4.2.18 XP Guest hangs 100% CPU

[gingerninja]

Hi All

I've been using VirtualBox for 4 years without incident and yet recently when I start my Windows XP guest it hangs (as in no activity) and one of the host CPU's is at 100% which shows as being used by VirtualBox VM.

I was running 4.2.12 and thought it might be a bug with that, but having upgraded to 4.2.18 it still exhibits the same problem. Now I used this machine just last week without a problem and as far as I can tell nothing has changed. No windows updates no Mac OSX updates, so I can't help wonder what is going on.

Below is the config file and attached is the log. Hopefully someone can help.

Code: Select all

Name:            XP-Work
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Windows XP
UUID:            da2e8d70-0300-4707-8b74-d12f3be68cfb
Config file:     /Users/*/VirtualBox VMs/XP-Work/XP-Work.vbox
Snapshot folder: /Users/*/VirtualBox VMs/XP-Work/Snapshots
Log folder:      /Users/*/VirtualBox VMs/XP-Work/Logs
Hardware UUID:   da2e8d70-0300-4707-8b74-d12f3be68cfb
Memory size:     1536MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       80MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  2
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:     0ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           running (since 2013-09-11T09:07:30.063000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: on
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address: 
Teleporter Password: 
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration: 
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0):            ICH6
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
IDE Controller (0, 0): /Volumes/MacOSXRaid/XP-Fresh.vdi (UUID: e0a51ff8-2737-49a3-a7b7-18f21ad6959b)
IDE Controller (1, 0): /Applications/VirtualB (UUID: 89f26f10-358d-4b73-bc28-462cfbdb058f)
NIC 1:           MAC: 080027411128, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'en0: Ethernet 1', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: CoreAudio, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
Drag'n'drop Mode:  Bidirectional
Video mode:      1623x985x32
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  <none>

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB
OS type:                             WindowsXP
Additions run level:                 3
Additions version:                   4.2.18 r88780


Guest Facilities:

Facility "VirtualBox Base Driver": active/running (last update: 2013/09/11 09:07:39 UTC)
Facility "VirtualBox System Service": active/running (last update: 2013/09/11 09:07:48 UTC)
Facility "VirtualBox Desktop Integration": active/running (last update: 2013/09/11 09:08:36 UTC)
Facility "Seamless Mode": active/running (last update: 2013/09/11 09:07:39 UTC)
Facility "Graphics Mode": active/running (last update: 2013/09/11 09:07:39 UTC)

[gingerninja]

UPDATE

Well the 100% cpu issue and the hanging finally stopped after 2hours and the VM is now fine. Very strange, not sure what might be causing this as there doesn't appear to be anything in the logs.

Cheers
gingerninja

[mpack]

Sounds like antivirus.

I deleted the VBox log file you posted, to save space since there seems to have been no actual VBox problem.

[gingerninja]

Sorry to point out the obvious here, but it wasn't antivirus as I checked, the system was responsive for a short while then it stopped. I ran task manager in the Guest and nothing was hogging CPU on the guest. Oh not only that but there was no activity on the HDD or the network.

Thanks
gingerninja

[ptram]

If this might help, I had no troubles with 4.2.16 and XP SP3.
I'm installing 4.2.18, and see what happens.

Paolo

[linuxgae]

I've noticed the same behavior on Linux hosts. The task manager in the guest however shows 100% cpu.
(svchost) nice huh ? tells you a lot. I have noticed this pattern though. This only happens when the guest
has not been up for several days.

[Perryg]

use process explorer from MS and it will show you that the wuauserv is using 100% CPU. Doing this on metal as well. Something borked in the automatic updates from MS and can take as long a a few hours to complete a scan to update. Turn automatic update off and see if it works properly. If so turn it on and go to dinner and a movie.

[linuxgae]

I have already turned off auto update. Still see the same behavior.