guest freezes with ehci enabled

[Benjamin Kay]

The guest is Windows XP Professional and the host is Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 on an x86_64 processor with VT-x. VirtualBox 1.5.4 introduces ehci emulation (thank you!), but with the "Enable USB EHCI Controller" boxed checked, the guest freezes whenever a USB device is captured.

After starting the virtual machine, but before capturing a USB 2.0 flash drive:

$ VBoxManage list usbhost
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.4
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Host USB Devices:

UUID:               afd573ca-83c7-4b6b-ad95-b9d32b6e09b1
VendorId:           0x0483 (0483)
ProductId:          0x2016 (2016)
Revision:           0.1 (0001)
Manufacturer:       STMicroelectronics
Product:            Biometric Coprocessor
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/001/004
Current State:      Available

UUID:               b86a408b-186d-4a23-06a7-9b055f334a7f
VendorId:           0x0d7d (0D7D)
ProductId:          0x1900 (1900)
Revision:           1.0 (0100)
Product:            USB2.0 Flash Dri
SerialNumber:       5F5B036B004E
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/006/003
Current State:      Available

UUID:               536d4bf0-b220-435b-cbb3-e067fa4151be
VendorId:           0x17ef (17EF)
ProductId:          0x1004 (1004)
Revision:           3.32 (0332)
Manufacturer:       Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd.
Product:            Integrated Camera
SerialNumber:       SN0001
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/007/003
Current State:      Busy

When I try to capture the USB 2.0 flash drive, the guest freezes. There is no blue screen, it simply becomes unresponsive. VirtualBox itself does not freeze. The log indicates:

4772:26:14.502 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:26:14.506 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:26:14.508 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:26:17.754 VUSB: attached '00002aaaac0f6070[proxy 0d7d:1900]' to port 1

And:

$ VBoxManage list usbhost
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.4
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Host USB Devices:

UUID:               afd573ca-83c7-4b6b-ad95-b9d32b6e09b1
VendorId:           0x0483 (0483)
ProductId:          0x2016 (2016)
Revision:           0.1 (0001)
Manufacturer:       STMicroelectronics
Product:            Biometric Coprocessor
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/001/004
Current State:      Available

UUID:               b86a408b-186d-4a23-06a7-9b055f334a7f
VendorId:           0x0d7d (0D7D)
ProductId:          0x1900 (1900)
Revision:           1.0 (0100)
Product:            USB2.0 Flash Dri
SerialNumber:       5F5B036B004E
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/006/003
Current State:      Captured

UUID:               536d4bf0-b220-435b-cbb3-e067fa4151be
VendorId:           0x17ef (17EF)
ProductId:          0x1004 (1004)
Revision:           3.32 (0332)
Manufacturer:       Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd.
Product:            Integrated Camera
SerialNumber:       SN0001
Address:            /proc/bus/usb/007/003
Current State:      Busy

The guest still freezes if VT-x is disabled.

---

With the "Enable USB EHCI Controller" box unchecked it is possible to capture and use the same USB 2.0 flash drive without the guest freezing. However a similar error still appears in the log when the device is captured:

4772:25:07.222 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:25:07.225 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:25:07.228 ERROR [COM]: aRC=0x80070057 aIID={e31f3248-90dd-4ca2-95f0-6b3604$
4772:25:08.273 VUSB: attached '0000000000bed850[proxy 0d7d:1900]' to port 1
4772:25:08.278 OHCI: USB Operational

The complete log files for both instances are attached.

[oudalrich]

I have exactly the same problem. I can only add that one CPU core remains pegged at 100% usage from the moment the USB device is captured until I "power off" the virtual machine.

[Benjamin Kay]

The bug persists in VirtualBox 1.5.6 with the same output in the log file.

[Sander van Leeuwen]

Try again with 1.6.0 and report back if it's still relevant. Thanks.

[Benjamin Kay]

Sorry, but the bug persists in 1.6.0, this time with a Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron host. I've noticed that the bug only manifests itself as a hang when the guest is using the network adapter. (See bug #1464.) If the network adapter is disabled, or if the adapter is enabled but the guest has no drivers for it, then the bug manifests itself as a "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" rather than a hang.

I've noticed that USB support has been somewhat of an issue with VirtualBox on GNU/Linux hosts. In fact, I've yet to get ehci to work under a GNU/Linux host even once since bug #612 has been closed (although others report that they have). The developers know what's best, but I think closing bug #747 may fix a lot of these bugs (#574, #1003, #1047, #1103, #1155) including this one, or at least make it easier to figure out what's going wrong.

