Cannot boot XP guest VM

[oldcarp]

I am runnung Ubuntu 14.04.2 x64 and Virtualbox 4.3.28 with an XP guest VM. The XP VM has been working properly for a good while, and I last used it in May 2015. Today, I attempted to start the XP VM and I got a black screen with options to boot in safe mode, use the last known good configuration, or continue booting. I can boot in safe mode, but I can't determine much about why I can't boot normally. If I try to use the last known good configuration or continue booting, the system may take me back to the same screen or, on some occasions, it will get to the XP users screen. This screen is only there for a second, and the system goes back to the black screen with the above mentioned choices.

One thing that confuses me is that I have configured the VM to have Guest Additions 4.3.28, but if I check the Machine>Session information (I do this in safe mode), it shows Guest Additions to be 4.3.14. This is odd, because I downloaded the iso for Guest Additions and replaced the 4.3.14 version with the 4.3.28 version. In any case, I used the Devices>Insert Guest Additions CD image command, and XP went throught the install of 4.3.28 (or so I thought). When I rebooted, I had the same problems, so I booted into safe mode. Machine>Session Information still shows 4.3.14, even though the earlier install completed successfully. However, I am not sure if that is the reason for the inability to boot into XP normally.

At this point, I am stymied. Here is the result of VBoxManage showvminfo "XP" --details

Code: Select all

VBoxManage showvminfo "XP" --details
Name:            XP
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Windows XP (32 bit)
UUID:            c98806ec-aa04-447f-b0ac-596a76bb45fa
Config file:     /home/butch/VirtualBox VMs/XP/XP.vbox
Snapshot folder: /home/butch/VirtualBox VMs/XP/Snapshots
Log folder:      /home/butch/VirtualBox VMs/XP/Logs
Hardware UUID:   c98806ec-aa04-447f-b0ac-596a76bb45fa
Memory size:     2048MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       128MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
PAE:             off
Long Mode:       off
Synthetic CPU:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
VT-x unr. exec.: on
State:           powered off (since 2015-07-02T20:26:33.000000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
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
Default Frontend: 
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
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 (0, 1): /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: c4ef0d50-9af4-4162-b575-d903acc12740)
IDE (1, 0): /dev/sr0 (UUID: 00445644-0000-0000-2f64-65762f737230)
IDE (1, 1): /home/butch/VirtualBox VMs/XP/XP.vdi (UUID: 8591be42-f640-4fa2-bd40-24eb0dbcec4e)
NIC 1:           disabled
NIC 2:           MAC: 08002757C3E7, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'eth2', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
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
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
Drag'n'drop Mode: disabled
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index:            0
Active:           yes
Name:             HP Deskjet 9800 [0100]
VendorId:         03f0
ProductId:        1212
Revision:         0100
Manufacturer:     HP
Product:          Deskjet 9800
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    MY54G111M3046K

Index:            1
Active:           yes
Name:             Nikon LS-50 ED [0102]
VendorId:         04b0
ProductId:        4001
Revision:         0102
Manufacturer:     Nikon
Product:          LS-50 ED
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    

Index:            2
Active:           yes
Name:             U.S.Robotics USB Modem [0200]
VendorId:         0baf
ProductId:        0303
Revision:         0200
Manufacturer:     U.S.Robotics
Product:          USB Modem
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    0000002

Index:            3
Active:           yes
Name:             Western Digital Elements 107C [1042]
VendorId:         1058
ProductId:        107c
Revision:         1042
Manufacturer:     Western Digital
Product:          Elements 107C
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    574343344531333137333131

Index:            4
Active:           yes
Name:             EPSON Scanner [0100]
VendorId:         04b8
ProductId:        013a
Revision:         0100
Manufacturer:     EPSON
Product:          EPSON Scanner
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  

Name: 'Data', Host path: '/media/Data' (machine mapping), writable

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Video capturing:    not active
Capture screens:    0
Capture file:       /home/butch/VirtualBox VMs/XP/XP.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate:       512 kbps
Capture FPS:        25

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

I am also attaching the following log (~/VirtualBox VMs/XP/VBox.log.3) as it is the last I have there. I believe this may have some useful information at the end, but it's not clear to me what is happening.

[loukingjr]

You need to install the guest additions in while XP is in safe mode.

[oldcarp]

You need to install the guest additions in while XP is in safe mode.

I did do this in XP in safe mode. See second paragraph above.

I used the Devices>Insert Guest Additions CD image command, and XP went throught the install of 4.3.28 (or so I thought). When I rebooted, I had the same problems, so I booted into safe mode. Machine>Session Information still shows 4.3.14, even though the earlier install completed successfully.

