Unable to create new VMs

[ttoes]

OSX 10.8.5
VBox 4.3.6 r91406
New machine. Old VMs created on other computers (by me) open up and work fine but I'm unable to create new VMs. LinuxMint 32bit from CD, LinuxMint 32bit from ISO - both start to load and then never get past the first screen. Win7 from installation CD crashes early in the installation process (after selecting installation disk). Have tried various settings - both PIIX3 & ICH9 chipsets, I/O APIC both enabled and not. I could always create these VMs on another computer and move them over but would like to solve this if possible.
Ideas?

[socratis]

From your post I understand two things (if I'm making any mistakes, correct them please):
1) Existing VMs created before you started using your new host are working OK. So VirtualBox seems to be installed and running correctly. Right?

2) New VMs are having problems during installation of the guest OS. Different problems, but problems nonetheless.

So, with those two facts in mind, I have a few questions.
- Where on your hard drive are you storing your new VMs; the same location as the existing (old) ones?
- Why are you changing the proposed default recipe for the VM?

In fact it would be best if you post your VirtualBox settings as well as a VBox.log from a failed installation of a new VM. You can look here for the location and the instructions.