virtualbox.org

Host Hardware:
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z270G GAMING
Memory: 64 G
Hard drive: WD Blue 1 TB
Host: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Guest: Windows 7
Virtual Box Version: 5.2.18_Ubuntur123745
Issue: Internal SATA DVD Passthrough drive disconnects from guest machine when a new disk is inserted into the drive.
The problem is intermittent and random. There is no telling if the DVD drive will be available to the guest once a new disk is inserted into the drive. The only way to get the drive back is to reboot the guest.

I use the Guest machine only to read DVD’s and swap out the disks very often. To have to reboot after each disk is inserted into the drive is unacceptable.

I have updated to the latest version of Virtual Box as well as Guest Additions.
Has anyone else had this issue and how can I fix this.
Not really sure what to try.

Thanks!

Hi,

we can't do anything without at least a VBox.log.

I am very new to Linux. Where do I get the Vbox log?

thanks,
sgman.

With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

You could also run on the host and see if something appears there on changing the discs. Sounds really like a hardware issue IMHO, which recovers on the host (device temporarily down/up i.e. doe insufficient power supply).

This disk is always present in the Host OS and the desktop Icon reflects the the volume Label of the currently inserted drive. What I think is happening is the Host is taking back the drive on the disk switch. How do I stop it from doing that.

Not sure how it could be a power issue. Its an internal drive running off an 800w Corsair power supply off the same lead as the system SSD drive. I Suppose I could buy a new DVD drive and see if that is the issue.

Here is a little more history of the issue:
When I first had this issue, I had the drive in an External Enclosure (brand unknown) connected via USB to the host. It dropped every few minutes. As a matter of fact, that same drive and enclosure never worked properly even when plugged into my USB 3.0 port on my laptop. To get it work work I always had to use the USB 2.0 port. I originally blamed it on my laptop's USB 3.0 port until I build the Ubuntu box and plugged it into there for the first time and it did the same thing. When I changed out the Enclosure for a Vantec NST-536S3-BK enclosure, that issue of it dropping during a read every few minutes when away. I was able to use it on both Laptop USB 3.0 and the Ubuntu box with little trouble, However, it still intermittently dropped during a disk change, while used as a pass-through. I thought is was because it was connected via USB so I pulled it out of the enclosure altogether and connected directly to the motherboards SATA controller. Same disconnect problem during disk switch.

I will post my logs as soon as I can. I do most of this work on the weekends so sorry if I am slow to reply. I am not giving up, I want to solve this issue.

Thanks,
Sgman.

Ok here is my update from the weekend. I swapped out 8 disks and 4 out of 7 times changing disks, the Drive disconnected. I had to reboot the guest each time to get the drive back.
I have attached a zip of the Vlogs to the original post above.

I hope this helps figure out what is happening.

Thanks,
sgman.

Not an Virtualbox expert, but IMHO this could indicate a flaky Hardware: The outptut of dmesg (see above) during that time could provide more helpful insights.

The log you posted doesn't show any indication that you rebooted the VM in between tries. And as the VM uptime is only about 3 minutes so it looks like the log is not from the run where you swapped out the medium several times.

Seems like the log I attached is not the right one the if it only had 3 min of data. should have been about 3 hours. I remove it and will post a better one once I know how.

I think I am going to need a step by step in retrieving the logs properly. I save the file after last weeks session and I am in the middle of a new session as I type this message. there are multiple logs and how do I know which VM there for as I have multiple VM's.

I have the Oracle VM Virtual Box Manager Window open.
I click on the VM in the Left pane and then click on the Machine drop down menu.
I click Show Log and I get a window with 4 tabs a log on each tab. VBox.log, VBox.log1, VBox.log2, VBox.log3,

I also hit the refresh button and the log does not change. Is it possible logging is turned off? if so how do I turn it on an clear the old logs to start a new log..

Thanks,
sgman

supergman wrote:I think I am going to need a step by step in retrieving the logs properly.

My typical copy/paste answer for retrieving a log...

We need to see a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run, where the problem occurs:

• Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe problem / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

The issue happened just before power off.
here is only log I can find. does not seem right. Not sure how else to get the logs to work.

Attached.

SGMAN

VirtualBox VM 5.2.18_Ubuntu r123745 linux.amd64 (Dec 27 2018 00:41:57) release log

It looks like you're using the Ubuntu fork version of VirtualBox. You can either ask in their forums/channels for help, or completely remove/uninstall/delete/purge their version and install the official version from the Linux Downloads section of VirtualBox. BTW, we're now to version 6.0.4.

You can even add VirtualBox as a repository, so you could use your traditional install/upgrade/uninstall tools.

Ok. I will uninstall and install the official version and see if it makes a difference.
won't do anything until this weekend. Will post back then with an update.

Thanks,
SGMAN

I uninstalled the Ubuntu fork version and I installed 6.1.4 last weekend and I still have the same issue.
Sorry but the latest version did not fix this issue.
it still persists.

I am hoping to get this resolved.

Thanks,
sgman.