Host CPU (Pentium 4) too old for Ubuntu 2.6 kernel

[ehilts]

Using XP as the Host base system and Ubuntu 7.10 as the guest Everything went well until I got Ubuntu installed in VirtualBox and concluded the installation after which I booted Ubuntu and got the following message:

Starting up...
PANIC: CPU too old for this Kernel

It took me a while to figure out what had happenned.
The XP machine CPU is:
Dell Computer Corp
OpticPlex GX260
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU
2.391 MHx
2.00 GB RAM

There were no set up requirements regarding the hardware just a
reference to various MS operating systems. So, I don't know what the
minimal requirements should be only that Pentium 4 which runs ok on XP
won't work on the SUN VirtualBox to run Ubuntu 2.6 kernel.

This was very disturbing because I spent half the night installing
Ubuntu within the SUN VirtualBox.

Does anyone know what the minimal CPU requirements for XP used as the
base host system of the SUN VirtualBox-3.0.4-50677-Win.exe in order to
successfully operate Ubuntu kernel 2.6 on this base host system???

And has anyone had a similar situation occur.

Thanks in advance to anyone wishing to give me input.

Thanks -- Ted Hilts

[Perryg]

It may be more that the Ubuntu 7.10 is so far out of date that it is causing the problem.
Your PC will run Ubuntu if you keep the settings low. Download Ubuntu 8.04 or 9.04 and give that a shot.
Just remember that with 2 gig of host RAM not to give the guest more than 1 gig. Ubuntu runs just fine in 256 meg

By the way no cross posting Ted. I deleted your other post.
Please read the Forum Posting Guide.

[Sasquatch]

There was a user with a similar problem some time ago. Please Google for the error, and you'll find more Linux sites with the problem and how to solve it. There is a feature in your CPU that is missing, that even some older CPUs have, but just not your CPU family.

[ehilts]

Maybe I am missing the significance of the message. Correct me please if you think I am wrong.

First, the HOST system is XP running of a Pentium 4.
Second, the GUEST is a Ubuntu 7.10 installation into the virtual box.
Third, the message was about the HOST CPU being unable to work with the Linux Ubuntu 2.6 kernel.
Fourth, given the message "CPU too old for the Ubuntu 2.6 kernel"
Would not the above establish that the HOST -- Pentium 4 -- is at fault being unable to support the
GUEST Ubuntu kernel 2.6 micro code requirements?

Further, if the Ubuntu kernel 2.6 (being very much up to date) and the HOST Pentium 4 not so much up to date (as there are several Pentium advances all the way to 7 as I understand things) does it not then make more sense that the older micro code of the Pentium 4 does not provide for the more sophisticated micro code of the 2.6 Linux kernel???

In other words I think the culprit is the Pentium 4 HOST CPU and my problem is to determine what version of Pentium (if any) will provide a suitable HOST?

Please, if you still disagree with the logic let me know.

Thanks Ted.
PS: Sorry to all for cross posting -- it was not my intention -- I thought the first message got misplaced and I did not know what to do. It won't happen again. I just hope it is in the right place now as a Windows XP HOST based system.

[Sasquatch]

Like I said, your CPU is missing something. Burn the ISO to a rewritable cd or dvd and boot your PC with it, does it still boot Ubuntu 7.04? If it does, then VB doesn't pass on the needed CPU feature, but I doubt that. Now, if my memory serves me right, I believe Intel made a P4 serie without PAE support, and even though the VM should be able to boot without it (VB doesn't have it enabled by default for use inside the VM), it still seems to check for it and can see it on the Host. I would find it really strange if you base your findings that your CPU is too old to be supported by the 2.6 kernel, when I have a P3 800 MHz PC under my desk that can run the live CD of 7.04 and newer without problems.

[Perryg]

Actually I have done some checking and can not find a reason why it would not run on a pent4 processor per-say.
I do know that for Ubuntu server to install on VBox it takes PAE being enabled in the guest settings. Maybe that is what it is looking for here. Simply a thought.

[ehilts]

Could you guys take a look at:

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 220#p41492

which appears to me to be very much the same problem. My XP machine is a DELL with a Pentium 4 and I took all the defaults when installing VB onto this Pentium 4 XP HOST system for the Linux GUEST kernel 2.6 on the Ubuntu 7.10 GUEST install into the VB. Whatever the default was for the PAE (Physical Address Extension) then that is what applied. My thoughts are that the PAE has not been enabled.

