Fusion 3.1: Consistent slow down after 24 - 48 hours

[cfm56d7b]

I have been trying to find the root cause of this problem for a long time. Still working on it. Note of interest: this problem never happened with Fusion Version 2.

First - the environment:

- MBP 17", 2.4 GHz, 4 GB, pre unibody

- Mac OS X 10.6.4, VMware Fusion 3.1, one Win XP Pro SP3 virtual machine (1 processor, 512 MB)

Symptoms:

The entire Mac OS X suddenly becomes very sluggish (it's not gradual but sudden) after Fusion 3.1 has been running for 24 - 48 hours. Everything is slow - by at least 50%: opening files, opening applications, changing directories. I use VMware Fusion for two simple tasks: occasional Word editing and Quicken.

This problem does not occur if VMware Fusion 3.1 was never started.

I have been trying to narrow this down to a potential series of steps that might be causing this problem. Typical usage scenario during 24 - 48 hours:

- Start VMware Fusion

- Open Quicken / create few entries / close Quicken

- Minimize VM / may stay minimized for several hours or until the next day

- Sleep OS X (manually triggered)

- Wake up OS X

- Connect iPhone 3G via USB; prompt "Connect to Mac or Windows" appears; answer Mac

- Sync iPhone

- Maximize VM / repeat Quicken steps

- Minimize VM

- 2 or 3 more iPhone synchronization during the next few hours

- Few more sleep / wake up events

- Noticeable slow down returns

- It takes several minutes to shut down one VM (spinning "beach ball" before main VMware menu bar can be accessed)

Today, I left VM maximized and connected my iPhone 3G. No prompt "Connect to Mac or Windows' appeared. Instead - VM started to "beach ball".

I disconnected my iPhone 3G. "Beach ball" eventually disappeared in a few minutes but the entire system suddenly became sluggish, the very same problem I have been trying to diagnose.

Could this be USB related in any way? Does anyone have the same issue?

[reberts2]

I have experienced the same issues on 3.0/3.1 on two machines, a MacBook Pro, and a Mac Pro 4,1.

It seems hard to get back to 'snappy performance' even after restart of both virtual machine and Mac.

It has almost become unusable in the sense that navigation is snail like and so are apps.

I have optimized everything I can think of from past experience with no luck.

Also wonder if video card upgrade would improve performance of VM.

Going from a Geoforce 120 to a GTX 285?

Looking for solutions or abandoning VM.

Mac Pro 4,1 2.66, 6GB RAM

2 cores, 3 GB allocated to Fusion, Win XP SP3 and Win 7 64 bit

[cfm56d7b]

It's good to know that I am not alone experiencing this problem.

In my case, a reboot provides relief until the problem consistently resurfaces in 24 - 48 hours.

[admin]

My random guess would be that the virtual machine is getting swapped out since you're not using it, and it will be slow until it's swapped back in. Check Activity Monitor's System Memory tab for swap and Disk Activity tab to see if you're hitting the disk when the system is slow.

[cfm56d7b]

@etung,

Thanks for the suggestion. That's the first thing I checked. Once the slow down happens, it continues to be present even if all other applications are terminated. I do not see any swapping nor unusual disk activity.

[admin]

If you quit Fusion, does the system recover?

Have you looked at vmware.log, system.log, etc. for anything suspicious? Feel free to do a Help > Collect Support Information and post the resulting file for us to look at.

[cfm56d7b]

@etung,

The system does not recover when Fusion quits. In fact, it takes several minutes for VM to completely shutdown ("beach ball" spinning during this time) and then quit Fusion. VMware menu is not available while VM is shutting down.

