High CPU usage on Vista Guest

[joek]

Hello,

I am running Vista under VirtualBox 3.1.4 r57640 (from the virtualbox repositories) on an Ubuntu Karmic host (all 32 bit). Since I upgraded, taskmanager on the guest shows CPU usage that hardly goes below 30% and is most often at 98-100% with almost all of that time being in the kernel (with no actual programs running). At first I thought that this was something to do with settings I had changed / software I had installed, but the problem still occurs even when I try to run from old snapshots that used to work fine. It does seem that sometimes if I pause the virtual machine then things get better, but it's hard to tell as the problem comes and goes anyway. The problem persists in safe mode, and with only one guest CPU and no 3D / 2D acceleration.

I've looked around the forums and the bug tracker, but can't find anything that looks exactly the same Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this. or have any tips on diagnosing the problem? Otherwise I guess I am stuck switching stuff off until I can get something that works.

Thanks,

Joe

[Perryg]

Are you using NAT? Try Bridged if you have a router.
Try switching off the firewall on both and see if it is causing the problem.
Post the guest log file (as an attachment)

[joek]

I have just tried disabling everything except for dual CPU (so no networking at all) and the problem still occurs. One of the earlier snapshots I tried is set up for single CPU and still has the problem so I doubt it is the multicore that is causing the problem (although I will try with 1CPU just to be sure). I also uninstalled the guest additions (which does not seem to help either).

I've attached the log file.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help, it is very much appreciated!

Joe

[joek]

Just to clarify - by "switching everything off" I mean disabling features in virtualbox, not disabling services on the guest (which is what I'll try next).

Joe

[Perryg]

I have a few suggestion for you to try, but the main problem may be the overhead of running an SMP guest on a 32 bit host. Anyway do these and let me know if it changes anything.

Drop the RAM to 1.5GB
Drop vRam to 32MB

[joek]

I went back to my earliest snapshot before I had tried fiddling around with settings etc. I also dropped the vram to 32MB and switched off just about everything. I am still seeing CPU of 100% with around 98% kernel time, but this settles down to around 30% (28% kernel time). This still seems high to me but I can't be 100% sure as I can't roll back to 3.0 to see what I used to get. I am guessing that I should be getting ~2% CPU usage on idle like I would on a normal box.

I've attached the log for the "simple" machine.

Joe

[joek]

Reducing the vram _seems_ to have helped (I'd to try a few cycles enabling and disabling it to be sure).

Certainly I can now get on to the machine and copy files off it (previously it was taking minutes just to bring up explorer - never mind to actually change to a directory).

I'm going to try building a new Windows 7 box to see if that fares any better...

Joe

[lorry]

Hi,
I have encountered also a similar problem since I updated to exactly this newest version 3.1.4. Before this wasn't a problem. Performance was very stable.
Difference to your setting: My guest is Windows-XP SP1.

I need it only for printing with a very old java applet. Starting is no problem, but when using IE 6.0 suddenly it gets extremly slow and one of my processors is at 100% on Host and on Guest system. There is almost nothing else installed on this virtual system. I have not changed any settings.

I think something has changed for the new version and this brings the problem.

What should I do? Shall I write a bug report?

[lorry]

Hi again,

I have solved my problem:
I didn't install the newest guest-add ins. Now I have done it and after reboot (without reboot the symptoms was still seen) it works well

Lorry

[joek]

I have now installed Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit as host and tried to run the Vista VM. I still get ~100% cpu (mostly kernel time), so it isn't "dual proc on a 32 bit host" that is causing the problem.

I have also now installed Windows 7 as a fresh install (64 bit, all accelerations on and dual proc with 128Mb graphics and ~2GB ram) and that seems to be behaving itself (so far), so I don't know what is going on. If the Windows 7 system suddenly breaks I'll update this thread...

Joe

[Perryg]

@joek,

The problem you are having is due to the host kernel and its inability to handle SMP.
See this ticket. http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/5501
You can replace the kernel with 2.6.32.X from here http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... v2.6.32.9/ and it will fix your problem.
Read the next to last entry of the ticket for install instructions.

[joek]

I don't fully understand as I was seeing the problem both with and without SMP enabled on the guest - but using the custom kernel does seem to have solved the problem, so thanks!

Joe

[Vlatko]

Hi

I'm having a problem with CPU usage but only under a certain "circumstances".

Host: Ubuntu Lucid
Guest: XP SP3
VB : 3.2.8

I have a very, very old card game, MahJongg, that, on winning, shows all the cards all over the screen, very quickly. When I win, MahJongg starts to show the cards, both CPUs go to 100%, whole VM window becomes dark (you can see what's on the screen, but it's black and white) and stops responding. VM system menu is not accessible.

When I start VB GUI, it shows, but very soon it also becomes dark.

In the VM programs work, MahJongg is showing cards, I can even hear an email received, etc.

The only way out is the force kill.

All that (the VM and its programs) is working nicely on Vista host.

EDIT:
The same thing on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) and VB 3.2.10

EDIT 2:
<SOLVED> On Lucid ATI drivers were not working and 2D acceleration was disabled. In Maverick ATI drivers work, I turned on 2D acceleration and problem disappeared.


Best regards,

vlatko