Ubuntu 9.04, VB 3.0.2, XP guest - High CPU Usage w/ Firefox

[endofnow]

I recently started noticing a problem with VirtualBox and high CPU usage.

I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 as the host and have Virtualbox 3.0.2. The guest is Windows XP SP3 with the 3.0.2 Guest Additions.

When I don't have any programs open, the CPU usage of both the guest and the host are minimal (as you would expect.) When I open Firefox 3.5.1 on the guest the CPU usage of the Virtualbox process jumps to about 50% (Dual Core - 1 core = 100%) The odd thing is that the CPU usage of the guest OS doesn't spike but stays around 2-7%.

Does anyone have any idea why this might be? I've uninstalled FF on the guest and it still is the same.

Ryan

[vbox4me2]

Make another VM and let it run idle next to your xp vm.

[endofnow]

hmm, so I did that and it seems to have solved the problem. Any idea why?

Ryan

[vbox4me2]

Known bug in the scheduler, still needs to be fixed.

[endofnow]

Thanks, any chance you could share the bug ID. I did a little searching and can't seem to find it.

[vbox4me2]

Can't find it either at the moment, I've seen a comment from Sun about this but can't locate it.

[rotvel]

i can confirm the issue and solution

Host: Windows 2003 on Athlon X2 cpu

Guest: Also Windows 2003, 1 CPU, APIC-IO

Host is almost maxing out one core while guest is idle with a couple of open programs.

Adding a second do-nothing guest (Windows 2000, 1 CPU, APIC-IO) and running both at the same time solves the problem.

Regards

/M

[togume]

Confirming issue with 3.0.2.

Host: Ubuntu 9.04
VM: Win Xp|Win7

Problem recreated when Firefox (3.5+) is opened to a page with heavy JS (gmail, evite, etc).

Trying 3.0.4 and fix.

_____________________
Update: Upgraded to 3.0.4 problem persists. Installed Ubuntu server on the side, and running idle. Confirm temporary workaround.

What's the bug/case # so we can make noise about it?

_____________________
Update: Opened up a new ticket for this issue under 3.0.4:
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/4762

[togume]

Bump? Thoughts?