Mountain Lion Kernel Panic on starting VM

[slyinthefield]

virtualbox version: 4.1.18 r78361
Guest additions installed in guest: yes
Host info: Mac Mini 2.3Ghz Intel Core i5; running 10.8; 8GB RAM
Guest info: XP service pack3; 4GB RAM; 128 Video Memory

Log file attached.

Summary: VirtualBox manager starts with no problems, but as soon as I start the XP VM, the Host system kernel panics and restarts. This happens every time.

I have seen that there was a problem similar to this: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/10267 but that appears to have been resolved in 4.1.16.
Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks

[michaln]

The log file you attached doesn't match what you said. It shows a Mac Mini host with 2GB RAM, not 8GB. It shows a guest with 2GB RAM assigned, not 4GB. And it also shows that a guest booted up and the VM was then successfully terminated.

Could you please reconcile the log file with the bug report?

[slyinthefield]

HI, I'm not sure how to reconcile that given that the Mac Mini does have 8GB of RAM installed, as shown by the attached screen shot (Activity Monitor.jpg), and the guest is set to use 4GB of RAM as shown by the other attached image (VirtualBox.jpg). I have attached the log file again, not that i think it will show anything different, just for completeness. I suspect that the log is actually an old log of the last time it booted successfully, when it was running in the configuration as described, i.e Host with 2GB and Guest with 2GB. The log shows this:

Code: Select all

00:00:01.865 Log opened 2012-07-04T14:34:17.724952000Z

which is about he last time the VM booted successfully, which was before I installed the extra RAM

[michaln]

I have attached the log file again, not that i think it will show anything different, just for completeness.

Correct, it doesn't show anything different. Which unfortunately makes it worthless because it does not match your actual configuration at all. The host hardware changed, the guest configuration changed, *and* the host OS changed.

Did you try starting the VM in the same configuration that worked previously? Did you try toggling the hardware virtualization setting for the VM?

[slyinthefield]

I have just changed the Guest RAM back to 2GB
- Kernel panic.
Then disabled VT-x/AMD-V
- Kernel panic.

I can uninstall the additional RAM on the Host system to put it back to 2GB but can't revert the system to OSX 10.7, which is what it was running the last time it worked. Is it likely to be the fact that the host has additional RAM or is it more likely that this is an OSX 10.8 issue?

I assume that the lack of current log is due to the VM not even getting to a point in it's boot cycle that it starts to log, before the host system crashes?

[michaln]

I can uninstall the additional RAM on the Host system to put it back to 2GB but can't revert the system to OSX 10.7, which is what it was running the last time it worked. Is it likely to be the fact that the host has additional RAM or is it more likely that this is an OSX 10.8 issue?

I honestly don't know, because neither should cause this. As far as we are aware, VirtualBox does work on Mountain Lion (provided it's 4.1.18, and ML should refuse to run older releases). You're the first person reporting immediate crashes on VM startup. And of course plenty of people have 8GB RAM in their systems.

I assume that the lack of current log is due to the VM not even getting to a point in it's boot cycle that it starts to log, before the host system crashes?

The VM does start logging very early, so it's extremely unlikely that it wouldn't be trying to write anything. But it's possible that the system crashes so early that noting ends up being written to the disk.

Do you have any details for the kernel panic? And did you reinstall VirtualBox after the upgrade to Mountain Lion or not?

[slyinthefield]

Attached is the latest panic file, renamed to a .txt. I can provide the rest if it is useful.
I havent reinstalled VirtualBox, but will try that next.

Thanks for your help so far.

[slyinthefield]

Reinstall has resolved it. XP VM is now booting successfully. SHould have thought of that myself. Thanks for the help.

[michaln]

I don't know how you managed this, but you're running VirtualBox 4.1.12 even though the VBox.log you sent was for 4.1.18. In that case, crashing the host is the expected result.

[michaln]

Actually, do you have any idea how you ended up with 4.1.12? Mountain Lion should prevent you from running that version, although AFAIK that only works in the GUI.

We'd like to understand how you got into that situation - especially if the log file showed 4.1.18. Did you restore something from some older backup? Or what happened?

[slyinthefield]

What can I say, my mum always said i was special

No idea. I clearly have run 4.1.12 in the past but upgraded when prompted by VirtualBox to do so. I originally had a Macbook air, recently moved to a mini, and restored from a Time Machine backup to the new Mini. The backup was taken directly prior to migrating to the new mini.

[michaln]

OK, so that explains where 4.1.12. And how did you start the VirtualBox? As I mentioned, Mountain Lion should prevent you from starting 4.1.12, but only if you use the GUI.

[slyinthefield]

Well it explains why it was on the system to begin with, but not why it didn't get upgraded cleanly. I was just using the GUI to launch virtual box. It doesn't explain why the front end thought it was run .18 but the back end was running .12.