VirtualBox

Opened 15 years ago

Closed 8 years ago

#2985 closed defect (obsolete)

no screen refresh until some change is made "inside" host -> obsolete

Reported by: Maciej Pilichowski Owned by:
Component: 3D support Version: VirtualBox 2.1.0
Keywords: Cc:
Guest type: Linux Host type: Windows

Description (last modified by Frank Mehnert)

I run KDE4Daily as guest (host: Vista). After first login&logout from KDE session (within guest) I return to WDM. At that point through log in, entering KDE again, till logging out again there are no automatic screen refreshes at all.

The screen looks static, in order to see what is going on on the screen I have to keep clicking mouse outside the guest screen (for in example in VirtualBox menu, or in _host_ taskbar). Such manual refresh works fine, the screen is not distorted. Of course the point is the screen refresh should be done automatically as always.

Video card: intel 4500 mhd.

Attachments (2)

VBox.log.norefresh (114.5 KB ) - added by jrminky 11 years ago.
Refresh Issue.PNG (322.3 KB ) - added by Colin McT 9 years ago.
Screen not re-painting unless change happens in guest, in this case change is right clicking to open menu repaints a portion of the screen

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (35)

comment:1 by Frank Mehnert, 15 years ago

Do you have the guest additions installed? Did you ever try an older version of VirtualBox, for instance 2.0.6?

comment:2 by Maciej Pilichowski, 15 years ago

Additions -- of course, without it I would not get the screen resize on guest system at all.

No, I didn't try previous versions of VB (I mean for this issue, because I use VB for some quite time, but on Vista for the first time and with 2.1).

comment:3 by Frank Mehnert, 15 years ago

Then this problem might be related to #2771.

comment:4 by Maciej Pilichowski, 15 years ago

It might. But note for me works everything with one exception -- when the window is maximized.

It this window would be resized to maximum (this is quite different than maximized) then it would work.

comment:5 by bbreslauer, 15 years ago

(This used to be in 3096, but it was a different bug) I'm having a very similar problem. I'm running 2.1.4 on a Debian etch host with Debian sid/experimental on the guest, with kde 4.2. Both host and guest are running kernel 2.6.26. When KDE loads in the guest with the vboxvideo driver, it performs perfectly well (the screen updates continuously). However, if I log out, then the screen no longer updates unless another window moves over it or I move the window off-screen temporarily, then bring it back on screen. In addition, I have two monitors; if I move it from the secondary monitor (in KDE, but Screen 0 in xorg.conf) even partially onto the primary monitor (in KDE, but Screen1 in xorg.conf), then a complete refresh occurs, but only that once. Keyboard and mouse still work, though I don't see the results unless I move the window off-screen and then back on. If I switch from the vboxvideo to vesa driver in X, then none of these peculiarities occur.

comment:6 by Michael Thayer, 14 years ago

Is this still an issue?

comment:7 by bbreslauer, 14 years ago

I'm using 3.something now, so this isn't an issue for me anymore.

comment:8 by Maciej Pilichowski, 14 years ago

I didn't see this issue for quite a while to I assume it can be closed. If it re-appears I will notify you.

comment:9 by Frank Mehnert, 14 years ago

Resolution: fixed
Status: newclosed

Thanks for the feedback!

comment:10 by James, 12 years ago

Resolution: fixed
Status: closedreopened

Hi, I'm using ubuntu 10.10 64bit on a Acer aspire 5740g laptop and virtualbox installed version 4.1.6 r74713. This very exact same issue appeared too on my system. Hope it gets fixed :) meanwhile I'll go back to a previous VB package while it gets reviewed. Thank you.

comment:11 by KlaasVaak, 12 years ago

Same issue here.

