[Solved] VM hangs if I leave it alone

[ReyJavikVI]

I have a Xubuntu guest that has to run a particularly long task. Trouble is, if it doesn't receive input of any kind (keyboard, mouse) for 10 or so minutes, it will hang. First it will cover its entire screen with the Xubuntu light blue background, like a screensaver, but it doesn't respond to anything. A couple of minutes later, it will turn entirely black, and I have to reset it. How can I avoid this?

The machine is running Xubuntu 9.04. The task is the compilation of GCC 4.3.2 (just running make).

[Perryg]

Turn off the screen saver and any power settings in the guest.

[ReyJavikVI]

It's still happening. I'll try using one of the text-only terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F1-6).

[Perryg]

Could you share with us the amount of memory the host has and the amount that you have given the guest?

[ReyJavikVI]

Host has 2 GB, guest 512 MB.

[Perryg]

Funny thing about compiling. It takes a lot of resources, and VBox will use the memory to its fullest .
Can you try to bump up the memory to 768 Meg and see if it (a) helps or (b) takes longer to stall out.

[ReyJavikVI]

It hangs at the same spot. The command it's running is "rm -fr .libs/libgmp.lax". It's weird, since I halted the compilation and checked, and that directory is empty.

[ReyJavikVI]

Well, that's great. I can't even untar the gcc source package without it hanging. I even gave it 800 MB, but nothing helped. Do you think it could be Xubuntu's fault?

[Perryg]

A lot of the time is is traced to the guest and sometime just settings.
You need to look at the VBox log file when this happens and see if it gives you any indication as to why it fails.
I do have Xubuntu and it appears to run fine on my system, but as you know all systems are not created equally.

If you like you can post your log file here and we can take a look (PLEASE remember to put the file in a code block, it get really long). You can copy the last log entry from the VBox program GUI by clicking Machine -> show logs. We just need the newest one (1)

[ReyJavikVI]

I managed to extract the thing, but it still hanged during compilation. Here's the log:

[vbox4me2]

Are you using anything exotic like shared folders or usb?

[Perryg]

I looked over you log file and nothing just jumps out and hits me in the face.
I do see that you are (or at least it is on) using USB, and it appears that you have about 8 to 10 snapshots.
I would suggest first that you try to turn off USB and see if that is the problem.
Also you are using NAT with the PCnet driver and there has been a problem with that for some users. Switching to the IntelPro/1000 T server may help with that.
Then try to see if you can do something with the snapshots. I don't know for sure that it will cause a problem or not but something to look into.
Oh and do you really have a tftp server running? It shows in the log file? Something else to turn off and see if it helps.
Just do one thing at a time so you can see what it is/was that caused you to have this issue.

[ReyJavikVI]

I am indeed using shared folders, but I can move its contents to the guest's filesystem if it can help.

I'll try disabling USB and chaning the NAT thing. And I have no idea about the tftp server, it must have been installed by Xubuntu or something. I don't even know what TFTP is.

Thanks for your tips.

[ReyJavikVI]

I disabled shared folders and USB, and changed the network thing, and it worked. Thank you so much.

[Perryg]

Great!

Now you should try to turn them back on one at a time and see if continues to operate. When you find the one that makes it fail you will know, and then not use it.
I think it may have been the Virtual Network Adapter, but USB has been a thorn in my back side for a long time.