On a second reboot of XP into safe mode, I installed Guest Additions again using the same method, and now Machine>Session information is reflecting the correct version of Guest Additions, 4.3.28. However, I still have the same problem with booting XP, i.e., I can only boot into XP in safe mode.

[oldcarp]

Okay, I have the failure. I got it by disabling autorestart on error. Here is what it says.

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: intelppm.sys

DRIVER_UNLOADED_WITHOUT_CANCELLING_PENDING_OPERATIONS

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options and then select safe mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x000000CE (0xB8EE18F8, 0x00000000, 0xB8EE18F8, 0x00000000)

intelppm.sys
Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

I have not installed any new hardware or software since the last good boot. I am going to try to remove and reinstall the last new hardware I purchased and installed before the last good boot just to see if anything changes. Beyond that, I'm not sure how to clear this up.

[oldcarp]

Well, I uninstalled the software for the scanner; no change. I deleted all the USB devices; no change. The reason I am trying so hard to fix this is I have all my Turbotax packages installed here. If I have to reinstall them all in a new VM, I'll never get the updates to them. Does anyone have any idea how I might fix intelppm.sys?

[oldcarp]

Well, I have resolved the problem. Seems this issue has been around since at least eight years ago. Virtualbox has never addressed the problem. Rather they just closed it because it was old. The solution was to delete all occurrences of intelppm.sys, delete all occurrences of oem*.inf from c:\Windows\inf, reinstall Guest Additions, and reboot. Things worked as always then.

[mpack]

Virtualbox has never addressed the [intelppm.sys] problem.

How could they? Invent a new line of Intel processors? Take over XP maintenance from Microsoft?

The problem is with your XP installation trying to do things to the CPU that your current CPU doesn't allow. The XP migration wiki tells you to remove Intelppm.sys, among other required steps.

Though not mentioned, this must originally have been a P2V project? The only mystery is how this VM ever worked. I guess it was originally run on a more compatible CPU.

[oldcarp]

This VM has been on my current machine for two years without any issues. Not having run Windows in years except for installing my original XP in a VM about seven years ago and having no problems for that length of time, I had no reason to look for an XP migration web site. The issue is in these forums, but although I searched within the forum before I posted, nothing turned up. I suppose there is an expiration date on what is searched when one searches the forum, and I understand that. I found the answer by using Google to search for an answer. That brought up the old thread on this forum. BTW, when I say this forum, I am not restricting it to "VirtualBox on Linux Hosts"; rather I am including all the areas. I am not sure what area the answer I found was in, but my search was in "VirtualBox on Linux Hosts".

[Perryg]

For future reference use the following in your favorite search engine when you need to search here or almost every other place in fact.

"Search key words" site:virtualbox.org

This will search the entire database.

Example
intelppm site:virtualbox.org

Note: moving this to Windows guest since this has nothing to do with the host.

[scottgus1]

I am runnung Ubuntu 14.04.2 x64 and Virtualbox 4.3.28 with an XP guest VM. The XP VM has been working properly for a good while, and I last used it in May 2015.

From the www.virtualbox.org release announcement box:

May 13th, 2015
VirtualBox 4.3.28 released!

4.3.28 came out about the same time as you last used this guest. You also mention having 4.3.14 guest additions and noting that they weren't 4.3.28. 4.3.28 Virtualbox downloads with 4.3.28 guest additions. The guest additions in the guest don't update automatically in the guest, that's a manual install.

I read that this guest was working well for a while before May 2015 (2 years, in fact, from a later post). 4.3.28 didn't exist until May 13, 2015. So there must have been another version of Virtualbox running your guest beforehand (perhaps 4.3.14 last?). The guest stops working in May 2015. Seems there's a correlation in dates around the release of 4.3.28.

Did you by chance update Virtualbox about the same time your guest stopped working? If so, that would be the real cause of your issue.

That an old solution for handling a P2V Migration of XP should happen to get your guest running when it was running before, on an earlier version of Virtualbox, is either a red herring or it's something that 4.3.28 is handling differently than the earlier version did. A mismatch between the guest additions version and the Virtualbox version may possibly cause this IF there's fundamental CPU instruction change code in the guest additions - I don't know if there is or not. At least you've got the guest running, good. Just pointing out some logical deductions that might help pinpoint the location to look in the future if issues of failing to run crops up again.

If the guest stops running at the same time Virtualbox gets updated, I'd look at the update of Virtualbox as the first suspect in the lineup. I would also mention that I just updated Virtualbox when the guest stopped working when I post about my issue in the forum.

Also, I only update Virtualbox on my important PCs if a new feature or bug fix is needed, not simply because the "New Update Ready" window pops up. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" is my motto. Experiment on things I'm willing to lose, not on things I need to keep, like, say, the guest that has all my tax stuff Just a fwiw.