The entries from vmware.log are from the last time my MBP experienced a slow down:

Jun 30 10:29:20.785: UsbArbitrator| USBGM: Stale autoconnect lockout on port fa200000 expired 107081 ms ago

Jun 30 10:32:05.635: UsbArbitrator| USBGM: Stale autoconnect lockout on port fa200000 expired 115619 ms ago

Jun 30 10:33:12.399: UsbArbitrator| UsbdUpdatePreferencesNotificationCallback

Jun 30 12:28:20.975: vmfusion| SnapshotTree: Populating (/Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx)

Jun 30 12:28:25.813: vmfusion| /vm/#88d0d96bf7901a46/: VMHSVMCbPower: Setting state of VM to powerOff with option soft

Jun 30 12:28:25.813: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Disconnect check in progress.

Jun 30 12:28:25.840: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Disconnect check in progress.

Jun 30 12:28:25.840: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Power state request "done" without disconnect, checking for disconnect.

Jun 30 12:28:25.840: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Disconnect check in progress.

Jun 30 12:29:33.363: vmfusion| vmdbPipe_Streams Couldn't read: OVL_STATUS_EOF

Jun 30 12:29:33.363: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe: Read failed

Jun 30 12:29:33.653: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:29:33.655: vmfusion| SetKeyBindings: the MKS is not present so trying to set keybindings will not actually work.

Jun 30 12:29:33.663: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:29:33.663: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:29:33.703: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:30:41.947: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:30:41.947: vmfusion| SetKeyBindings: the MKS is not present so trying to set keybindings will not actually work.

Jun 30 12:30:41.955: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:30:41.955: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:30:41.955: vmfusion| Internal VMDB error: Pipe connection has been broken

Jun 30 12:30:41.960: vmfusion| Setting power state poweredOff (reported)

Jun 30 12:30:55.369: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Disconnect check in progress.

Jun 30 12:30:55.369: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Unmounting the vm.

Jun 30 12:30:55.370: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: VMDB unmount initiated.

Jun 30 12:30:55.370: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Unmounting VM complete.

Jun 30 12:30:55.398: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Mount state values have changed.

Jun 30 12:30:55.399: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Mount state values have changed.

Jun 30 12:30:55.399: vmfusion| /Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx: Reloading config state.

Jun 30 12:30:55.952: vmfusion| VMHS: Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff

Jun 30 12:30:55.963: vmfusion| SetKeyBindings: the MKS is not present so trying to set keybindings will not actually work.

Jun 30 12:31:48.394: vmfusion| SetKeyBindings: the MKS is not present so trying to set keybindings will not actually work.

Jun 30 12:31:48.409: vmfusion| SetKeyBindings: the MKS is not present so trying to set keybindings will not actually work.

Jun 30 12:31:48.425: vmfusion| Setting power state poweredOff (reported)

Jun 30 12:31:48.960: vmfusion| SOCKET 1 (8) recv detected client closed connection

Jun 30 12:31:49.002: vmfusion| Detected automation socket close for VM (/Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx)

Jun 30 12:31:49.549: vmfusion| Vix: : Error VIX_E_VM_NOT_RUNNING in FoundryAsyncOp_OnVMDisconnected(): Cancelled active op VIX_COMMAND_LIST_USB_DEVICES (cookie 41)

Jun 30 12:31:49.549: vmfusion|

Jun 30 12:31:49.549: vmfusion| Vix: : Error VIX_E_VM_NOT_RUNNING in FoundryAsyncOp_OnVMDisconnected(): Cancelled active op VIX_COMMAND_GET_VMX_DEVICE_STATE (cookie 40)

Jun 30 12:31:49.549: vmfusion|

Jun 30 12:31:49.562: vmfusion| Vix: : Error VIX_E_VM_NOT_RUNNING in FoundryAsyncOp_OnVMDisconnected(): Cancelled active op VIX_COMMAND_LIST_USB_DEVICES (cookie 39)

Jun 30 12:31:49.562: vmfusion|

Jun 30 12:31:49.562: vmfusion| Vix: : Error VIX_E_VM_NOT_RUNNING in FoundryAsyncOp_OnVMDisconnected(): Cancelled active op VIX_COMMAND_GET_TOOLS_STATE (cookie 38)

Jun 30 12:31:49.562: vmfusion|

Jun 30 12:31:49.621: vmfusion| SnapshotTree: Emitting refresh (/Users/Shared/VMware/Win XP Pro SP3.vmwarevm/Win XP Pro SP3.vmx)

Jun 30 12:32:43.929: vmfusion| VixVM_FinalRelease: Close VM socket.

