Re: VMware Server 1.0.5 build-80187 + host: ubuntu 6.06; Guest Windows XP freezing.

["Jorge L. Vazquez" <jlvazquez825 () gmail com>]

razi garbie wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> Some of you might advice me to post on the vmware forums, i've already
> done this and havent gotten any answers for a few days, the same goes
> for vmware "support" ticket...
>
> Im running several guests on my Ubuntu 6.06 machine and everyone is
> working smoothly except Windows XP Pro.
>
> The problem that im encountering is that XP freezes when i do minor
> stuff, such as firing up a browser. Sometimes it comes back to life
> after 10 minutes and sometimes it just stays in the freezed state. At
> first i thought it was the host messing stuff up, but ssh to the host.
>
> Im confident somethings up with the virtual CPU, due to the logs:
>
> -- snip:
> Jul 30 09:43:34: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0xf76bf062
> Jul 30 09:43:35: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0xf76bf062
> Jul 30 09:43:36: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0x806e2f45
> Jul 30 09:43:37: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0xf76bf062
> Jul 30 09:43:38: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0x806e2f33
> Jul 30 09:43:39: vcpu-0| VMSAMPLE32: cs=0x8, eip=0xf76bf062
> -- snip:
> (as you can see on the timestamps this message gets written in the log
> every second, twice a second if i use 2 VCPUs.)
>
> I only get this output in the vmware.log for XP and no other guest.
>
> Host information:
> Ubuntu 6.06, kernel: 2.6.15-51-server, 400GB HDD, 4GB RAM, Intel(R)
> Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
>
>
> XP Guest Information:
> Windows Pro XP, SP2, 20GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 1 Virtual CPU. (Vmware Tools installed)
>
> Troubleshooting ive done:
>
> Changed the RAM: 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB
> Switched between 1-2 V CPUs
> Disabled/Enabled CD-ROM drive and floppy drive
> Disabled/Enabled memory page trimming
> Disabled/Enabled acceleration
>
> I've monitored CPU and memory usage on the host, during bootup both
> CPU and mem are 100%, while XP is runnig CPU drops to 10-15% and mem
> to 30%. And stays stable.
> When i open up a browser (ive tried a few; opera, firefox, ie)
> everything go smooth for a few seconds and then all of sudden CPU and
> mem drops to 0% and its freezed.
>
> I've also built vmware 1.0.6 and the end result is the same, i've been
> thinking of testing 2.0 _beta_ (budget is too thin for ESX), whats
> your thoughts on that in a production environment?
>
> Any hits and/or help that leads to solving this is much appriciated!
>
>   
Have you thought of upgrading your version of ubuntu to 8.04?.... also 
check when you fire up your xp guest machine start the task manager, and 
watch for memory and cpu intensive processes... keep an eye out for any 
non responsive applications; if a specific app is not behaving I would 
remove it and reinstall it; also run some kind of AV and spyware 
removal, yes I know is a virtual machine, but they get infected just 
like a regular host.

Jorge
www.pctechtips.org