Windows XP guests hang/freeze during and after setup with choppy audio

[Eddy Smith]

The Windows XP guest stops responding and hangs for while and then continues to work normally. After a little time it freezes/hangs again and the cycle continues. The mouse won't move whenever Windows XP freezes. This cycle starts of hangs start during the part of setup that occurs after entering the product key and while getting the dialog for network settings. Additionally, I get cycles of extremely choppy audio that almost sounds like a chainsaw during the "welcome to microsoft windows" screen. I haven't experienced any of this behavior with Windows Server 2003 guests so far which is weird given that the two OSes are similar.

[Eddy Smith]

The fourth sentence is suppose to be/read "The cycle of hangs starts during the part of setup that occurs after entering the product key and while getting the dialog for network settings."

[Eddy Smith]

The host is Windows 7 Professional.

[Eddy Smith]

I just created a new Windows Server 2003 guest/virtual machine with similar settings. I did not get any of the above mentioned problems during or after setup. I only get the above problems with Windows XP guests. I attached the logs of the Windows Server 2003 guest for comparison.

[Eddy Smith]

These problems do not occur in the x64 edition of Windows XP either. Only the 32-bit versions seem to be affected.

[Frank Mehnert]

Any improvement with 5.1.24?

[Eddy Smith]

I upgraded to 5.1.24 and the problem still occurs. I'll do a little more experimentation but I think I've identified the source. This problem does not happen when I change the Network Adapter to the AMD PCnet-FAST III adapter before running setup. It only occurs with the default (Intel) network adapter. I'll attach some new logs soon. My real physical network adapter is an Intel I219-V in case that's relevant.

[Socratis]

I've noticed that too completely by accident. I will do a more thorough investigation about this and post an update. Just letting you know for the moment that the Intel PRO/1000 T, causes freezes.

[Eddy Smith]

The cycle of hanging and freezes starts while "installing network" is on the screen after entering the product key. Setup became completely unresponsive during the "Network Settings" dialog for several minutes. I normally create VMs with the Network adapter enabled but disconnected until I'm ready to connect it to the internet. Not sure if whether the network adapter is connected is relevant.

[Eddy Smith]

I have a Windows XP install with the AMD PCnet-FAST III network adapter. The setup worked normally and without problem. It's a temporary workaround for the problem, I think. The log from during setup is attached.

[Socratis]

Here's the summary of my findings: if you have an "Intel PRO/1000 T Server" with a disconnected cable, WinXP freezes for ~30 sec, unfreezes for ~10 sec, freezes for ~30 sec, unfreezes for ~10 sec, etc, etc. This does NOT happen if the net card is the "PCnet/FAST III".

Documentation and logs in the forum post: ​WinXP with IntelPRO-T network card freezes if cable is disconnected. I created a new post in the forums just because there are a lot more eyes there that could verify (or not) the issue.

[Frank Mehnert]

For the record: The hang does not happen if you install the optional update for the E1000 driver in the WinXP guest.

[Socratis]

Replying to frank:

For the record: The hang does not happen if you install the optional update for the E1000 driver in the WinXP guest.

Which is not something that you can do during the setup phase. Updating the driver means having an already running instance of WinXP. That's running in circles...

[Eddy Smith]

This is a weird bug. I'm assuming that this does not occur on Windows Server 2003 because it has newer drivers built into the CD. I'll check into that. I'll try installing different versions of VirtualBox on my computers to see if any don't experience this problem in Windows XP.

[Socratis]

Replying to win_error:

I'm assuming that this does not occur on Windows Server 2003 because it has newer drivers built into the CD.

That would make sense, since the buggy driver for the E1000 is from 2001, and it must have been fixed after that date, but before 2003. I don't know if the bug was present in a physical system as well, but it may actually have been. Can't test it... ;)

Problem is now that either the VirtualBox team has to work around that bug, or revert setting the default NIC as the E1000 and go back to the PCnet one.