Since I am a newbe when it comes to the SUN VB maybe you could explain how I go about setting the PAE (or verifying it is enabled). I also noticed that some FAQs were also advocating enabling of the DEP. And one was advocating a work around to replace the Linux kernel.

The big point here is not that I want the Windows XP HOST system. The big point is a want a Windows XP HOST system that will not only support the SUN VB but will do so gracefully without a problem. So, I am prepared to use a different Windows XP HOST system and associated hardware if that is what it takes so I can run Ubuntu as VB GUEST. In point of fact, I would like to run 2 or 3 Ubuntu VB GUESTS at the same time. This first effort of mine was simply to get some experience and I had this not so busy DELL machine with a Pentium 4 and so used it to build my first experimental SUN VB which turned into a CPU PANIC.

Thanks -- Ted

[Sasquatch]

That thread is about something else. The problem in that topic is that the VM requires PAE because the TS is trying to run a server kernel which demands that feature, and he didn't have it enabled in the VM settings.

On the Host, check the system properties. If you see something similar to this image, then your CPU does have PAE, else it doesn't.

Ripped the image from Google Images . If you don't have PAE, then that is probably the issue, you're missing some CPU instructions that come along with PAE.

I hope this will give you some insight on the problem too, it's not a VB problem.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/151942
More hits on the problem on Google:
http://www.google.com/search?client=ope ... 8&oe=utf-8

[ehilts]

Several things:

1, I don't have PAE enabled because you said it should show up in the form if I did have it enabled.

2. How do I go about enabling the PAE -- or -- Do I have to do the install all over again?

3. I guess our minds function much differently because I think the absence of the PAE (in that it is not automatically set up or at the very least a dialog provided with enough information regarding the value of enabling the PAE is the fault of the design of the SUN VB of VB settings. I know you disagree. But as I see it,anything "left out" that might be needed is automatically by "fait accomple" not the jurisdiction of the VB or VB setup which begs the question that it should be. The 2.6 kernel does not control the switch to enable the PAE rather it is some prior process upon which the kernel depends that needs to enable the PAE -- Am I right or wrong on this? Not only that but given the numerous FAQs that VB or kernel pre-install deficiency should have heralded a re-look at the GUI controlling the VB part of the installation.

4. Any way I need you or someone else to tell me what I need to do to get this thing working or come right out and tell me it won't work.

5. I liked your ripped form -- very professional. Thank you for going to that trouble for me. Maybe you could do the same for the solution. A picture is worth a thousand words -- we often understand what out eyes show us faster than a bunch of words and acronyms some of which may be new to us.

Thanks -- Ted

[Perryg]

Some reading seems to state that the Pent. 4 unless it is the "M" run has the PAE extension. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

Look in the guest settings of the VM. See Picture below. Put a check mark in the box and see if it will work. Honestly though unless this is a server version you should not need it. I have at least a dozen different Linux distros and the only ones that I had to turn PAE on was the Ubuntu server. Also are you sure that the version is 7.10 and not 9.10? I know that the Ubuntu Version 9.10 is an alpha version and it does have kernel problems because of the devel tag being turned on. I have been beta testing the 9.10 for a while and it is hit and miss if the kernel and updates will work, but that is what happens with beta builds.

[Sasquatch]

Did you check the Google search link I provided? That has some more information on why you get the error. As I stated before, PAE is not the feature you need, as that would give a different message. A CPU has more instruction features than PAE, there is also MMX, SSE, SSE2 etc. It's quite possible that your CPU is missing one of those features that the 2.6 kernel needs. The only way to get a definitive answer, is to burn the ISO you're booting the VM with to a CD or DVD (rewritable is advised, you can re-use it later for something else ) and boot your physical machine with it. If you get the same error message, then it's nothing we can do about, you have to upgrade your system.

[Don L]

I know this is an old thread, but at least I'll help those who stop by.

The problem is very likely that your CPU does not support hardware-assisted virtualization.
This was implemented as Intel's VT-x, or AMD's AMD-V.
Without this feature it
a) is not possible to run x64 virtual machines
and
b) may not be possible running x86 machines for certain hardware and software combinations.

For info on this, go to Wikipedia, search for x86_virtualization, see the section "hardware assist".

Regards,
Don L