Video problems with 3D acceleration checked

[two4two]

From Ubuntu Linux host, doesn't matter the version of virtualbox host or virtualbox guest additions, for guest OS since Ubuntu 14.04 if I have 3D acceleration checked the video in the guest is scrambled. Anyone else see this happen?

[socratis]

doesn't matter the version of virtualbox host or virtualbox guest additions

You couldn't be more wrong on this one. It matters and it matters a lot. That's why it is the minimum required information when reporting a problem: Minimum information needed for assistance. BTW, the most important is the VBox.log.ZIP. And please state your problem with more ... precision. "The video is scrambled" tells me no reproducible way to observe the perceived problem.

[two4two]

You didn't need to be nasty to me. I was not at home when I posted it (and I'm still not home) and don't have the log. But I will be a little more descriptive regarding your quote of what I said. I have TWO computers with identical hardware. They have an ASUS M4A89GTD Pro mobo with Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 GPU. Yes, I know it's kinda old. One has Ubuntu 11.04 host OS (yes, I know it is out of support) with Virtualbox 4.1.44 (yes, I know it is out of support). The other has Linux Mint 13 (based on Ununtu 12.04) with Virtualbox 5.1.6 (both still supported). On the 11.04 host I have installed and activated the proprietary ATI driver. On the Linux Mint (Ubuntu 12.04) host I have not installed or activated the proprietary ATI driver. On both machines I have created Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 guests and I have installed the Virtualbox Guest additions 5.1.6 on all 4 guests (2 computers X 2 guests). And in all 4 guests if, in the settings, I try to use the 3D acceleration, then the guest experiences scrambled and garbled display. Whenever I get home I can post the log(s) from all 4 guests. My reason for posting prior to having access to these computers is that possibly someone has already dealt with a similar situation and will recognize what I'm describing and has an answer. My experience with getting help on these forums isn't so great. I was having problems installing guest additions on the 16.04 guests. It was telling me the kernel headers were not installed -- which they are. I found many threads with many different suggestions, including one that said there were stray vbox modules in the 16.04 kernel and that the guest additions can not be installed in 16.04 guests. I used my own fix for that problem by using APT to uninstall all traces of guest-additions from the 16.04 guests and installed the latest and greatest as mentioned above which did indeed install without a hitch and all guest additions features work OK. The problem I'm reporting here has to do with selecting 3D acceleration in all 4 guests. Things work fine without it except I get the idea it is using software rendering. I created a Linux Mint 18 guest (based on Ubuntu 16.04) and it reports it is using software rendering when I don't choose 3D acceleration, so I deduce it is doing the same for the other guests when I don't specify 3D acceleration. I would like to use 3D acceleration. I will post the logs when I get home. In the mean time, anyone ever see this situation before and has an idea how to deal with it?

OK I added a log.

[socratis]

Ubuntu has a nasty habit of getting the video messed. The newer, the worst. Your solutions are to either install an older version (12.04 works OK), disable 3D acceleration, or to wait until the developers get around to fixing it.

You didn't need to be nasty to me.

???

My experience with getting help on these forums isn't so great.

You only had these two posts. What experience are you referring to?

[two4two]

I was browsing other threads looking for similar reports. I found no posts that were helpful and so my "bad experience" with these forums. This is why I made my own post. But thank you for your reply. I appreciate any and all ideas. I'd like to take a screen shot to show what I'm referring to. Sometimes the screen gets completely garbled and freezes any input including the host key or alt-tab. If I'm in full-screen mode I have no recourse but to hard reset the host. The freezing hasn't happened in scaled or windowed mode yet though so I can't say if the freezing would involve the host in that case.

[Perryg]

VirtualBox VM 4.3.30 r101610 linux.amd64 (Jul 10 2015 13:10:33) release log

00:00:19.987103 Guest Additions information report: Version 5.1.6 r110634 '5.1.6'

While you can often run older GAs you should never run newer ones than the version of VBox you have installed. You need to either upgrade to 5.1.6 or remove the 5.1.6 GAs and install the 4.3.30 ones.

[two4two]

VirtualBox VM 4.3.30 r101610 linux.amd64 (Jul 10 2015 13:10:33) release log

00:00:19.987103 Guest Additions information report: Version 5.1.6 r110634 '5.1.6'

While you can often run older GAs you should never run newer ones than the version of VBox you have installed. You need to either upgrade to 5.1.6 or remove the 5.1.6 GAs and install the 4.3.30 ones.

I don't want to upgrade my host OS. I could get the latest vbox source and compile/install. Older GAs have a hard time installing on Ubuntu 16.04 guest. It give an error saying the kernel headers are not installed. If I completely remove everything related to vbox from the guest maybe I can get GAs to install. But I went through a long road getting it installed at all. See earlier posts in this thread. I have an identicle PC (hardware-wise) with Linux Mint 13 (Ubuntu 12.04) host OS and vbox 5.1.6 on the host and GAs 5.1.6 in Ubuntu 16.04 guest. I'll need to test 3D accel on that one. Thanks for your reply. You gave me more ideas to test.

[socratis]

I don't want to upgrade my host OS.

Upgrading an application, upgrading the OS is not. (yoda speak)

Older GAs have a hard time installing on Ubuntu 16.04

That's why you have to keep the releases of the software that rely on each other in parallel. I cannot use VirtualBox 2.0 to install the latest Windows 10. Especially if a working Windows 10 relies on the latest and greatest VirtualBox, that's why Perryg suggested to update yours.

If I completely remove everything related to vbox from the guest maybe I can get GAs to install.

No, they won't for the reasons mentioned above. I believe that 4.3.30 is quite old for Ubuntu 16.04, but I haven't tested it, so I may be just completely wrong.

I went through a long road getting it installed at all.

You can always backup. Actually, you should always backup.

I'd like to take a screen shot to show what I'm referring to.

No need to. We've all seen the reports

If I'm in full-screen mode I have no recourse but to hard reset the host.

You can press HostKey-F to get out of Full screen mode. Or you could press HostKey-U to send the ACPI shutdown signal to your Ubuntu guest.

[two4two]

When the video is scrambled and the guest freezes, no keyboard or mouse input works at all. No host key, no view key. No key at all. Also, the reason I referred to my reluctance to upgrade the host OS is because if I want to upgrade vbox to a newer version than what is on my host I would have to upgrade the host OS. My vbox on my host is at the most recent supported if I want to get a .deb file to install. Otherwise I'd need to get the source and configure/make/make install. For vbox it's more complicated that your run-of-the-mill app. As I mentioned, installing the GAs that are the same version of vbox on my host failed because it said the kernel headers were not installed on the guest. I'm not sure which kernel headers it's complaining about since the 16.04 headers are indeed installed in my 16.04 guest. On the outside chance it's complaining that my HOST kernel headers are not installed in the guest, well of course I did not want to install kernel headers from Ubuntu 11.04 into my Ubunto 16.04 guest. But installing the latest GAs into the 16.04 guest worked just fine. Everything works except 3D accel. Bypassing 3D accel makes it choose to use software rendering rather than to virtualize a video device -- slower, but no freezing.