  • Host: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit on Dell XPS L502X
  • Virtualbox: 4.1.8
  • Guest: Ubuntu 11.10 64bit
  • Guest additions: yes
Last edited 12 years ago by Frank Mehnert (previous) (diff)

comment:12 by sffetlio, 12 years ago

I have the same problem. Win 7 Pro 64 on HP Pavilion dv6. Vbox 4.1.8 and 4.1.10 with GA. With Ubuntu 11.10 64 guest.

comment:13 by Frank Mehnert, 12 years ago

Description: modified (diff)

Please attach VBox.log files of such VM sessions. I assume that this only happens if you use Ubuntu with the 3D-accelerated desktop?

by jrminky, 11 years ago

Attachment: VBox.log.norefresh added

comment:14 by jrminky, 11 years ago

For what it's worth, I see the opposite behavior with a Win7 Pro 64 guest running inside VBox v4.2.4 r81684 on a Fedora 14 (yeah, yeah, I know it's old) host OS. In my case, the guest desktop doesn't automatically refresh if I'm not actively doing something inside the guest (and even then, I might have to manually force areas to be refreshed...see below)

Easiest way to reproduce the problem is to simply switch to a different virtual desktop (make sure the new virtual desktop has one or more windows would overlap the VBox guest window) on the host machine and then switch back. The Windows guest will not refresh its desktop window.

Sometimes I can force a refresh by simply clicking somewhere inside the guest window. Other times, the refresh doesn't occur until I manually drag one of the Win7 guest's app windows (cmd.exe, for example) over the unrefreshed portion of the guest desktop.

Guest 2D and 3D acceleration were enabled; I do not see the problem if guest 3D acceleration is disabled. I haven't tried seamless or full-screen modes. nVidia proprietary display drivers have been installed on the host machine.

I'm attaching the relevant VBox.log...

comment:15 by dellagustin, 11 years ago

Hi All,

I was exeperiencing a similar problem using a Samsung laptop (RF511). I reached the conclusion that this is due to NVIDIA Optimus, probably a refresh issue, maybe it will be solved with a later host driver.

Meanwhile I solved the issue by setting the Virtuabox executable to use the NVidia card instead of selecting the card automatically. This can be set on the NVidia control panel for optimus. This enabled me to use the 3D acceleration and Full Screen properly.

Cheers, dellagustin.

comment:16 by Joost de Vries, 11 years ago

Thank you so much dellagustin,

I was having pernicious problems with virtualbox+linux not refreshing. Turns out that your trick worked. So I set VirtualboxSvc.exe to use the Nvidia processor instead of the standard 'integrated processor'.

So if you're having problems with linux graphics/display not refreshing with virtualbox on windows 7 this may have to do with the nvidia settings.

comment:17 by misha, 11 years ago

Component: GUI3D support

There seems to be different problems being described here: one that the 3D screen data does not refresh unless *guest* refreshes it, and another (the original one) is that the screen would not refresh until some action is done on *host*.
The first one should be solved in the next major release, and I should be able to give you a test build soon, once the code gets a bit more stabilized, and I *hope* that the situation with the second one should also be improved with it.

by Colin McT, 9 years ago

Attachment: Refresh Issue.PNG added

Screen not re-painting unless change happens in guest, in this case change is right clicking to open menu repaints a portion of the screen

comment:18 by Colin McT, 9 years ago

Is this issue being worked on? I am having the same issue (even as I type this...). I am running: Host Windows 8 enterprise Guest Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS

3D Acceleration is enabled, when I disable it the refresh issue is no longer present but the vms' performance is so sluggish it's unusable.

Issue is most noticeable in chrome and sublime text for me, I have attached a screenshot of the issue that happened while viewing this page

Last edited 9 years ago by Colin McT (previous) (diff)

comment:19 by JakeGD, 9 years ago

I am still having this issue (exactly what is seen in the attachment given above). My host is Mac OS X Mavericks running VirtualBox 4.3.30 r101610. The guest OS is 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 LTS running with 4GB RAM on an Intel Core i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.6GHz (dual) using Chromium graphics.

Can any update be given as to anticipated timeframe in which this could be addressed, or alternatively ways to correct for the issue in the guest OS or settings if one exists?

