virtualbox.org

I built an Ubuntu 8.04 VM in VirtualBox 3.0.6 on a Windows 7 host (Toshiba Core2Duo laptop), it's working perfectly.

I exported the appliance to a USB drive, imported it onto a Windows Vista Sony Core2Duo laptop with the same VB version, and it works perfectly.

I imported the same appliance (same VB version) onto a Windows XP Dell Athlon 64bit (32bit OS installed) laptop, and when Ubuntu reaches the "Starting Up" line, the laptop resets itself. No blue screen, no errors. (I tried this on 2 laptops configured exactly the same way, so it's not a bad hardware issue)

I tried a Windows XP VM, and on that one once the machine passes POST, it locks up (the host system) and I have to do a hard reset.

The issue is very similar to this: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/361 except the error occurs on an imported, fully functional VM, not during an install.

That ticket says the very similar issue was fixed, but it doesn't say how or what might have caused it. I have no special behaivior turned on in any of the VMs... basically the defaults of a new machine.

I want to try to figure out what's causing the error, rather than rebuild the virtual machine from scratch if possible. Any help would be much appreciated.

Please add a comment here: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/4988

I need the exact Dell machine model, BIOS revision and VBox.log of a session without AMD-V (will tell me the exact AMD cpu model you have). You may want to try to find a BIOS update first. Thanks.

I'll do that when I come back into the office tomorrow morning, as that's where the Dell is. I just noticed I'm not using the newest version of VBox, and I do know that it is a Dell D531, and that the BIOS has not been updated since it was taken out of the box (the location where the dells are does not have internet). Would you prefer I post the information as-is, or do you recommend I update VBox and the BIOS and then post the information (assuming the problem remains)? Not sure which would help you guys more in fixing the bug or creating a workaround.

Thanks for your prompt response!

EDIT: Also, where do I disable AMD-V at? I don't recall seeing it in the VB VM settings, so I assume it's in the BIOS, but before I go changing BIOS CPU flags, I'd like a confirmation lol.

I updated VBox to 3.0.10, and updated the BIOS to A08 (latest revision). The D531 is model PP04X. From what I could find, Dell calls AMD-V "Virtulization" in the BIOS, and I turned it off. The problem persisted. When I was looking at the log before posting it to the ticket though, I noticed this:

00:00:03.126 HWACCM: AMD-V revision = 1
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: AMD-V max ASID = 64
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: AMD-V features = 2
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: AMD_CPUID_SVM_FEATURE_EDX_LBR_VIRT
00:00:03.126 CPUMSetGuestCpuIdFeature: Enabled sysenter/exit
00:00:03.126 CPUMSetGuestCpuIdFeature: Enabled syscall/ret
00:00:03.126 CPUMSetGuestCpuIdFeature: Enabled RDTSCP.
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: 32-bit guest supported.
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: TPR Patching disabled.
00:00:03.126 HWACCM: VT-x/AMD-V init method: LOCAL

If I'm reading this right (and I'm probably not) it doesn't look like AMD-V got turned off?

That's right. The log shows it's in use. You can turn it off for the VM as well though. Could you update the above defect with this information? I'm in the process of gathering information for AMD to see what's going on.

Sure... while I do that, where in the VM do I turn it off?

See the system section in the VM settings; acceleration tab.

Found it, turned it off, and the VM boots successfully. Thanks very much for your help, and let me know if I can provide any other information to help you guys out with this bug =)