Hi Klaus, I saved the log file, but didn't know how to publish it. I tried to attach it, but the email was too large and was rejected. I don't know what you mean by uploading to some pastebin server. Do you have a link to a free service? Thanks for your suggestions. I will try running from an external HD (I have to get one first). I will also watch the performance more closely. When I have looked, VirtualBox was taking between 30% and 40% of the total CPU available (both cores). But I wasn't looking at the overall load. Phil
________________________________ From: Klaus Espenlaub [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Fri 1/29/2010 12:01 PM To: Courtney, Phil Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [vbox-users] Linux Guest IDE Read and Write Errors Hi Phil, Courtney, Phil wrote: > This is my first time for submitting an email. So please let me know if > I should do something differently, include additional information, etc. I wish we'd get more such problem descriptions - all relevant details included. It's be totally perfect if you'd have included a reference to the VBox.log file (menu: Machine->Show Logs..., uploaded to some pastebin server), because that'd have saved you some breath and provided even more detail. > I am getting IDE disk read and write errors. I have not been able to > associate these errors with any particular activity on the guest or the > host except that it seems like the errors are more likely to occur after > I have been communicating over sockets between the guest and the host. I > was running with both a bridged adapter and a NAT adapter. It seems to > be more stable (i.e. will run longer) after removing the NAT adapter. I > don't know if the networking has anything to do with the problem or is > just a coincidence. However, after seeing the errors on the guest, the > host will also exhibit errors such as "Insufficient resources to > complete the request" when trying to copy files or an inability to start > new applications. I usually need to restart my host machine in order to > clear these problems. That's a bit unclear - maybe the log would show hints what's going wrong if networking is added to the picture. > The errors occur somewhat randomly. I am usually able to run for 1 to as > many as 6 hours before experiencing a problem. Occasionally I can run > for a few hours and shut down without a problem. Once I get an error, it > will repeat continuously until I power off the VM. I cannot do a normal > shutdown. It's unusual that the problem you reported persists (see below). > I am seeing "PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error" and "PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: > disk write error" messages in the VirtualBox logs. I also see "Failed > opcode was: unknown", "hda: read_int: status = 0x41 {Drive Ready Error} > error = 0x10 {SectorIdNotFound}", and "EXT3-fs error in > start_transaction: Journal has aborted" errors displayed in the VM window. > > > > Upon restarting the VM, I do a file system integrity check. It will > sometimes pass without a problem. However it often finds various errors > including invalid attribute and inode reference counts, unattached > inodes, block bitmap differences, free blocks count wrong, and free > inodes count wrong. So far I have selected to fix these errors and the > VM will then boot successfully. > > > > I have run chkdsk on the host several times (before and after fixing the > vdi errors on rebooting the VM) and have not had any errors reported. > > > > My host configuration is: > > > > Windows XP Service Pack 2 > > Intel Core2 Duo CPU - T9600 at 2.80 GHz > [...] > > > > Additionally, I am running PGPDesktop disk encryption on the SATA hard > drive. I am also running the Cisco VPN Client in my host machine, but I > am not connected to the VPN when communicating between the guest and host. We had reports for other encryption software that it results in widely fluctuating write speeds, from near zero delay to many seconds. Those periods of really slow response time to writes are critical - some really picky guests allow a maximum of 10 seconds for a write command to complete once the the transfer to the device has begun. Others are less impatient, but generally it's not possible to meet the guest OS requirements if the disk image lives on an encrypted disk. You have a dual core system, so there's not much room if both encryption and the VM each fully utilize a core. > VirtualBox and Virtual Machine configuration: > > > > VirtualBox Version 3.1.2 r56127 > > CentOs Version 4.3 OS, Kernel version xxxx > [...] > > If anyone has a clue as to how to diagnose or fix this problem, it would > be greatly appreciated. Verifying my hypothesis is easy: move the disk image to a non-encrypted drive. Even an external USB disk should do. Klaus
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