virtualbox.org

i first noticed that when i would try to load some programs it seemed like they would crash apon loading. not everything was doing this. so i restarted the vm and now when it comes up to the login screen it like i don't know how to describe it keeps loading itself and won't let me type anything. you know the sound linux makes when it comes to the logon screen well it keeps playing that sound over and over and the screen comes on and off. i am using ubuntu 9.0.4 on windows 7.

It sounds like your login manager crashes and restarts itself. Maybe there is an error in your xorg.conf or something else that is causing this. Boot the Guest in recovery mode and check the log files in /var/log. Xorg.0.log for example can have some useful information on what happens.

how do i boot in recovery mode?

When the VM boots, you should see a timer. Press Esc before the timer hits 0 and you will see a menu where you can select recovery mode.