VirtualBox hangs on startup if too many USB devices present

[J.Dow]

This is easily repeatable. I have a fairly large collection of USB devices attached to my Windows 7 X64 machine. If I remove some of them, a random selection seems to work, then VirtualBox will start. This is awkward as I tend to have most of the devices in use. They include multiple DVB-T dongles, multiple sound dongles, multiple serial port dongles, some theatrical DMX I/O boxes, and a couple security key dongles. Removing about 5 of these items (including the hub they are on) allows VirtualBox to startup. Once started I can reinstall the USB devices and proceed.

I've attached a file with the most recent 5 VBoxSVC.log files included. All but the last one are short. .2, .3, and .4 are short and show the hang at:
00:00:00.065003 Loading settings file "C:\Users\jdow/.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml" with version "1.11-windows"
00:00:02.441139 usbLibDevStrDrEntryGet: DeviceIoControl 1 fail winEr (995)

The .1 file came from running vboxmanage. (--list was useless - no VM was running.)
The .0 file is a copy of the current log file came from running VirtualBox.exe.

The machine has 24 G of ram, 3 TB disk, dual 6 core XEON processors so it's not likely to be overloaded either for CPU cycles, ram, or processors.

{^_^}

[mpack]

If you have a repeatable bug then it's better to report it on BugTracker.

However we really need VM logs, not VBoxSVC logs. See Minimum information needed for assistance. And a better description: e.g. you say how many devices you removed, but omit the number you started with.

[J.Dow]

Honest, there is no VM running to have a log at the time it crashes. I don't tend to bring up the VMs directly. If I double-click on VirtualBox.exe which VM should I look for? And what log? I have five guests configured with an eclectic range of OSs, XP, SL6, Haiku, FC17, Win7-32. The one I use the most is the XP VM for testing purposes. I'm attaching the latest info and log. But neither seems to show anything interesting. The lockup happens way before the VMs are run.

Let's see, I have 18 USB devices attached, at least. I suspect two of the devices have built in hubs of their own which would add another 8.
Four of the devices are hubs. This is not counting the hubs and controllers on the motherboard. Let's see, Device Manager declares 7 composite devices, 8 root hubs, 6 generic hubs, 8 ICH10 host controllers, and two USB Serial converters under "Universal Serial Bus controllers." It might be significant that four of the devices are hooked into the Zadig libusb. But, I'd pulled none of those devices when getting down to a number of devices that allowed VirtualBox.exe or VBoxManage.exe to run for anything other than a "--help" option.

The last time I tried to start VirtualBox.exe from a new update install without disconnecting USB "VBoxManage list" hung even when I'd removed four devices from one of the hubs. I then pulled the USB cable into that hub and VBoxManage.exe started fine. Several devices ago and several versions of VBox ago the hub worked fine. One of the two audio devices plugged into it is new. The rest is old stuff. That's about the best I can do with regards to what is attached to the machine.

{^_^}

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

Chipset:         piix3

What happens if you switch this to ICH9

Code: Select all

EHCI:            disabled

Shouldn't this be enabled?

[J.Dow]

I can't. The motherboard would strongly object. And I'm running on an ICH10 RAID.

The hosts are all using PIIX 4.

Note that I was describing the HOST machine not any of the guest machines. I never get NEAR a guest machine before the VBox software hangs.

Since everybody is hung up on this being a guest problem here is the entire where the VBoxSVC log for a hang condition, all 15 lines of it:

00:00:00.021001 main Log opened 2013-12-03T10:50:05.604475500Z
00:00:00.021001 main Build Type: release
00:00:00.021001 main OS Product: Windows 7
00:00:00.021001 main OS Release: 6.1.7601
00:00:00.021001 main OS Service Pack: 1
00:00:00.171009 main DMI Product Name: X8DA3
00:00:00.182010 main DMI Product Version: 1234567890
00:00:00.182010 main Host RAM: 24566MB total, 17388MB available
00:00:00.182010 main Executable: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxSVC.exe
00:00:00.182010 main Process ID: 8228
00:00:00.182010 main Package type: WINDOWS_64BITS_GENERIC
00:00:00.188010 Loading settings file "C:\Users\jdow/.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml" with version "1.11-windows"
00:00:03.239185 usbLibDevStrDrEntryGet: DeviceIoControl 1 fail winEr (995)
00:00:06.239356 usbLibDevStrDrEntryGet: DeviceIoControl 1 fail winEr (995)
00:00:09.239528 usbLibDevStrDrEntryGet: DeviceIoControl 1 fail winEr (995)

It never gets to the line that should follow the "Loading settings file" line:
00:00:00.782044 VDInit finished

(That last line was clipped from a program start without the extra 5 devices attached.)

Honest guys, asking me for what a guest is doing when this hangs is spurious. There is no guest in sight except for the mentions in the VirtualBox.xml file. And I leave the guests with no USB devices connected. (We can get to THAT issue later. The USB virtualization has some weak points, speed chiefly.)

{^_^}

[Perryg]

Very well. I'll bow out now.

[mpack]

BugTracker then.

[J.Dow]

That makes sense. I just wanted to see of you guys recognized the problem to avoid something redundant in bugtracker. Since it doesn't seem to be that's a good place to note it. You also helped be refine what I can put in bugtracker.

I'm a little surprised nobody has run across this before.

Thanks.
{^_^}