100% CPU Usage

[compuguru]

I currently have a Windows XP 32-bit VM that is running on a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit host. For some reason, the CPU in the VM is constantly pegged at 100%. I currently have it setup to use 2 cores of my Q6600 @ 3.00GHz, and in the device manager it shows 2 processors, but the task manager only shows 1 core. Not sure if this is related at all. When the VM CPU is at 100%, my Q6600 is nearly at 100% too. Any idea why this is happening? Do you need more information?

[Perryg]

Try setting the processors to (1) and see if this helps.
Since it is showing (1) processor in XP then you may not have the SMP kernel installed in XP.
You can search here for how to change this, but experience tells me it does not work well at all unless it is installed when you do the original install.
Example SMP on windows XP 32 bit site:forums.virtualbox.org

[musicmaster]

I'm having the exact same problem except on a Core2Duo 1.6GHz thinkpad.

Host is Win 7 Ultimate 64bit w 4G RAM with VB 3.1.2 r56127
Guest is XP pro 32bit SP3 with all updates: 1cpu 768M RAM. Guest additions installed.

Symptoms are guest starts to consume all CPU and host task manager shows the virtual box instance at 95% or higher cpu. Very little HD activity or network activity, looking at the LEDs on my laptop which are independent of the OS. This happens at various times seemingly without any particular cause. The only fix is to shut down the guest, sometimes by powering off. As soon as the guest process is gone, the host behaves normally.

Things that have caused the guest to go crazy:
1) Connecting a physical USB device while the guest is running, both full screen and regular mode.
2) Adjusting volume on the physical host while guest is playing a sound.
3) Restarting the machine after the machine state has been saved and powered off.
4) Just about anything else, seemingly random.

The only common denominator is that I've always had a browser open in the guest, sometimes IE, others Firefox.

[compuguru]

The only common denominator is that I've always had a browser open in the guest, sometimes IE, others Firefox.

That's interesting, after a little more experimenting I thought I fixed the problem, but after running FireFox for a bit it jumped back up to 100% too. I decided to do a fresh install in a new VM for the time being though, as it seems a little easier to deal with.

[compuguru]

Just wanted to make a note - installing the update I found here: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/5787 seems to have fixed the issue.