None of my Linux guests will start

[JrBobDobs]

I have had issues with VirtualBox (VB) for a long time. They seem to be getting worse for every upgrade of VB. I'm on Windows 7 64bit pro. I have just installed the latest version (v. 5.0.4). If I remember correctly the issues have been there since version 3.

My problem is that my Linux guests won't always start. If they wont start I have to reboot Windows and try again. After upgrading to version 5.0.4 I have not yet managed to get any Linux guests working (I have rebooted Windows 5 times after upgrading to 5.0.4).

In previous versions of VB I only had problems with the Headless start mode... It would not always work. Then normal windowed mode wouldn't always work if headless start had previously failed (I could only get it working after rebooting Windows 7). Now normal windowed mode has also started to fail frequently.

I currently have 2 guests: Debian 32bit server and Linux Mint 17.2.

Debian server
On the surface I looks like it is working, but I can't get past Grub menu (see attached image). I can make a selection in the Grub menu, but it wont boot. I just get a black screen with a non-blinking cursor. I am able to start Grub BASH-like program.

Linux Mint
In Linux Mint it is the same. Working boot menu, but when I select "Start Linux Mint" nothing happens. I am able to start the memory test though.

Before upgrading to 5.0.4 I saw this entry at the end of the log:

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UIFrameBufferQImage::resizeEvent: Resizing to FALLBACK buffer due to format is invalid..

I have attached logs from 5.0.4.

I have tried many things such as adjusting memory size, video memory and many other settings. But I can't figure out why it is not working (and why it is sometimes working).

[JrBobDobs]

Ok, I actually just got Linux Mint working by turning on PAE/NX in the processor tab. Debian however I can still not boot.

[noteirak]

Enable ACPI and IOAPIC in the Debian guest:

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vboxmanage modifyvm debian --acpi on --ioapci on

[mpack]

Your Windows host OS is not relevant to the questions asked. Moving this topic to "Linux Guests".

It also isn't a good idea IMHO to allocate more than 2GB to a 32bit guest. They generally just don't need it. They certainly can't use 4GB or more without PAE.

[JrBobDobs]

I tried

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vboxmanage modifyvm debian --acpi on --ioapci on

..after changing it to:

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vboxmanage modifyvm debian --acpi on --ioapic on

But I'm still unable to start the Debian machine. Actually I think it has become worse than usual since the VB upgrade.

I installed the latest Debian and that is running without any problems so far. Maybe I'll have to ditch my old Debian server and setup a new server from scratch.

Thanks for helping.

[mpack]

I don't see an updated (zipped) log file.

[JrBobDobs]

Here is a log file for my Debian machine after this update:

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vboxmanage modifyvm debian --acpi on --ioapic on

I have also tried setting up Linux Mint 64bit, but it doesn't work. I now have these VM's:

Old debian server
Latest Linux Mint 32bit
Latest Linux Mint 64bit
Latest Debian desktop 64 with guest addition

Linux Mint 32bit and Debian desktop 64bit worked fine, but now none of the four machines will boot. The problem seems to be related across the four machines: They boot up, but can't go much past Grub.

I tried starting Linux Min in compatibility mode. I have attached a screenshot of the place it gets stuck.

[JrBobDobs]

It seems the screenshot I mentioned didn't upload in my last post... here it is.

[noteirak]

Are they all blocking at the clocksource?

[JrBobDobs]

All the desktop versions are stop at the clocksource tsc when I boot them in recovery mode. I'm not sure about the Debian server.

I found this article https://liquidat.wordpress.com/2013/04/ ... ed-centos/ - I will try and disable ACPI in my BIOS amd see if that fixes the issue.

[noteirak]

Personally out of ideas here.
Let's try another approach: if all your guests are blocking on that very line, then you should look for clues on that.

[zv_odd]

I'm having the same issue with all of my Ubuntu guests. Installed them with vagrant and usually run them through it.
But even launching normally through Virtual Box, no dice.
Tried turning on/off "I/O APIC", "PAE/NX", "Hardware Clock in UTC Time" to no avail.

My host is Intel i5 2nd gen CPU with Win7 x64 OS.

Weirdly enough, I went into my BIOS and _looked_ (not changed) the Intel Virtualisation setting. And after the host reboot, the problem went away.
So... Schrodinger-Bug?