virtualbox.org

I'm in a panic, as most of my VMs will no longer boot, and I need to be doing client work on them!

Today when I try to boot up any of stopped Ubuntu guests, the guest stops during the boot, or shortly after the login screen appears, and I get the "Guru Meditation" window. I've attached the error log below. From what I can tell, an assertion fails with this message:

00:01:27.423 Location : /Users/vbox/tinderbox/3.1-mac-rel/src/VBox/VMM/VMMAll/PGMAllPool.cpp(2406) int pgmPoolMonitorInsert(PGMPOOL*, PGMPOOLPAGE*)

but the thing is, I don't have a "/Users/vbox" folder at all!

NOTES:
1. My WinXP VMs work fine.
2. Ubuntu VMs that were in a SAVED state will still run, and if I shut them down and restart them, they still work.
3. The problem exists for Ubuntu 7.10 VMs and 8.10 VMs (the only ones I have).

I tried uninstalling, reinstall, and downgrading from 3.1.6 to 3.1.4 and 3.1.2 and got the same problems.

I didn't post the image, as it changes each time, and this last one was a black screen. I am posting my log here, but I got an error that it was too big, and I have no idea what's helpful, so I cut out some of it, but if you need to see part that is missing, just let me know, and I'll post it. Thanks for any ideas:

