Critical error - Ubuntu gets stuck and crashes

[quee0849]

I'm having trouble running ubuntu as the guest OS under Vista. I did a test 4GB install of Ubuntu - everything worked fine, so I repartitioned my HD (using gparted) to make room for a larger ubuntu install. Vista broke after this and I needed to enter the windows disk to fix this; everything seemed to be fine after this. Now I have tried at least 5 times to install a larger 8GB or 15GB ubuntu guest OS, under various options. Every time, after a certain, seemingly random amount of time, the ubuntu system gets stuck and I have a critical error message from the mediation guru. I have attached an example of the log file. The crash usually happens when I am going back and forth between windows apps (usually firefox or outlook) and virtual box. I have tried defragmenting the windows HD, scan disk, reinstalling virtual box, but get the same problem. Strangely, the initial 4GB install of ubuntu seems to not have this problem.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Apologies for the zip file (the log file was 129KB, and thus too big to be uploaded)

[Perryg]

You can not give more than 50% of the available memory to the guest.

Your log file states.
Host RAM: 2805MB RAM, available: 1347MB
RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2147483648)

Set the memory to no more than 512 meg and it should work for you.

[quee0849]

Sorry - this post belongs in Linux hosts.

[quee0849]

I actually have 8GB of RAM. And I set the original 4GB install of ubuntu to have 2GB of RAM and have no problems.

[dmcgraw]

Is you host Vista or Vista64?

[quee0849]

It's Vista (32bit version)

[Perryg]

Are you sure this is a vista host and ubuntu guest as your profile states?
It looks to me like it is the other way around.

[dmcgraw]

It's Vista (32bit version)

Vista 32bit will not see 8GB of RAM on a machine.

[Perryg]

Here is the top part of the log file you sent. It shows that you are running Vista host and Ubuntu as guest and that you only have 2805 MB ram, and 1347 Available. It also shows that you are assigning (2,147,483,648 ) Approx 2 gig of memory which is almost all of you RAM and that will not work. If you are saying that you have 8 gig in a vista x86 host you are either wasting the memory or this is the wrong log file.

Code: Select all

00:00:03.525 VirtualBox 3.0.4 r50677 win.x86 (Aug  5 2009 15:15:11) release log
00:00:03.525 Log opened 2009-08-27T15:27:50.512507900Z
00:00:03.525 OS Product: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
00:00:03.525 OS Release: 6.0.6001
00:00:03.525 OS Service Pack: 1
00:00:03.525 Host RAM: 2805MB RAM, available: 1347MB
00:00:03.525 Executable: C:\PROGRA~1\Sun\XVMVIR~1\VirtualBox.exe
00:00:03.525 Process ID: 2528
00:00:03.525 Package type: WINDOWS_32BITS_GENERIC
00:00:03.554 SUP: Loaded VMMR0.r0 (C:\PROGRA~1\Sun\XVMVIR~1/VMMR0.r0) at 0x85ef9060 - ModuleInit at 0000000085f09be0 and ModuleTerm at 0000000085f09c50
00:00:03.554 SUP: VMMR0EntryEx located at 0000000085f0a810, VMMR0EntryFast at 0000000085f09db0 and VMMR0EntryInt at 0000000085f09da0
00:00:03.555 SUP: windbg> .reload /f C:\PROGRA~1\Sun\XVMVIR~1/VMMR0.r0=0x85ef9060
00:00:03.659 VBoxSharedClipboard mode: Bidirectional
00:00:03.738 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_VENDOR:   Intel
00:00:03.738 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_RENDERER: Intel Bear Lake B
00:00:03.738 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_VERSION:  1.4.0 - Build 7.15.10.1666
00:00:03.738 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_EXTENSIONS: GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_cull_vertex GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_NV_blend_square GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_window_pos GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_WIN_swap_hint 
00:00:03.740 Shared crOpenGL service loaded.
00:00:03.825 ************************* CFGM dump *************************
00:00:03.825 pRoot=035e52a0:{/}
00:00:03.826 [/] (level 0)
00:00:03.826   Name               <string>  = "ubuntu2" (cch=8)
00:00:03.826   UUID               <bytes>   = "61 37 b3 53 fd 06 b8 4b 83 63 87 37 98 43 74 5b" (cb=16)
00:00:03.826   RamSize            <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2147483648)

[quee0849]

Thanks for your message. This is the correct log file. The system with 8GB of RAM is a dual boot system with ubuntu 64 and Vista Ultimate(32 bit). I have just discovered virtualbox and was hoping to just use vista and ubuntu from within virtualbox. Perhaps Vista (32) only uses 2GB of RAM - is this correct?
In any case, I dont see how this is what's causing the problem since I can run my original 4GB installation of ubuntu under virtualbox, with 2GB of memory assigned to ubuntu, without any problems.

[quee0849]

If you like I can try and reproduce the crash when only assigning 512MB of RAM, and post the log?

[Perryg]

Thanks for your message. This is the correct log file. The system with 8GB of RAM is a dual boot system with ubuntu 64 and Vista Ultimate(32 bit). I have just discovered virtualbox and was hoping to just use vista and ubuntu from within virtualbox. Perhaps Vista (32) only uses 2GB of RAM - is this correct?
In any case, I dont see how this is what's causing the problem since I can run my original 4GB installation of ubuntu under virtualbox, with 2GB of memory assigned to ubuntu, without any problems.

Well that explains it all.
In the dual boot the 32 bit version is restricted to 4 gig or RAM (Windows thing) and at the most you will have 3200 Meg to use. The part of the log that I sent then makes total sense.
This line at the bottom tells you the reason. (VERR_NO_MEMORY (-8) - Memory allocation failed).
You should be able to install using 512 Meg and you should try. Also is the Ubuntu 32 bit or 64 bit? If it is 64 bit you must have VT-x/AMD-v turned on in the bios, or use the 32 bit version.

[quee0849]

Thanks again for your help. It is Ubuntu 32 bit. I will try again with only 512MB RAM when I get home tonight.

[quee0849]

You're right - I dont get a crash with only 512MB RAM. Out of interest, does it make sense to you why the original small install of ubuntu never crashed when I assigned it 2GB RAM?
Thanks very much indeed for your help - you saved me a lot of time.
Also- is 512MB an absolute upper limit?

[Perryg]

From reading the log file it states that you only have 1347 available. That means that you can assign 1/2 of that or 673. What I find interesting is that the host only sees the 1347 instead of the 3200 it should be seeing. If you can figure that out then you can assign more. I have several Linux Server (LAMP) VMs running at the same time and assign 256 meg to them each one is a desktop running seamless. Linux does not need as much to operate as Windows does so the 512 should be adequate.