System locks (Hardy) after running guest a few times ...

[barney_vbox]

Saw a similar problem listed earlier, but I don't have exactly the same symptoms.

I can install an XP image, and it runs fine. However, after running VBox a few times, it starts locking up the system. This happens when I run the VBox guest, not when I start VBox. The lockup is in this fashion:

• the mouse cursor locks, host & guest
  the keyboard locks, host, but not the guest
  eventually, the keyboard locks on the guest

If I'm fast enough, I can kill the guest system via the keyboard. Otherwise, I have to use the power button to reboot the system.
If I can shut down the VBox guest, keyboard and mouse functionality return to normal for the host.

This problem has occurred with the following guests: WinXP SP2;Linux distros PCLOS, WorkBench, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu(Feisty, Gibbon, & Hardy), Mandriva Spring 2008.

The logs don't tell me anything.

There's no consistency in the results - any time I start a guest, it's a crap-shoot whether I'll have to power down or not. I may be able to run a given guest system three times or a dozen times - don't think I've gotten any past a dozen since this problem started, about a month to six weeks ago. I posted the problem here once before, but never saw a response.

S.M.A.R.T says the hard drive is ok, and there's no obvious RAM problem.

This has happened through three different installs of VBox - different versions, OSE & PUEL.

I've run out of ideas what to check/correct.

To date, I've enabled/disabled USB, CD drive, sound system, network, & shared folders, those being the items I needed to activate. I did this severally and one at a time, in case there was a conflict. Base memory has been set anywhere from 192-512 MB, with video memory set from 8-12 MB.

I'd really appreciate some borderline genius pointing out a resolution to this - for me - dilemma. Otherwise, I'll be constrained to return to XP or <shudder /> Vista: much of my work requires apps that will not run under Linux Wine or CrossOver.

[TerryE]

It's a detailed post and description of the problem and not one a can help you with I'm afraid. I've left it a few days to see if anyone else had a better clue. What VBox version are you running? I know they've introduced more problems with 1.6.4 than they've cured and are working hard to get 1.6.6 out to fix a bunch of known issues. "Any day" now

Also try the trick I describe in the Forum Posting Guide for searching for tickets.

Sorry we can't be of more help. Terry

[barney_vbox]

Sorry, TerryE,

It figures that I'd leave something out <chuckle />. Started out with VBox v1.5.6 (I think - uncertain about that last digit), performed several reinstalls, and am currently running v1.6.2. The first install was OSE, but I had to switch to PUEL for the USB capability. All the VBox upgrades have been under Hardy.

Note that this problem started with the original install, after about a month, maybe two, and after I upgraded to Hardy. The last VBox upgrade provided some amelioration for a bit, but did not fix it. I'm reasonably certain this is an OS issue with Hardy - one of its updates - but have no idea where to look for that, so I was hoping someone else had encountered - and conquered! - the problem <chortle />.

I'll search to see what problems v1.6.4 raises ... if it'll let me run and also let me access USB items, I may take it for a spin. I've been dealing with PC software issues since 1985, give or take a year, so I'm fairly comfortable, or at least patient, with imponderable software perturbations <sigh />.

'Preciate the notice ... at least it let me know I wasn't just shouting into the wind <chortle />.

[TerryE]

A couple of Qs. First is GA. I've only used the PUEL Guest Additions on XP, but I have been burnt on an Ubuntu Guest where the PUEL GA just wouldn't work properly until I'd stripped out fully the OSE GA. Have you done an MSINFO to make sure that you are loading the right GA components?

Second thing. Hardy. It had a kernel upgrade about a month or two back. Was this issue coincident with this? In this case I'd be tempted to try a reinstall just to see if relinking against the new kernel help. Other posters have also reported that in some cases going back to 1.6.2 has fixed things for them.

[Sasquatch]

As I use Hardy too, fully updated and no problems with 1.6.4 or anything, I'm wondering what other software you have installed next to the default packages. Maybe there is something conflicting with VB on your system.

[barney_vbox]

Aye, Sasquatch, and there's the rub.

When I said, "OS issue," I should have said, "OS or application issue," since the update system updates installed applications that are not, strictly speaking, part of the OS.

If this were Windows, I'd have half a shot at resolving the issue, but I've not yet found the tools to accomplish - or even attempt - such in the Linux world.

The only thing of which I can be semi-certain is that it is not any foreground application that is causing the problem, but something that loads on boot.

Oh, well, I'll keep digging ... something'll break sooner or later.

[Sasquatch]

If you check my post history (I know, long list, but it can be trimmed down using the Forum Search), you can find a list of installed apps on my system.

Found my list, it's here:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 6504#26504
Note that I use Xfce, so some packages are different if you use a different Window Manager.

[barney_vbox]

TerryE, Sasquatch,

If you're still tracking this, I may have an answer - don't know that it's a final resolution, but it's working so far.

BTW, I'm creating this response in a VBox guest WinXP Media Center edition, so I know it works thus far <chortle />.

The culprit seems to be USB and the way Hardy hands off the USB stuff to VBox. This is hypothesis on my part, but results so far support it ... nowhere near being a theorem, but getting closer.

According to VBox, these are the available USB iterations that can be implemented in any guest on my system.

• HP Officejet 5600 series [0100]
  Microsoft [0121]
  Microsoft [0173]
  3Com HomeConnect USB Camera [0106]
  Brother PT-1500PC [0100]
  Composite USB PS2 Converter USB to PS2 Adaptor v1.12 [0001]
  USB Reader [0100]
  Unknown device 067B:2303 [0202]
  Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 [0200]
  OCT Inc IEEE-1284 Controller [0202]
  MARVELL Wireless-N USB network adapter v1021 [0001]

I did not have the 3Com camera and the Brother label printer enabled, but the rest were.

Same problem.

Then I disabled all USB and re-implemented one at a time.

Their are two items killing me, Microsoft [0121] & [0173].

My keyboard is a Microsoft Natural 4000, an ergonomic thing, and my mouse is a Microsoft Trackball Explorer. Not an MS fetish, but they were available at at the time and work for me. Since I parked a motorcycle in the radiator of a Plymouth in 1967, I've been plagued with several forms of arthritis, and this keyboard/mouse combo is the most comfortable I've found to date.

When I activated USB Microsoft [0121], I lost the mouse as soon as the guest started to load.

When I acivated USB Microsoft [0173], I lost the keyboard as soon as the guest started to load.

Both keyboard and trackball are USB. I've tried using PS2 adapters, but Ubuntu doesn't like that very well, and any VBox guest hates it.

Now, these addresses are, of course, unique to this particular box, a Gateway GT5064 which was built as primarily a Windows box - has five different memory card readers, a few other gadgets that are pretty much Windows-only.

However, the conclusion I've reached to date is that so long as I do not enable those two particular USB ports in the guest, keyboard and mouse work just fine in both environments. If I do enable those ports, both peripherals freeze in both environments, regardless the guest OS.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but you both are much more active here than me, and someone, somewhere is going to run into this - I found out long ago that I'm not unique - so maybe this will help you help them.

Make a good day ...
... barn