Last edited 9 years ago by JakeGD (previous) (diff)

comment:20 by epc, 8 years ago

I, too, am seeing this problem. Ubuntu (32-bit) is unusable without 3D acceleration, but then there are screen refresh issues, especially with Chrome. I am using version 5.0.10r 104061 of virtual box. I have 2 screens and am assigning 128MB of RAM to the displays (the max). I assign 2 processors to the VM and have VT-x/AMD-V, Nested Paging, PAE/NK, KVM Paravirtualization turned on. Remote capture and video capture are disabled. This would be nice to have fixed.

comment:21 by VijayaKrishnaKasula, 8 years ago

I am facing the same issue. No refresh happens in guest unless I switch to host and come back. Is there a fix for it. I am using Lubuntu guest in Windows 7 host.

comment:22 by VijayaKrishnaKasula, 8 years ago

I noticed the issue after I switched to VirtualBox-5.0.18-106667-Win upgrade and installed the guest additions. I tried upgrading to VirtualBox-5.0.20-106931-Win hoping to find a fix in latest version, but in vain. I went back to VirtualBox-5.0.10-104061-Win and uninstalled the latest guest additions and installed the guest additions of VirtualBox-5.0.10-104061-Win, then it works fine.

comment:23 by BBBThunda, 8 years ago

I'm having this issue on 5.0.18 r106667 Host: Win7 Guest: Debian 8 64-bit w/XFCE

Initially when I start up my VM, usually with the vbox window maximized and auto-resized via guest additions, it works fine for a period of time. Then after having it open for a while, "some event" happens that causes the guest screen to stop auto rendering as long as it's focused. In other words, I can still click/scroll with the mouse, or type commands into the terminal, for example, and they will work, but the screen will appear frozen until I click on some other window or the desktop on my host machine or press HOST, ALT+TAB, etc. to cause Virtualbox to lose focus.

Some usage details that may be helpful:

I code on this VM and rarely have more than my IDE and 3-5 terminal windows open at a time and it has 8GB RAM allocated, so I doubt it's a resource issue.

I'm not sure yet what "some event" is yet - doesn't seem to be caused by the guest's screensaver as I suspected, but it's a rotating screensaver so it could still be a specific screensaver.

Usually the window is maximized on my secondary display when the VM is started or shortly afterward and stays that way basically all the time. I only change it if the guest fails to auto-resize or if the mouse mapping is offset, which happen less than every day.

The secondary display is in portrait mode.

comment:24 by aamikkelsen, 8 years ago

I also facing the same issue. Using Lubuntu 16.04 and have installed the guest drivers. I notice that the bug disappears if I logout of the system.

comment:25 by JerNob, 8 years ago

Same symptoms here with VirtualBox-5.0.20-106931-Win.

I reverted to VirtualBox-5.0.10-104061-Win.exe (and executed the linux script in VBoxAdditions) to no avail: it just occurred again.

I have no idea what triggers this. It happened once a few days/weeks ago, and now twice today (before and after the downgrade).

Host: Windows 7 Pro SP1 Guest: Debian 8 64-bit w/Mate

Last edited 8 years ago by JerNob (previous) (diff)

comment:26 by tmetro, 8 years ago

After reading a performance tuning guide, I boosted the video RAM setting from the minimum (9 MB) to the maximum (128 MB), along with other VB settings, and that's when the refresh problem with symptoms exactly matching the original reporter's description.

I experimented turning 3D acceleration on (it was already off) with no change or benefit. But dropping the video RAM down to 32 M (chosen rather arbitrarily) seems to have avoided the refresh bug.

comment:27 by wlritchi, 8 years ago

Precisely the same symptoms as BBBThunda describes, Windows 10 x64 host, VirtualBox 5.0.20 r106931, and Arch Linux x64 guest with guest extensions installed from AUR. The guest is using xmonad as a window manager, which is pretty minimalistic so I don't think it's using any 3D features itself. I have multiple screens configured, and changing focus between any of the screens causes the one that loses focus to update. They only update at the moment they lose focus; unfocused windows do not continue to update. Saving and restoring the VM state does not fix the issue. Restarting X does fix the issue, but that's a pain.