Jun 30 12:32:43.937: UsbArbitrator| UsbdHostCleanUp

[macdude22]

I have the same issue but I've never found a solution. After upgrading to Fusion 3 My Mac Pro within 1-2 Days will become completely unresponsive. If I can manage to get Fusion quit at that point it speeds up some but it's still sluggish. If I do not fire up Fusion I can leave this thing for days to weeks with nary a problem.

A reboot usually nets me another day to two of expedient use.

Fusion 3.1 did not solve the issue.

Reinstalling Fusion has not solved the issue.

I have a Mac Pro 2x2 Ghz

Mac OS 10.6.4

6GB RAM (Verified Good)

4 500GB 7200 RPM WD Drives (Verified Good)

This problem did not occur at all with Fusion 2. But has been consistant every since upgrading to Fusion 3. I've just gotten in the habbit of restarting every two days, whence I used to restart once a month for updates. Any help would be appreciated, I'm happy to provide logs, etc....

I've watched activity monitor like a hawk and when it occurs all 4 cores are not taxed, system memory is not full, Page Outs are low, Disk Activity is Low, nothing out of the ordinary other than the entire system grinding to a near halt.

Message was edited by: macdude22

[user2938743]

I had a similar problem. I would frequently receive the beach ball of death, and it would annoyingly lock up OS 10.6.4 -- sometimes for several minutes! This is not the OS X I knew! Restarting my iMac would temporarily fix the problem, but the beach ball would return, sometimes within minutes or hours, sometimes within days. I would also see the beach ball frequently when using Firefox 3.6.6 to 3.6.8, but not as often as with VMware Fusion 3.1. I eventually determined the cause of my problem to be bad sectors on my hard drive. Strangely, TechTool Pro sometimes reported a problem but sometimes did not. When I was able to confirm bad sectors with Apple Hardware Test, I had Apple replace the hard drive under warranty and I have had no similar problems since.

Initially it seemed to me as though Fusion was the problem, but I think now that that was because Fusion was so large that it covered enough parts of the bad sectors so as to be more problematic than other apps. Thinking there was some kind of corruption in my preferences or user account, I created a new user account and did not see the same beach ball of death in it, but I also did not test Fusion in that account. At another point I thought that Sophos Anti-Virus was the problem because I saw it using the most CPU in Activity Monitor when OS X was hung, but uninstalling Sophos did not help. In retrospect, I realized that Sophos was simply trying to do its on-access scanning of files located on bad sectors which locked it up somehow because it was trying to read data that could not be read. This problem was very frustrating to deal with, but it has taught me (again) to continue digging for answers when you have not resolved the problem and that what initially seems to be the problem is not always the true cause of the problem.

[jpa8r]

I've also had the same experience with Fusion 3 and windows xp sp3 on a 3-year old macbook pro.

For me, it seems that it occurs after the computer has been put to sleep (manually). As soon as I do a sleep wake cycle, the slowdown occurs and only a reboot gets me back to normal (quitting fusion, and even the fusion processes using activity monitor, doesn't help). Not sure if I've ever had a slow down without a sleep, but sleep/wake will definitely do it.

Try leaving your mac on for a day or two and see if that changes things...not convenient I know, but at least might help us narrow down the problem.

[macdude22]

My Mac Pro never sleeps.

Bad drives being exasperated by the VM usage was one of my first thoughts. I ordered new WD Blue drives for my Mac Pro and low level formatted them for propensities sake. Reinstalled OS X 10.6 fresh, the whole 9 yards. This did nothing to resolve the issues.

