Linux guests do not restart

[stillwatersc]

I have an i7 ASUS box, 8 vCPUs, 16GByte of memory, and Workstation 9 running on Windows 8. I come from VMware Player which had the same issues, so I wanted to upgrade to the supported product but it seems to have the same problem.

I can install and run 64-bit Linux guests, Ubuntu and CentOS. However, when I restart the VMs they fail to boot, without any visual/textual feedback. I have suspected the USB support, so I have enumerated all the configurations of enabling/disabling/filtering any of the USB devices and bridges, but the same behavior remains. I also have completely removed the USB support and same results. The behavior is always the same: I can install and use a 64-bit guest OS, but the next time I try to start it, it fails to boot without visual feedback.

Another tidbit of information, in one of the VMs I was able to successfully start and run, it went into sleep mode and resuming the VM generated a failure with a dialog that stated something like: the underlying hardware platform is different from the platform on which the VM was configured. this may lead to failures, do you want to continue. I continued and got an error saying the the XSAVE CPU instruction was not supported.

Is there any support tools that folks can point me to so at least observe the boot log to see where it gets stuck?

[mfelker]

Is there any support tools that folks can point me to so at least observe the boot log to see where it gets stuck?

Yes.  Attach the vmware.log (zipped please - it can be long). 

[stillwatersc]

Awesome! now at least we have a window into the mess.

This is what it is hung up on:

....

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Failed to enforce the noRxLoss option: an overrun occurred while the virtual UART was in loopback mode.

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Failed to enforce the noRxLoss option: an overrun occurred while the virtual UART was in loopback mode.

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Failed to enforce the noRxLoss option: an overrun occurred while the virtual UART was in loopback mode.

2013-05-22T14:50:01.750-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial0: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.771-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.771-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.771-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-22T14:50:01.771-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

.....

[stillwatersc]

Here is the failure mode when I use the defaults of VMware Workstation 9 and I wait for the serial thingy to settle:

....

2013-05-23T09:33:38.721-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-23T09:33:38.722-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-23T09:33:38.757-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: UHCI: HCReset

2013-05-23T09:33:45.186-04:00| vmx| I120: USB: Connecting device 0xc00000000e0f0008

2013-05-23T09:33:45.186-04:00| vmx| W110: Bluetooth host backend not available.

2013-05-23T09:34:15.187-04:00| vmx| I120: USB: Connecting device 0xc00000000e0f0008

2013-05-23T09:34:15.187-04:00| vmx| W110: Bluetooth host backend not available.

2013-05-23T09:34:31.695-04:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.

....... hung

gonna google that last line....

[stillwatersc]

Apparently, it wasn't done yet:

....

2013-05-23T09:33:38.721-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-23T09:33:38.722-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: serial1: Overrun

2013-05-23T09:33:38.757-04:00| vcpu-0| I120: UHCI: HCReset

2013-05-23T09:33:45.186-04:00| vmx| I120: USB: Connecting device 0xc00000000e0f0008

2013-05-23T09:33:45.186-04:00| vmx| W110: Bluetooth host backend not available.

2013-05-23T09:34:15.187-04:00| vmx| I120: USB: Connecting device 0xc00000000e0f0008

2013-05-23T09:34:15.187-04:00| vmx| W110: Bluetooth host backend not available.

2013-05-23T09:34:31.695-04:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.

2013-05-23T09:36:31.935-04:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox timed out.

2013-05-23T09:36:31.935-04:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [7308 guestCommands.c:1926]: Error VIX_E_TOOLS_NOT_RUNNING in VMAutomationTranslateGuestRpcError(): VMware Tools are not running in the guest

2013-05-23T09:43:30.561-04:00| vmx| I120: Tools: No activity for 10 minutes, resetting Tools version.

2013-05-23T09:43:30.561-04:00| vmx| I120: ToolsSetVersionWork did nothing; new tools version (0) matches old Tools version

2013-05-23T11:30:21.389-04:00| WinNotifyThread| I120: WinNotify: System suspend detected.

2013-05-23T11:30:23.201-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:1

2013-05-23T11:30:23.201-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 5 to 7

2013-05-23T11:30:23.201-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:0

2013-05-23T11:30:23.201-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 7 to 2

2013-05-23T11:59:11.857-04:00| WinNotifyThread| I120: WinNotify: Resuming system, telling guest to sync time. (Result of IsSystemResumeAutomatic(): FALSE)

2013-05-23T11:59:12.184-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:1

2013-05-23T11:59:12.184-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 2 to 0

2013-05-23T11:59:12.184-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:0

2013-05-23T11:59:12.184-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 0 to 2

2013-05-23T11:59:16.570-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: ethernet0: state from 2 to 6

2013-05-23T11:59:16.671-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: ethernet0: state from 6 to 1

2013-05-23T11:59:18.248-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:0, adapter:1

2013-05-23T11:59:18.248-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 1 to 3

2013-05-23T11:59:18.248-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: event, up:1, adapter:0

2013-05-23T11:59:18.248-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateEventHandler: ethernet0 state from 3 to 2

2013-05-23T11:59:23.287-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: ethernet0: state from 2 to 6

2013-05-23T11:59:23.388-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: ethernet0: state from 6 to 1

2013-05-23T11:59:28.428-04:00| vmx| I120: VNET: MACVNetLinkStateTimerHandler: ethernet0: state from 1 to 5

2013-05-23T11:59:48.842-04:00| vmx| I120: USBGW: Write arbitrator op:13 len:28

2013-05-23T11:59:54.849-04:00| vmx| I120: USBGW: Write arbitrator op:13 len:28

.... still hung

As you can see, the Ubuntu install script has been running but got stuck around here:

2013-05-23T09:43:30.561-04:00| vmx| I120: Tools: No activity for 10 minutes, resetting Tools version.

2013-05-23T09:43:30.561-04:00| vmx| I120: ToolsSetVersionWork did nothing; new tools version (0) matches old Tools version

then went into hibernation, and when given a key stroke around 11:59am, woke up and continue its stuckness.

so the VM is looping on something, question is what.

[mfelker]

What happens when you AD a serial port (using the I will install the OS later mode) - the last screen VMware Settings (you probably will remove the floppy device -perhaps). If you  repost the vmware.log again we might come even closer to teh problem.

[stillwatersc]

When the VM powers up, I get a dialog:

"Cannot connect the virtual device serial1 because no corresponding device is available on the host.

Do you want to try to connect this virtual device every time you power on the virtual machine?"

and the log shows the same serial port errors.

[stillwatersc]

over the hump.....

I have two working VMs, one Ubuntu, one CentOS, both have successfully installed and added VMware tools and cycled through a couple of suspends.

This box is an ASUS Ivy Bridge with USB3.0 and USB2.0 bridges. In the BIOS there are options how to treat USB legacy. I had enabled USB legacy support, and that appears to have put the USB bridge in a state that isn't compatible. Turning it to an ASUS specific "AUTO", which indicates that it will initialize a legacy USB device if it is present, and disable the legacy support if it isn't, solved the immediate problem of not booting, and subsequent problem of surviving a suspend.

My confidence in the VMware software is just shot, so I am hesitant to call this solved, but at least I am up and running.

[K2JHoughton]

You need to add a Serial Port to the VM.  When you start it back up, just choose the option for removing the unused virtual device.

--Jody

[scott28tt]

@K2JHoughton 

I would hope this issue is resolved for the user, the thread has been dormant for nearly 8 years.