Repeated short freezes while running Ubuntu 7.10 installer

[Bart]

Host:

• Ubuntu 7.10 desktop, 32-bit (installed via ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso).
• Latest updates have been installed (apt-get update && apt-get upgrade).

Hypervisor:

• VirtualBox 1.5.6, installed via apt-get from the VirtualBox repository.

Guest:

• Ubuntu 7.10 desktop, 32-bit install CD (ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso).

What I see is that if I let the VirtualBox guest environment from the ubuntu 7.10 desktop CD (graphical installer), that I can use the system for a few seconds, but that it then freezes for a few seconds. This happens all the time, and makes it almost impossible to use the installer.

[Bart]

This was probably caused by a mismatch between the vboxdrv kernel driver and the running kernel. This mismatch came as follows into existence:

• Added "deb ​http://www.virtualbox.org/debian gutsy non-free" to /etc/apt/sources.list
• Installed VirtualBox from the above repository.
• Some days later, Ubuntu updated the kernel image (linux-generic) and I installed that update.

Consequence: mismatch between running kernel and vboxdrv kernel driver.

There is only one way to avoid this kind of scenario, and that is by including the vboxdrv kernel driver in the mainstream Linux kernel instead of being distributed by VirtualBox.

[Frank Mehnert]

If there is a mismatch between the VBox kernel module and the running kernel the kernel module will not load and will not be able to start VMs. Integrating the kernel module into the standard kernel or into the major Linux distributions would be a good idea but we still improving the module and define new interfaces. Therefore the API is just not stable enough to think about integrating the module into a standard Linux distribution. Some distributions did this theirself, for example Mandriva, but these modules will not work anymore with the next release of VirtualBox.

We are aware of that problem. Our current hope is that DKMS (which is supported by some major Linux distributions, for example Ubuntu and Fedora) will make kernel upgrades easier. Therefore the next release of VirtualBox will contain scripts for building the kernel module with DKMS.

Your problem is probably related to other problems. You might try to add the module parameter

force_async_tsc=1

when loading the module (you could edit /etc/init.d/vboxdrv and add the parameter there) and see if that improves things. Of that doesn't help, try adding the kernel parameter

nohz=off

to the kernel command line. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add this parameter. Make sure this option is really active (e.g. check /proc/cmdline after a reboot).

[Frank Mehnert]

Please try 1.6.0 and reopen if this still happens.