Please let me know if I can provide any more information that would be of help.

[Frank Mehnert]

Solving #747 (detecting /dev/bus/usb on Ubuntu hosts) will not solve any freeze, it will only allow VBox to detect USB devices on hosts with disabled /proc/bus/usb file system. Please could you provide a VBox.log file after the hang appeared?

[Benjamin Kay]

Of course. Here's the Windows XP guest taking about half a minute to generate a Code 10 with the network adapter disabled in the VirtualBox settings manager. And here's the Windows XP guest hanging instantly (sans blue screen) upon USB device insertion with the network adapter enabled. Starting Windows XP with the USB device already inserted produces similar results.

[Benjamin Kay]

Guest Windows XP generating a Code 10 in VirtualBox 1.6.0 running on x86_64 Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron host.

[Benjamin Kay]

Guest Windows XP hanging in VirtualBox 1.6.0 running on x86_64 Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron host.

[Frank Mehnert]

Does anything change if you disable VT-x for that VM?

[Benjamin Kay]

I've found the problem, and it has little to do with VirtualBox. When installing Windows XP, I pressed F5 while booting the installation CD and selected the i486 installation profile. This has been suggested in a number of places (like the QEMU forums) as a way to improve performance and avoid APIC compatibility issues. Well, it turns out that this little extra step breaks ehci in VirtualBox (USB works fine with ehci disabled). USB 2.0 now works fine for me after installing Windows XP normally. This would explain why so few people are affected by this bug.

Please mark this bug as fixed in 1.6.0. If anyone really needs ehci to work in XP using the i486 installation profile, he can open a new ticket for it.

And no, nothing changes if I disable VT-x. As an aside, ehci also works fine with a Ubuntu 8.04 guest.

[hacki]

I got this problem too.

Host: Mandriva linux 2008.1, on 2 machines - one with a self-compiled 2.6.25.6 kernel, the other with the mandriva stock kernel (2.6.24.5). Guest is windows XP prof.

And although i never used the i486 installation profile, my windows installation hangs, if ehci is enabled. If enabled after the installation, it hangs after the boot as soon as windows detects the new "hardware".

It doesnt matter wich other settings i'm using (ACPI, APIC, PAE and so on..), it's always the same problem. EHCI just doesnt work for me. I can live without it, but i thought such a major problem is worth reporting anyways..

[thibaut]

I have the very same problem here with Windows XP guest, Mac OS host and Virtualbox 2.0.0 (latest guest additions installed). The guest freezes displaying the new hardware info bubble.

[Frank Mehnert]

Please reopen this ticket if this problem still persists with VirtualBox 2.2.2.

[jesterfred]

Version 3.0.12 r54655 hangs during boot if EHCI (USB 2.0) Support is enabled. I have Ubuntu 9.10 amd64 with Windows SP 2 with the latest updates installed. I can use USB without a problem so long as I do not enable the EHCI USB 2.0 suport. When I enable that, the Windows XP guest hangs during boot. The Windows XP logo and marching blue ants bar come up. Then the screen goes top black and the guest hangs. It is a standard installation of Windows XP.

[jeffrey Parke]

I too am affected by this bug in the ehci system. I was installing windows 7 in virtualbox 3.1.2 and it would constantly freeze at random times. I didn't know why until now. I moved to vmware for a while then I discovered virtualbox 3.1.4 beta 1 and I am using that currently. 3.1.4 beta 1 still has this freezing bug in it, but by disabling usb support it seems snappy and fast with no freezes.

[Frank Mehnert]

Hmm, when you experiences these freezes, is there any USB device attached to the guest?

[jeffrey Parke]

Replying to frank:

Hmm, when you experiences these freezes, is there any USB device attached to the guest?

No nothing was attached to the machines. I did try to mount a usb stick in my windows 7, but that did work anyway. Like I said, they tend to freeze at boot or slightly after, and a majority of the time with nothing insterted.

[Sander van Leeuwen]

ringmaster: attach the VBox.log of that session please.

[jeffrey Parke]

here's a few logs during the moments of freezing on both xp and 7 guests. Hopefully that tells something. windows 7 did freeze on me during install with usb enabled, but nothing attached and it was perfect and fast with usb disabled. *shrugs*

​http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/1/23/2736138/error%20logs.tar.gz

[Frank Mehnert]

Please reopen if this problem is still relevant with VBox 4.0.12.