Guest clock synch errors

autigr · Post by **autigr** » 2. Oct 2009, 16:05

I'm beta testing virtualbox 3.0.6 on a quad core Dell T300 server, host OS Windows server 2003 32-bit. I have hardware virtualization enabled in the host BIOS and the VM system configurations for both guests. I'm running two guests, both also Windows Server 2003, both with "real-time" applications (GUI for plant control system). I understood from the documentation that the guest clocks were synch'd up with the host OS clock, so I didn't think time stamping was going to be a problem. However, when I launch the guests I notice that one guest clock seems more or less synch'd to the host although it seems to drift both slow and fast by up to 15 seconds or so. When I launch the second guest it's clock rapidly falls behind the host, like up to 2 min loss in only 20 minutes of operation. Is there something I can do to correct this? I hate to abandon the VM concept but this is likely a deal breaker if I can't minimize time errors.

Post by **Perryg** » 2. Oct 2009, 16:14

Have you installed the guest additions?
When you first start the VMs they will start at the time that they were shut off at but if the guest additions are installed they should catch up fairly fast.

autigr · Post by **autigr** » 2. Oct 2009, 16:26

Yes, I have both guests running. Currently the 2nd guest VM (the one with the real lag problem) has been running for about 45 minutes and it's clock is already 3 minutes behind the host OS.

Post by **dmcgraw** » 2. Oct 2009, 16:41

autigr wrote:Yes, I have both guests running. Currently the 2nd guest VM (the one with the real lag problem) has been running for about 45 minutes and it's clock is already 3 minutes behind the host OS.

Please read Perry's question again. You did not answer it.

Do you have the Guest Additions installed in the VMs?

autigr · Post by **autigr** » 2. Oct 2009, 18:21

Oops. Obviously read it too fast. Yup, guest additions installed. I re-ran the guest addition install after upgrading from 3.0.5 to 3.0.6. Was that a mistake?

Post by **dmcgraw** » 2. Oct 2009, 18:23

autigr wrote:Oops. Obviously read it too fast. Yup, guest additions installed. I re-ran the guest addition install after upgrading from 3.0.5 to 3.0.6. Was that a mistake?

I don't know, I have never seen a version 3.0.5. What is that?

autigr · Post by **autigr** » 3. Oct 2009, 15:06

I upgraded from the previous virtualbox windows release. perhaps it was 3.0.4. Point being when I installed the upgrade I ran the guest additions install again. I don't know if that has any bearing on the clock issue or not but.

Post by **vbox4me2** » 3. Oct 2009, 15:08

Try the GA from 2.2.4, see FAQ's in my sig.

strys · Post by **strys** » 22. Oct 2009, 09:40

Hi,

Did you ever manage to find a solution to the time sync problem?

I have a similar problem. I run quite a few VB installations on different machines, all of them on Windows Host machines and never have any problems except on 1 machine, which makes me wonder if its hardware/bios related.

Guest machine will loose time, quite rapidly, like 5mins every hour.

Guest: Windows XP with Guest additions installed.
Host: Have tried Windows XP and Windows 7 on this same machine/hardware.
VB version: Currently running 3.0.8, but experienced the same problem with earlier versions on this same machine.

Any ideas??

Post by **Perryg** » 22. Oct 2009, 15:28

@strys
What does the time look like on the host of the setup that this is occurring on? Does it loose time as well?

trent1980 · Post by **trent1980** » 30. Oct 2009, 16:16

My guest is CentOS (2.6.18-164.el5) and the Host is Ubuntu 8.04.

The clock on my centOS guest loses 15 seconds on every minute. I installed the Guest Additions and it completed successfully but the clock sync hasn't changed at all.

Just wondering what steps I should take to find and resolve the issue.

Thanks,
Trent

rykasimba · Post by **rykasimba** » 4. Nov 2009, 14:59

Hi I am having the same issue. Ubuntu Host 9.10, Windows Guest xp - clock is very slow. I do have Guest Additions installed. Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks
Adrienne

Post by **Perryg** » 4. Nov 2009, 16:32

My experience with this is if you are seeing time shifts in the guest and the additions are installed you need to look at the Host time. Make sure that it is not drifting first.

trent1980 · Post by **trent1980** » 4. Nov 2009, 16:40

rykasimba --

I banged my head on my desk over this for the last 3 days. I even spent some time in the IRC chat (klaus tried to help -- thanks) but ultimately nobody helped me out.

I have no idea how to fix it but my Ubuntu (8.04) crashed yesterday ... had to physically power it down and back up. Since then, my VM's are sync'd with the correct time and my issues went away.

Try crashing your system and see if it helps you too.

(My host time never drifts and 4 of my 5 VM's held perfect time)

rykasimba · Post by **rykasimba** » 4. Nov 2009, 16:41

My host time is fine - just the windows host that is slow.

Adrienne

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Guest clock synch errors

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