virtualbox.org

Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to get the folding@home (FAH) SMP client to work through Virtualbox. FAH has a SMP client with a parameter called -bigadv used for running extra large work units. The memory usage is fairly high with this client at around 3.5GB. The problem I have been running into is that when running these extra large units, the client or virtual system will crash within the first few seconds to minutes. The crash is generally one of the following: segfault, page_fault, virtual OS freeze, or the virtual machine itself would crash.

In the case where Virtualbox crashed, I received a notice that a critical error occurred and that it was recommended to close down the virtual machine. I had the options of Ok and Ignore and selected Ok where the virtual machine then closed down. I grabbed a copy of the Virtualbox log when this happened which can be found here:

Virtualbox Log

This is a copy of the log when the virtual system became unresponsive and I had to manually power down:

Virtualbox Log

A screenshot of a crash in Linux:

Crash Screenshot

This is my configuration:

CPU: Core i7 920 - HT enabled (8 Virtual CPUs)
Memory: 6GB
Host OS: XP x64 SP2
Virtual OS: Slackware64 13.0

Kernel: Tested with a variety of kernels ranging from 2.6.29 - 2.6.32-rc5 and numerous different configurations with the same crash in each case. I also tested with Timer frequencies in the kernel ranging from 100 to 1000 Hz.

Virtualbox 3.0.8 Additions: Installed and loaded

Virtualbox 3.0.8 Configuration:
OS Type: Linux 2.6 (64-bit)
Base Memory: 4200 MB
Processor(s): 8
VT-x/AMD-V: Enabled
Nested Paging: Enabled (Tried disabled also)


My Windows system uses less than 500 MB of RAM on average aside from VM so the 4200 MB allocation has not been in an issue.

The folding client runs with 8-threads. I am able to get the regular sized units to run stable with 8-threads. Memory usage is around 512MB with these units. The failure only occurs with the extra large units which have much higher memory usage. I have tested the same kernels, OS config, and FAH client in a native Linux configuration and FAH bigadv runs stable there, just not in VM through Virtualbox.

Any help would be appreciated and let me know if you need any other info. Thanks.

Host RAM: 6134MB RAM, available: 5062MB
RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000106800000 (4,404,019,200)

It appears that you are setting the RAM a little high probably causing the host to loose it. While you can go above the 50% barrier in the 64bit version it usually (IMHO) causes these problems.
I also see the: I would try setting the memory down a bit and if that does not help then you should create a ticket at bugtracker on this. Link is below my post. Be sure to include this information as well as the logfile.

Perryg wrote:I would try setting the memory down a bit and if that does not help then you should create a ticket at bugtracker on this. Link is below my post. Be sure to include this information as well as the logfile.

Thank you for the reply and suggestion. I did try setting less memory usage via the virtual machine today but unfortunately the crash still occurred. I went ahead and opened up a ticket via the tracker and provided the necessary info. Thanks again.