.deb"

You need to make sure that you prep you system for building Modules by installing kernel headers ( all of this can be found here You can find the answer here: VirtualBox FAQ ).
After that you need to be sure to add your login to the vbox users group.

[ctflora]

Any reason yours ends in .run?

Well, that's just the last package I tried. I first tried using the packages I found in Synaptic, which were the 2.2.4 OSE, and had this same problem. I figured before I posted I should try the latest versions. I'm using Karmic Koala, so none of the .deb's for 3.0 worked. That's why I used the 'other' distribution. Incidentally, I did try the Jaunty .deb, and it gave the same result as this one. I have also compiled it from the source, and definitely had all the packages it needed; the compile went without a hitch, but I got the same problem with vboxdrv. I've seen on the net where other people with Karmic install VBox 3.0 successfully.

Also, I'm getting some weirdness with the vbox group issue. I added the group in Kuser (the kde user manager), but it's not showing when I type 'id' on the command line. ?

[Perryg]

Maybe but this is an alpha. I need to play with it a bit to see what it takes. More when I have time.

By the way it would have been nice to know this on the get go.

[ctflora]

Maybe but this is an alpha. I need to play with it a bit to see what it takes. More when I have time.

By the way it would have been nice to know this on the get go.

D: Sorry about that! I'm more than willing to install Jaunty on here and see if that works. Well, tomorrow, at least....

[Perryg]

OK,
I have Karmic Koala installed and it went really smooth. All prep modules were included in the version that I downloaded so I did not need to install build or headers.
While I installed this as a guest (not brave enough to run an alpha that will not be released until Oct. of this year as primary) it should run out-of-the box. I did see a few errors during the apt upgrade but that is normal with alpha software. I am still concerned that the deb packages did not work for you because they are standard Debian packages that Ubuntu is actually based off of.

Oh well I think that the real question and answer should come from the Ubuntu people on this one.

You might want to book mark the link below since it is more closely related to what you are doing.
Karmic Koala Testing and Discussion

[ctflora]

OK, I just installed Jaunty on this machine, and VBox-3.0 is working just fine. I'm going to keep playing with Karmic to see if I can find the issue.

[mikhmv]

ctflora:
You are not along. I have absolutely same problem. But in my case sometimes after restart It is work, sometimes not.
what I found that reinstall in virtualbox from synaptic sometimes help to start virtualbox on next reboot. But after one more reboot it is stop work.

Now I have this:

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dmesg | grep watchdog
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-3-generic root=UUID=b086dc0d-0fe7-4487-855b-494761765ca7 ro quiet acpi_osi=Linux nosplash [b]nmi_watchdog=0[/b]
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-3-generic root=UUID=b086dc0d-0fe7-4487-855b-494761765ca7 ro quiet acpi_osi=Linux nosplash[b] nmi_watchdog=0[/b]
[   14.459621] vboxdrv: Trying to deactivate the NMI watchdog permanently...
[   14.459625] vboxdrv: NMI watchdog either active or at least initialized. Please disable the NMI
[   14.459626] vboxdrv: watchdog by specifying 'nmi_watchdog=0' at kernel command line. 

But probably it is kernel bug. Does anybody know how to check is watchdog active?

Thanks

[mikhmv]

here thread about this bug: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1209319
and https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/399732

[mikhmv]

Look like this bug can be fixed by virtualbox.
checking NMI could be done (in linux) by command:

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 cat /proc/interrupts | grep NMI

in my case results:

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NMI:          0          0   Non-maskable interrupts

All 0 mean that NMI was initialized (because it present) but it is inactive.
This could be fixed by 2 ways:
First) Ask developers linux kernel to remove creation NMI records if NMI is inactive.
Second) Virtualbox developers could check value and if it is 0 assume than NMI is inactive.

I think Virtualbox now just check presence/absence of record for NMI.
Can team to fix it?