00:00:01.003 VirtualBox 3.1.2 r56127 darwin.x86 (Dec 17 2009 14:48:46) release log
00:00:01.003 Log opened 2010-04-02T20:28:36.308497000Z
00:00:01.003 OS Product: Darwin
00:00:01.003 OS Release: 9.8.0
00:00:01.003 OS Version: Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:55:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_I386
00:00:01.003 Host RAM: 2048MB RAM, available: 374MB
00:00:01.003 Executable: /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/../Resources/VirtualBoxVM.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBoxVM
00:00:01.003 Process ID: 68635
00:00:01.003 Package type: DARWIN_32BITS_GENERIC
00:00:01.026 SUP: Loaded VMMR0.r0 (/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VMMR0.r0) at 0x35df5060 - ModuleInit at 0000000035e089f0 and ModuleTerm at 0000000035e08a80
00:00:01.026 SUP: VMMR0EntryEx located at 0000000035e09860, VMMR0EntryFast at 0000000035e09990 and VMMR0EntryInt at 0000000035e08b10
00:00:01.151 VBoxSharedClipboard mode: Bidirectional
00:00:01.160 ************************* CFGM dump *************************
00:00:01.160 [/] (level 0)
00:00:01.160 CSAMEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 EnablePAE <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 HwVirtExtForced <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 Name <string> = "Jobchart Web Development" (cb=25)
00:00:01.160 NumCPUs <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 PATMEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 RamHoleSize <integer> = 0x0000000020000000 (536870912)
00:00:01.160 RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000040000000 (1073741824)
00:00:01.160 RawR0Enabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 RawR3Enabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:01.160 SyntheticCpu <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:01.160 TimerMillies <integer> = 0x000000000000000a (10)
00:00:01.160 UUID <bytes> = "a1 e6 0f 2b dd a6 aa 41 87 57 98 32 8c ef 73 b8" (cb=16)
00:00:01.160
00:00:01.160 [/Devices/] (level 1)
...
00:00:01.538 HWACCM: VMX setup failed with rc=VERR_VMX_IN_VMX_ROOT_MODE!
00:00:01.538 HWACCM: Last instruction error 0
00:00:01.550 VM: Halt method global1 (5)
00:00:01.550 Changing the VM state from 'CREATING' to 'CREATED'.
00:00:01.551 Changing the VM state from 'CREATED' to 'POWERING_ON'.
00:00:01.551 Changing the VM state from 'POWERING_ON' to 'RUNNING'.
00:00:01.569 Guest Log: BIOS: VirtualBox 3.1.2
00:01:22.836 NAT: IPv6 not supported
00:01:24.247 SharedFolders host service: connected, u32ClientID = 2
00:01:25.001 Guest Additions capability report: (0x4) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: yes
00:01:25.006 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=1a0f3000 w=1048 h=725 bpp=32 cbLine=0x1060
00:01:25.007 VBVA: Enabled.
00:01:25.007 Guest Additions capability report: (0x4) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: yes
00:01:25.055 VBVA: Disabled.
00:01:25.089 VBVA: Enabled.
00:01:25.090 Guest Additions capability report: (0x4) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: yes
00:01:25.091 VBVA: Disabled.
00:01:25.095 VBVA: Enabled.
00:01:27.423
00:01:27.423 !!Assertion Failed!!
00:01:27.423 Expression: RT_SUCCESS_NP(rc)
00:01:27.423 Location : /Users/vbox/tinderbox/3.1-mac-rel/src/VBox/VMM/VMMAll/PGMAllPool.cpp(2406) int pgmPoolMonitorInsert(PGMPOOL*, PGMPOOLPAGE*)
00:01:27.423 PGMHandlerPhysicalRegisterEx 00000000370da000 failed with -1701
00:01:28.424 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
00:01:28.424 !!
00:01:28.424 !! Guru Meditation 1103 (VINF_EM_DBG_HYPER_ASSERTION)
00:01:28.424 !!
00:01:28.452 !!Assertion Failed!!
00:01:28.452 Expression: RT_SUCCESS_NP(rc)
00:01:28.452 Location : /Users/vbox/tinderbox/3.1-mac-rel/src/VBox/VMM/VMMAll/PGMAllPool.cpp(2406) int pgmPoolMonitorInsert(PGMPOOL*, PGMPOOLPAGE*)
00:01:28.452 PGMHandlerPhysicalRegisterEx 00000000370da000 failed with -1701
00:01:28.452 !!
00:01:28.452 !! EIP=f97835b1 NOTRAP
00:01:28.452 !! EIP in VMMGC.gc (f9758000) at rva 2b5b1 near symbols:
00:01:28.452 !! f97833d0 rva 0002b3d0 off 000001e1 _Z20pgmPoolMonitorInsertP7PGMPOOLP11PGMPOOLPAGE
00:01:28.452 !! f97835c0 rva 0002b5c0 off -0000000f _Z20pgmPoolTrackFreeUserP7PGMPOOLP11PGMPOOLPAGEtj
00:01:28.452 !! fff8:f97835b1 90 nop
00:01:28.452 !!
00:01:28.452 !!
00:01:28.452 !!
00:01:28.452 Hypervisor CPUM state: se
<cut>
00:01:34.547 Changing the VM state from 'DESTROYING' to 'TERMINATED'.

You have to ask yourself what changed? Something had to from the last time it worked until now.
Think hard and post back exactly what it was and we might be able to help.

Also,
Do you use snapshots?
Can you try to install a new VM and does it work?

Short answer: Turn off the VT-X features and everything works.

Long answer:

Thanks for your comments, Perry. I did think hard about it and realized two things I did recently:

1. Upgraded to VirtualBox 3.1.6.
2. Migrated some of my work stuff to another machine, and after retracing my steps, I realized that I erased the .vbox "user" folder, as it appeared empty.

However, I've temporarily solved the problem: I noticed that the only Ubuntu VM that worked had the VT-X feature TURNED OFF. I unchecked the VT-X setting for all the other VMs and voila, it worked fine.

Is the .vbox folder related to the VT-X feature? Because I know that these VMs worked before I deleted that folder. I will check my Windows VMs and see if they use this setting too.

I'm on a Macbook, and I'm really curious now what the heck is going on. But at least my VMs are back up and running.

I am going to make a guess here (I don't use MACs) and that it must have had a symlink to the real location of something that VirtualBox needs.
You might repair this by re-installing VirtualBox. Hopefully it will see that you do not have the link and create it for you.