My co-worker has the same problem but a third one of us doesn't, however his Mac Pro is a slightly newer model. I'm actually wondering if it's something related to the GFX card interacting with Fusion, which Is a crappy nvidia 7300. A random hunch more than anything. But I really don't know. There doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to the problems. I switched to Parallels who gave us 19 dollar cross grades for our fusion licences. Parallels 5 has been functioning stupendously and my Mac Pro has had 14 days of uptime since with no issue (with the VMs left open).

I don't have time to dick with Fusion this much, I'll consider switching back if VMware fixes the performance issues. We're generally a VMware shop (many a virtualized server) so the serious drop in quality from Fusion 2 to 3 was very disappointing.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Hate to point this out, but windows also becomes unstable after 24-48 hours up

Right off, I'd suggest making sure you sleep the guest OS, rather than letting the host force it to sleep. You might even sleep the guest rather than minimizing it.

[rharlow]

I don't have time to dick with Fusion this much, I'll consider switching back if VMware fixes the performance issues. We're generally a VMware shop (many a virtualized server) so the serious drop in quality from Fusion 2 to 3 was very disappointing.

I could not agree more! I've wasted too many hours on this POS software. Have you heard of any other virtual apps that work?

[macdude22]

I switched to back to Parallels 5 and I've had no issues since. Feel free to PM me for more details on my migration

-alex-

[rharlow]

Downloading now Wish me luck.

I'll let you know if/how it works out.

[Kenneth868]

Good to know I'm not alone on this issue. My solution was to completely remove Fusion from my MacBook Pro and rely on others solutions for using Windows on my Mac. Surprisingly the symptom does not occur anymore so I doubt, in my case, it was related with faulty hardware.

[padrino121]

Once OSX starts relying on virtual memory (on disk) it seems to never do a good job of recovering. I have seen this problem with anything that starts to exhaust RAM, I can even do it just by opening too many apps on my box, once I close them all the box will still grind no matter what I do, only a reboot will fix it, I observe this up to 10.6.4 so it's a current issue.

I haven't watched VMware Fusion close enough as I just switch to it from Parallels so I can run embedded ESX (long story but I keep getting kernel panics after an hour or so, I have an active support request with VMware) but I suspect it's an issue with OSX handling the VM subsystem poorly. On Linux I know how to monitor but off the top of my head I'm not sure how to monitor on OSX, I imagine XCode has some tools kicking around to check it out.

[sdw]

The slow downs noted here have been an issue since 3.1, and I just experienced it more expanded (in affecting XP now) with the 3.1.1 update. I've duplicated it on 3 different machines. Downgrading Fusion has been the only solution.

In the release notes for 3.1.1 it mentions downgrading the VM to the pre-version 7, which did help initially. But in less than half a day, system was unusable until I killed VMWare...

I'm not sure why VMWare is so dense on this, it is a major bug or set of bugs. I've had every version of VMWare desktop since the week they started shipping in 1999 or something and never had this kind of issue.

Stephen

[rcardona2k]

Can you see what Activity Monitor shows you? Maybe there's a memory leak a system component, not necessarily even Fusion. I leave my Fusion machines running 24x7 either XP or Win7 depending on my needs and I never experience a slowdown. Currently my XP machine has been running since the last Microsoft monthly patches with no slowdowns.

[sdw]

I'll try to get time to trigger it again soon. However, note that this is on a laptop with 8GB RAM. My earlier problems with 3.1 were on systems with 16GB or 12GB of RAM. The memory usage does not seem unusual. This is with VMs with between 1-3GB of RAM allocated.

As I mentioned, I did see in the release notes the step of downgrading the VM hardware version as a possible solution. This fixed the problem immediately after upgrading to 3.1.1, however I was back to a severe problem later in the day several times. I had to force kill Fusion and restart, and the whole system locked up twice and had to be power cycled. This on a machine that doesn't normally get rebooted for weeks at a time which is used for constant development.