So far I've witnessed it with 128MB, with 96MB, and with 64MB of video memory, all with 3D Acceleration on.

A brief skim of the above suggests the following might be factors (please chime in if you experience the bug without one of these conditions):

  • 3D acceleration on
  • multiple screens
  • Linux guest
  • high amount of video memory (let's say within the upper half or so)
Last edited 8 years ago by wlritchi (previous) (diff)

comment:28 by wlritchi, 8 years ago

In the X server log right around the time the issue occurred:

(II) modeset(0): Disabling kernel dirty updates, not required.

Possibly relevant?

Edit: Confirmed, this appears in the X server log when the issue occurs. I'm also noticing that this issue occurs when I run a specific command in urxvt (but not xterm!). I've reduced the problem down to the following:

#!/bin/bash
for i in {1..50}; do
    echo MhtbbSAtG1sxOzM2bSAoLTUpG1ttIC0zIBtbMzJtKCkbW20gG1sxOzM0bQo= | base64 -d
    sleep 0.1
    echo NxtbbSAtG1sxOzM2bSAoLTIpG1ttIC1zIBtbMzJtKCkbW20gG1sxOzM0bTwK | base64 -d
    sleep 0.1
done

which consistently causes the issue when run on urxvt fullscreen on a 1080p monitor.

Not entirely sure where to lay blame for this now; I'll test this on a non-VBox machine with the same configuration.

Edit 2: On a physical machine with the same software configuration as the VM, nothing untoward happens from this script.

Last edited 8 years ago by wlritchi (previous) (diff)

comment:29 by hasAdam, 8 years ago

@wlritchi, I am running xubuntu on a VM on a OSX host, running on a 2560X16000 monitor. I am using i3 and urxvt as my terminal.

I also get the exact same X server log when the issue happens.

Your script for me does seem to cause the issue, though intermittently. If I run the script several times to completion it causes the issue and if I have vim or htop running on the same active desktop and I run your script in a different terminal, it seems to happen much faster.

I am going to do some of my own investigation, please post again though if you learn more. Your post has been incredibly helpful.

comment:30 by hasAdam, 8 years ago

@wlritchi I think I have found a workaround that works for me. Not ideal but it works.

If I invoke the issue by using your script, getting it so X does not update till the host loses focus of the VM, and then I switch to a tty using CTRL+ALT+F(1-6), then I switch back to X by using CTRL+ALT+F7, X seems to update again. And then if I try to get the issue to happen again by running your script, I cannot. It seems to be fixed until reboot.

Not ideal at all, but I am interested if this fixes the problem for you.

I could not have done it without your script for testing. Thanks!

Adam

comment:31 by asigner, 8 years ago

@hasAdam thanks a lot for providing a workaround.

Works as advertised on my Lenovo W530 Windows 7 host with Xubuntu 16.04 guest on Virtualbox 5.0.20.

But a real fix or permanent workaround would be more than welcome.

Cheers Andy

comment:32 by Peter van Nes, 8 years ago

Think have exactly the same issue reported in #15511 with host os macOS and guest os Oracle Linux 6U8. Screenrecording of reproduction of the issue here ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Q-SEjGM9k&feature=youtu.be

comment:33 by Michael Thayer, 8 years ago

Resolution: obsolete
Status: reopenedclosed
Summary: no screen refresh until some change is made "inside" hostno screen refresh until some change is made "inside" host -> obsolete

I think that the issue being discussed now is not related to the original issue. It also looks the same as ticket #15511 as you pointed out, so I would prefer to close this ticket and ask people to add any information to ticket #15511 which is not there now. If you just want to register, post a "me too" comment to the ticket. I know that is normally considered bad style, but unfortunately our bug tracker does not have a better way.

Anyone else seeing similar issues which do not belong to ticket #15511 please open a new ticket.

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