Problems installing Fedora Core 8

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 2. Sep 2008, 04:07

Hi

I have virtualbox 1.6.4 installed on a Debian amd64 machine, with quad core cpu's in it. When i try to install fedora core 8 (via live dvd) it gets stuck on SMP motherboard not found.

I have tried running it in VT enhanced mode but it crash when I do that.

Alex

Post by **Sasquatch** » 2. Sep 2008, 14:14

Please post the settings of your VM. Also, be sure to install a kernel that does not have SMP support (like a -virtual kernel).

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 3. Sep 2008, 03:45

Sasquatch wrote:Please post the settings of your VM. Also, be sure to install a kernel that does not have SMP support (like a -virtual kernel).

This could be the problem, I downloaded a install DVD and it seems to get stuck right after it talks about smp. I have been able to install fedora9 on the same virtual machine. I will see about trying to get

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Sun xVM VirtualBox Machine Configuration -->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings" version="1.3-linux">
  <Machine uuid="{b69db378-3bb0-4c37-4b88-12868474cdae}" name="xCAT-hn" OSType="fedoracore" lastStateChange="2008-09-02T03:38:11Z">
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/SaveMountedAtRuntime" value="yes"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/InfoDlgState" value="400,450,normal"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastWindowPostion" value="111,134,724,462"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Fullscreen" value="off"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Seamless" value="off"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/AutoresizeGuest" value="off"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="powerOff"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <Hardware>
      <CPU>
        <HardwareVirtEx enabled="false"/>
        <PAE enabled="false"/>
      </CPU>
      <Memory RAMSize="1024"/>
      <Boot>
        <Order position="1" device="DVD"/>
        <Order position="2" device="HardDisk"/>
      </Boot>
      <Display VRAMSize="8" MonitorCount="1"/>
      <RemoteDisplay enabled="false" port="3389" authType="Null" authTimeout="5000"/>
      <BIOS>
        <ACPI enabled="true"/>
        <IOAPIC enabled="false"/>
        <Logo fadeIn="true" fadeOut="true" displayTime="0"/>
        <BootMenu mode="MessageAndMenu"/>
        <TimeOffset value="0"/>
        <PXEDebug enabled="false"/>
        <IDEController type="PIIX4"/>
      </BIOS>
      <DVDDrive passthrough="false">
        <Image uuid="{1af28788-acdf-4735-81bd-8e4cac8f6798}"/>
      </DVDDrive>
      <FloppyDrive enabled="true"/>
      <USBController enabled="false" enabledEhci="false"/>
      <SATAController enabled="true" PortCount="1" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3"/>
      <Network>
        <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="0800279739F9" cable="true" speed="0" type="Am79C973">
          <HostInterface name="vbox0"/>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="1" enabled="false" MACAddress="0800275B7672" cable="true" speed="0" type="Am79C973"/>
        <Adapter slot="2" enabled="false" MACAddress="080027D28C39" cable="true" speed="0" type="Am79C973"/>
        <Adapter slot="3" enabled="false" MACAddress="08002703348C" cable="true" speed="0" type="Am79C973"/>
      </Network>
      <UART>
        <Port slot="0" enabled="false" IOBase="0x3f8" IRQ="4" hostMode="Disconnected"/>
        <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x3f8" IRQ="4" hostMode="Disconnected"/>
      </UART>
      <LPT>
        <Port slot="0" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="4"/>
        <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="4"/>
      </LPT>
      <AudioAdapter controller="AC97" driver="Null" enabled="false"/>
      <SharedFolders>
        <SharedFolder name="Shared" hostPath="/srv/VirtualBox/Shared" writable="true"/>
      </SharedFolders>
      <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
      <Guest memoryBalloonSize="0" statisticsUpdateInterval="0"/>
    </Hardware>
    <HardDiskAttachments>
      <HardDiskAttachment hardDisk="{72c1777c-3313-495e-5084-14b28f283cc0}" bus="SATA" channel="0" device="0"/>
    </HardDiskAttachments>
  </Machine>
</VirtualBox>

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 4. Sep 2008, 05:19

This seems to be a problem with RHEL5 as well. Stops on smp motherboard

EDIT: seems to have found a thread which covers this and has a solution http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 4897#34897

Post by **dmcgraw** » 4. Sep 2008, 05:24

KeyzerSuze wrote:This seems to be a problem with RHEL5 as well. Stops on smp motherboard

Do you understand what "SMP" means?

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 4. Sep 2008, 05:45

dmcgraw wrote:
KeyzerSuze wrote:This seems to be a problem with RHEL5 as well. Stops on smp motherboard
Do you understand what "SMP" means?

Yes !

I have taken my RHEL5 DVD and I can install it on my single processor machine (dual core) it works. when I take it to my 8 process (4cores / cpu NUMA box) it fails. I saw the same failing with fedora core 8. My presumption is the SMP motherboard.

Post by **dmcgraw** » 4. Sep 2008, 05:58

As far as I can tell, you have it backwards.

It sound like you are trying to install an SMP version of RHEL5 (or Fedora) under VirtualBox. VirtualBox presents a single processor machine to the guest OS, irregardless of whether or not the host hardware is SMP.

Dave

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 4. Sep 2008, 06:11

dmcgraw wrote:As far as I can tell, you have it backwards.

It sound like you are trying to install an SMP version of RHEL5 (or Fedora) under VirtualBox. VirtualBox presents a single processor machine to the guest OS, irregardless of whether or not the host hardware is SMP.

Dave

I understand that VB presents a single cpu machine, but it presents a lot of the host machine through to the guest and it seems some part of the smp/bios table is being sent through. AFAIK there is only 1 RHEL5 (server) install cd and it happens to be a SMP capable kernel. Usually (well you used to be able to) yuo can set it back to uni process by giving it a kernel option of nosmp. This did not work. I can only presume there is a problem with SMP motherboard.

Would you like to suggest some other reason for it to fail, I am open to any suggestions ?

Post by **Sasquatch** » 4. Sep 2008, 19:42

Boot the Guest in recovery mode (use the CD if needed) and install the -virtual kernel. Boot that. There isn't much from the Host send to the Guest, actually nothing is send except for the processor capabilities. And that is something that is your problem. On your 'single cpu' computer, that isn't a real issue as somehow, the processor isn't fully SMP capable, or the Host isn't. As for the 'multi cpu' machine, this does support it to the fullest. I also think that the installed kernel no longer has the 'nosmp' switch.

KeyzerSuze · Post by **KeyzerSuze** » 5. Sep 2008, 03:31

Sasquatch wrote:Boot the Guest in recovery mode (use the CD if needed) and install the -virtual kernel. Boot that. There isn't much from the Host send to the Guest, actually nothing is send except for the processor capabilities. And that is something that is your problem. On your 'single cpu' computer, that isn't a real issue as somehow, the processor isn't fully SMP capable, or the Host isn't. As for the 'multi cpu' machine, this does support it to the fullest. I also think that the installed kernel no longer has the 'nosmp' switch.

The nolapic seemed to solve the problem for me. Even after booting back to a normal kernel (the installed one) I was still having the problem until i added the nolapic. Now that V2 is release I will see if the problem exists there

Alex