Ubuntu 10.04 guest does not refresh screen after login

[cheekybuddha]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone experienced this? I'm pretty new to VirtualBox.

Host: Win XP Pro SP3
Guest: Ubuntu 10.04
VirtualBox: VirtualBox-3.2.6-63112-Win.exe

I successfully created the Ubuntu guest, updated all, but was soon frustrated by the 800x600 screen size.
So I found out about Guest Additions and installed them according to the docs. I added an xorg.conf file according to the instructions in the sticky.

Now, when I fire up the guest I get the login screen as normal, in a nice window the size of my screen. But when I log in the desktop never appears. I have the sounds for a successful login and the desktop is there and active but not visible. My only option is to close the guest via the VirtualBox menu - at which point the Ubuntu desktop flashes up for a second before the guest closes!

All actions on the guest leave ghosts of whatever was in the screen space. Eg if I drop down the main VirtualBox menu it never disappears, or if I open another window on top of the guest the portion of that window that covered the guest remains when i minimise the window. I hope you can follow that!

However, if I roll back to the snapshot before installing Guest Additions everything is back to normal, I can log in, use Ubuntu - but only at 800x600!

Additional info:
Ubuntu 10.04 guest was created in VirtualBox 3.2.6 Beta 1
I originally installed the Guest Additions from VirtualBox 3.2.6 Beta 1
I found the 3.2.6 update and installed it without uninstalling 3.2.6 Beta 1
I installed the VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run from the 3.2.6 install on the pre-Additions snapshot of the image.

Any ideas about what I can do?

TIA

David Marten

[Perryg]

Go ahead and install the guest additions but DO NOT create or in anyway mess with the xorg.conf file.
Ubuntu 10.04 does not need it at all and this is what is causing your problems.

[cheekybuddha]

Thank you for your response.

This is actually what i did first and had the same result.

Anyway, just to double-check, I reverted to my my pre-Additions snapshot and installed them again.

Steps I took:

dm@dm-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for dm: 
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release.gpg
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Translation-en_GB
[snip] ..... [/snip]
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Done
dm@dm-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
dm@dm-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
dkms is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
dm@dm-laptop:~$ cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_3.2.6_63112/
dm@dm-laptop:/media/VBOXADDITIONS_3.2.6_63112$ sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run 
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 3.2.6 Guest Additions for Linux.........
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
tar: Record size = 8 blocks
Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules
Building the main Guest Additions module ...done.
Building the shared folder support module ...done.
Building the OpenGL support module ...done.
Doing non-kernel setup of the Guest Additions ...done.
Starting the VirtualBox Guest Additions ...done.
Installing the Window System drivers
Installing X.Org Server 1.7 modules ...done.
Setting up the Window System to use the Guest Additions ...done.
You may need to restart the hal service and the Window System (or just restart
the guest system) to enable the Guest Additions.

Installing graphics libraries and desktop services components ...done.

Unfortunately the result is the same.

However, I noticed that on reboot after installing the Guest Additions I get the following message before arriving at the login screen:

[   32.792009] piix4_smbus 0000:00:07.0: SMBus base address uninitialized - upgr
ade BIOS or use force_addr=0xaddr

Also, it takes over a minute to reach the login screen whereas it is near instantaneous with the pre-Additions snapshot.

TIA for any further advice.

David Marten

[Sasquatch]

You got one strange installation of Ubuntu 10.04. My VMs do not show any of your problems. I made a 'custom' Lubuntu install and one Netbook install, both boot fast and show the login screen seconds after I start the VM. After I log in, the desktop is shown and everything is visible.

The boot line about the BIOS upgrade is 'normal', I get the same and I do not have any issues whatsoever.

Check out /var/log/xorg.0.log, that should give us more information on what is going on. Also post your VM settings and your Host configuration (OS, hardware)

[cheekybuddha]

You got one strange installation of Ubuntu 10.04

That's what I thought!

Check out /var/log/xorg.0.log

This is easier said than done! I can drop to a shell (Host Key + F2) before logging on but then the xorg.0.log is empty! If I try to drop to the shell after logging on I have the same problem where the window resizes to the shell but the shell doesn't display, just ghosts of other windows/desktop. And obviously I can't get there through Gnome.

I managed to log in to Ubuntu by choosing 'Failsafe Gnome' in the boot options but then I have no ability to resize the screen again so I'm back to square one.

Host configuration:
Win XP Pro SP3 fully updated
Intel Core2Duo 1.83GHz
3.24GB RAM
Intel 945 graphics card

VM Settings:
General
Name: ubuntu lucid lynx
OS Type: Ubuntu

System
Base Memory: 1024 MB
Processor(s): 1
Boot Order: Floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, Hard Disk
VT-x/AMD-V: Enabled
Nested Paging: Enabled

Display
Video Memory: 128 MB
3D Acceleration: Enabled
2D Video Acceleration: Disabled
Remote Display Server: Disabled

Storage
IDE Controller
IDE Secondary Master (CD/DVD): Host Drive 'D:'
SATA Controller
SATA Port 0: ubuntu_lucid_lynx.vdi (Normal, 11.00 GB)

Audio
Host Driver: Windows DirectSound
Controller: ICH AC97

Network
Adapter 1: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (NAT)

Serial Ports
Disabled

USB
Device Filters: 0 (0 active)

Shared Folders
None


I have also found, but not that I can easily reproduce, that VirtualBox GUI crashes when I exit using Machine->Close... menu command, and brings up the Windows error reporter (Send to Microsoft etc). I can post the error report if it's any use.

I'm thinking I might just have a corrupt installation - I might just dump the VM and reinstall VirtualBox and start over unless you have any good suggestions/solutions.

TIA

d

[cheekybuddha]

Much frustration!

Even after uninstalling/reinstalling VirtualBox and creating a new Ubuntu 10.04 VM I am still experiencing the same issues after installing Guest Additions.

[Sasquatch]

I see the problem:

Intel 945 graphics card
...
3D Acceleration: Enabled

That card does not provide hardware accelerated OpenGL. VB needs that for 3D. Ditch 3D and you should have a happy VM.
You could have installed OpenSSH-server and connect to the VM through that after you logged on to X using the NAT port forwarding rule you would create to get it working. Ah well, We got the source of the problem with the specs and settings.

[cheekybuddha]

Sasquatch,

Sir, you have a keen eye and for that I am extremely grateful!

I am now replying to you via Ubuntu in full screen.

Thank you for taking the time to investigate this for me.

Regards,

David Marten