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Nazgulled
Contributor
Contributor

Arch Linux Guest Crashes/Freezes Windows Vista Host - PLEASE HELP!

Hi,

I just installed Arch Linux in VMware Workstation 6.5 and after the first boot just right after the installation (meaning, nothing else but the base system was installed/configured) I can barely use the virtual machien without having the host freezing. I'm just there, in the console and it freezes everything without me doing nothing. Most of the times, I just type "reboot" and it freezes the host machine. Other times, I could type other things, like "ls", or "cd <dir>" and then "cd ..", and after a few seconds, boom, host freezes.

By freezes I mean I have to press the power off button for a few seconds to turn off the computer and reboot (laptop, no reset button).

I've been searching google for the past hours and couldn't find the cause and/or solution for the problem, this is driving me nuts. I installed VirtualBox just to test if the same thing happened and it didn't, it works fine on VirtualBox, but due to other issues, I can't swap to VirtualBox at the moment.

Please, somone, help me out fix this issue in VMware, I can't understand why it crashes the host system, there's no reason for that to happen...

Message was edited by: oreeh

Reason: removed the emoticon from the subject

Oliver Reeh

VMware Communities User Moderator

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

post the vmware.log - it is in the same directory as your Arch Linux VM

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Nazgulled
Contributor
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I deleted the whole VM... :smileyshocked:

I was kinda in a hurry to have Arch running because I need it for university and couldn't wait for someone to help out and risk myself missing the projects deadline...

But I don't the log would help, I mean, I opened the log when I was at the console, logged in, waiting for any command... I noticed that the last line was 1701, then I type "reboot" and the host crashed. I rebooted, opened the log file and the last line was still 1701. I'm not a VMware expert but I think this means that everything that was outputed to the log file was BEFORE the crash, and I'm not sure if that information is relevant to my problem.

But I don't mind creating the image again and post the necessary log file if you think it's useful...

I'm running VirtualBox at the moment but I would really prefer to use VMware, though I'm already in the middle of installing software and configuring the whole system... But I can alwaus use qemu to convert the .vdi image to .vmdk or is this not safe

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

I was only interested in the lines before the crash Smiley Wink

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Nazgulled
Contributor
Contributor

Gimme a few minutes and I think I will be able to post the log, if not, in a couple of hours it will be here...

But, do you think it's safe to convert VirtualBox .vdi images to VMware .vmdk images or not? I just need to make sure that I use the apropriate Xorg drivers, network configuration and such, right?

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

A fresh setup inside VMware would surely produce better results

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Nazgulled
Contributor
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It doesn't matter, qemu wasn't able to successfully convert the image and I'll have to do a fresh install anyways... I have also deleted Arch iso and I'm downloading it again right now. I might not be able to post the log just yet cause the connection is a bit slow...

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Nazgulled
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I've attached the log file...

For the record, I just tried to disable every non-Microsoft service (except all 4 VMware ones) and all startup entries, all this using msconfig tool but the problem persisted. I thought that maybe something that I have installed could be the culprit, but I guess it's not...

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

maybe the AMD-virtual nic is a problem ...

try to add this line to the vmx-file

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Nazgulled
Contributor
Contributor

Didn't work...

But, you did say the problem could be on the soundcard but the line you asked me to add to the .vmx file is about ethernet?

EDIT:

I see you have edited your post Smiley Happy

Another thing, I already had this problem in the past with Ubuntu (sse: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/101023) but nobody replied me and I forgot about it... But it's basically the same issue. Now that I look at it, Arch Linux freezes, Ubuntu freezes, the only distro I'm able to run without problems in VMware, so far, is Gentoo, but I need Arch at the moment...

I've attched the new log file in case it's needed.

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Scissor
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Another thing, I already had this problem in the past with Ubuntu (sse: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/101023) but nobody replied me and I forgot about it... But it's basically the same issue.

Are you still using the same Host computer today that you were using when you made your previous post in 2007?

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Nazgulled
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Yes.

The laptop is the same one. I might have formated and reinstalled Windows, but it's the same version (maybe I didn't have SP1 at the time) and I use most of the same software as back then and do the same old things.

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Scissor
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

What model laptop is it?

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Nazgulled
Contributor
Contributor

LG LW65 Express. It's about 3 years old...

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Nazgulled
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Little update...

I've been reading that NAT gives a few problems and decided to try bridge networking instead. It didn't work, the host still freezed. Then I decided to keep the bridge networking configured but readd the line ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" to the .vmx file (I removed it when it didn't work in the first place). This is when I was able to boot, type reboot and the system rebooted... However, I logged in again, tried to reboot again and this time, it froze the host. Decided to try once more but it didn't help, still freezes the host everytime. Anyway, I've also attached the log file for this situation where I was able to execute the "reboot" command one time...

I'm testing another thing and I'll post back the results in a few minutes...

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Nazgulled
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Update about failed solution Smiley Sad

What I was trying was to reinstall Arch Linux but this time without even adding a network adapter to the VM, to simulate a computer without any type of network adapter. I also tried to configure the "rc.conf" file without any network parameters. I was able to reboot 2 times like this but it failed in the third attempt. Then, I tried to boot a few more times and just playing around in the console, for instance, pressing the up/down arrow keys to go through the command history, freezed the host. Although, I could still see "starting network" in the Arch Linux boot process... Maybe I didn't disable everything related to the network. I was trying all this to see if the network is the culprit or not...

I also tried to disable the VMware network adapters installed in the Host and also disable the DHCP and NAT services related to VMware, didn't help. The system still freezed.

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Scissor
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Can you point me to the exact ISO that you are using to install Arch Linux so that I can try installing it on my own system?

Regarding your laptop, have you checked to make sure you have the latest BIOS installed and the latest drivers for your NIC card? Does your laptop NIC card have any advanced properties called "Task Offload" or other "Offload" settings that you can (temporarily) disable to see if it makes a difference?

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Nazgulled
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The ISO I use is this one:

LG sucks on that end, not ever they released driver updates, specially BIOS updates. I never saw one single driver (update or current) for the laptop BIOS. I'm going to look for driver updates in the NIC manufacturer website though. But, should I be looking drivers for both the wired and wireless adapters? I'm currently connected by wireless (the problem did occur when I was using the wired connection too).

Regarding the "offload" settings I see 2:

  • TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)

  • UDP Checksum Offload (IPv)

Should I try disable them and see if it helps?

-


UPDATE:

Updated the wired adapter drivers (there are no updated version for the wireless one), disable the "offload" settings, I even disabled all network adapters (including VMware virtual ones), removed the network adapters from the VM, completetly disabled the network in the guest machine this time at another reinstall (didn't see the "starting network" message at boot). The problem still persists... Maybe this means the problem is not about the network?

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Scissor
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Personally I would look for updated NIC drivers before changing settings, but yes you could try turning off those two Checksum properties first to see if it makes a difference.

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Nazgulled
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Contributor

I updated my previous post, please take a look at it..

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