[Fixed] Problem starting XP after removing guest additions

[broadstairs]

Because of problems I'm having using V4 I removed V4 Guest Additions from my XP guest, and then down levelled to V3.2.12. Now when I attempt to boot the guest I get the XP logo screen but after that it just gives me a balck screen, although I can see activity on the hard disk icon as the bottom of the screen and I hear the Windows Start sound OK. If I do an ACPI shutdown it closes OK. I've tried safe mode and vga mode using F8 on booting into XP but cannot get it to display anything. Obviously a video driver problem but I dont know what to do to fix it. I could re-install but since it does appear to be working OK just not displaying anything I'd like to resolve this if possible. Anyone any ideas? V3 is the PUEL version and its a Linux host if it matters.

Stuart

[Perryg]

Did you install the guest in 3.2.12 and then upgrade or did you install the guest in 4.0.*?

[broadstairs]

The guest was originally installed in V3 a while ago and since then I have upgraded several times up to V4 with additions each time. I then removed additions prior to downgrading to V4 at which point I would install additions from V3 if I could see what to do!

Stuart

[broadstairs]

If it would be of use I do have a log file of the XP guest starting up OK and then closing via ACPI shutdown when all it displays initially is the XP logo screen and there after a black screen with not even a mouse.

Stuart

[Perryg]

Probably the latest log of when it tries to boot but doesn't would be best. (As an attachment please)
Also from the host terminal/command window type VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use "" if the name has a space in it.

[broadstairs]

Here is the output from the command:-

[stuart@Crowhill ~]$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP" --details
Oracle VM VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.2.12
(C) 2005-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Name: Windows XP
Guest OS: Windows XP
UUID: 09d85734-868d-45c9-8713-e13a9b0290d3
Config file: /home/stuart/.VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
Hardware UUID: 09d85734-868d-45c9-8713-e13a9b0290d3
Memory size: 720MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 128MB
HPET: off
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): HardDisk
Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: on
PAE: on
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging: off
Large Pages: off
VT-x VPID: on
State: powered off (since 2011-02-01T23:18:59.000000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/stuart/Work/VirtualBox/Windows XP.vdi (UUID: f943bcc2-7de8-4900-afa2-a080d4e4b02c)
IDE Controller (1, 0): /dev/sr0 (UUID: 00445644-0000-0000-2f64-65762f737230)
NIC 1: MAC: 0800275CA87B, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'eth0', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDP: enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 3389, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
Video redirection: disabled
USB: enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index: 0
Active: no
Name: HiTi USB Photo Printer [0001]
VendorId: 0d16
ProductId: 0102
Revision: 0001
Manufacturer: HiTi
Product: USB Photo Printer
Remote: no
Serial Number:

Shared folders:

Name: 'VBox-Shared', Host path: '/home/stuart/Work/VBox-Shared' (machine mapping), writable

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB


[stuart@Crowhill ~]$

and attached is the log file. As far as i can tell the guest does boot OK whether I use normal, safe or vga modes but apart from the initial XP logo window I just get a 640x480 black window with no output visible on it.

Stuart

[jorgensen]

Check IO APIC which is default off and cannot just be turned on.

[broadstairs]

IO APIC shows as on in the settings dialogs and was on when I installed the guest. As its a Windows guest it needs to be left on as it was installed with it on.

Stuart

[jorgensen]

Try to create a new vm machine and attach the vdi file - or boot with a Windows PE disk or similar and make a chkdsk.
I had similar problems with version 4 and have abandon version 4 until it is more stable.
Got most of vms back to version 3 but required some hard work.

[broadstairs]

The same thing happens with a new vm with the same vdi attached. I can boot other things on the original vm like UBCD4WIN. I'll boot that again and run a chkdsk to see if there are any bad files. It is something which has happened to the windows system and is likely to be the lack of a proper basic video driver. One thing I guess I should have done is to set windows back to the standard vga driver like you do if you change a real video card on a real machine prior to removing additions, now I am at a loss as to how to force it. I would have expected either safe or vga mode boot up to work though. I have tested the other vm's which still work in safe and vga mode and they come up fine.

I'll wait a while to see if there are any other suggestions before doing a complete rebuild from scratch....

Stuart

[jorgensen]

Have you tried to make a repair with the XP installation CD?

[broadstairs]

Have you tried to make a repair with the XP installation CD?

Yes and that fixed it. Must remember to be careful in future when removing additions!

Stuart