Display corruption on x11 guests, no 3D -> fixed as of 25.01.11, see #8180 for 3D issues

[sej7278]

Frequently windows in my Ubuntu 9.10 64-Bit guest (with GA's installed) are not redrawn properly - they are just replaced with solid black squares. If I minimize+maximise the VirtualBox window it redraws it properly, but shortly afterwards it happens again.

Its not the whole display, but individual windows and panels.

Fedora 14 64-Bit host with extpack installed. Nvidia graphics drivers, no Compiz or anything, 2D/3D acceleration is disabled.

The same VM worked fine on the same host with 4.0.0

[sej7278]

Perhaps "Display::handleDisplayResize(): Warning: resize postponed." is relevant.

[sej7278]

Forum thread:  http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38222

[rumen]

I have the same problem with Ubuntu 10.10(x64) host and 32bit Ubuntu 10.04 LTS guest. It looks like that by disabling the visual effects on host System->Preferences->Appeareance the problem started to appear less often, but still it is very annoying.

[sej7278]

i'm not using compiz effects, reverting back to 4.0.0 fixes it so it is a 4.0.2 regression

[michael]

Did you try 1) disabling 3D for the guest if relevant and 2) seeing if using 4.0.0 or 4.0.2 Additions makes a difference? There is at least one change to the Additions which might be relevant here. The change was made rather late before the release (my fault) and turned out to need additional changes to the main code to work properly.

[sej7278]

2d/3d are not enabled in the guest.

i've not tried using 400 additions on 402 as i've had to revert to using 400 for now.

[michael]

You might give the following test build (disclaimer here) a try:

 http://www.virtualbox.org/download/testcase/VirtualBox-2011-01-20-12-45-24-lin64-4.0-4.0.3-r69559.run

[sej7278]

don't have an fc14_x86_64 rpm of that do you (just makes package management easier)?

[sej7278]

nevermind, i installed the .run for now, just removed the 400 rpm.

it does seem to have solved the problem - even with the 400 additions installed (or 403) so i guess its the main code not the ga's that's the problem.

the fonts in the gui look horrible though (small, squashed, not antialiased) perhaps as its not packaged for fedora's qt4.

[rumen]

3d disabled on the guest - Looks Normal

[rumen]

3d disabled on the guest - Looks Normal

[rumen]

3d enabled in the guest - wired colors and the window contents remain when the window is moved

[rumen]

The problem with no 3D seems to be fixed. Thanks! But I went a little bit further;) I enabled the 3d acceleration for the guest and the problem is there again. See the Screenshots. I am not sure it has something to do with this very problem but it seems related.

[michael]

sej7278: glad that has solved the problem. In fact as I said, it is most likely not a problem in the main code or the Additions, but rather that the two got out of sync, and the 4.0.2 Additions ended up depending on main code that wasn't complete.

rumen: that sounds like the fix is not yet complete, but as I am not very familiar with our 3D bits I will have to pass it on to someone who is.

[michael]

Would you further be able to test if this Additions build in combination with 4.0.2 solves the problem?

 http://www.virtualbox.org/download/testcase/VBoxGuestAdditions-r69551.iso

And by the way, the reason for the strange fonts with the .run build is that that is a portable build which is supposed to work anywhere, and bundles its own copy of Qt which doesn't read the settings of the installed version properly.

[rumen]

Hm... Something strange happened...

# sh ./Virtual.... uninstall

and then # dpkg -i virtualbox-4.0_4.0.2-69518~Ubuntu~maverick_amd64.deb

and there is nothing related to in /etc/init.d/

and vbox gui complains about missing DKMS... and advises to run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv

but it is not there any more... any idea?

[sej7278]

yes the 4.0.2 rpm with the 69551 additions seems to work too - not tried 3d though as i don't use it.

[michael]

rumen: you might try "purging" the Debian package and reinstalling. The dpkg database probably remembers that you used to have VirtualBox installed, so that dpkg doesn't install any configuration files (init scripts count as such).

sej7278: thanks for confirming that.

[rumen]

Thank you michael, purging worked.

Also 4.0.2 with 69551 additions works (only with 3d disabled).

[synackfin]

I have this problem on 4.0.2 with Windows Vista host and Ubuntu guest - trying with 69551 additions causes it to crash when the screensaver comes up (instead of having a stuck black screen).

[synackfin]

Hmm, upon retrying, it seems like 69551 additions w/ 3D disabled solves the problem. Not sure what was different last time.

[michael]

The updated r69551 build is now publicly available as  http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.0.2/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.0.2-update-69551.iso. Just to be clear, this build fixes problems with X11-using guests when virtual screens are disabled, which often happens at the same time as the guest goes into screen saving mode, although it is actually a separate event and can also happen at other times. This build does not address specific issues which occur when 3D is enabled. I will mark this ticket as fixed though, and refer to #8180 for the 3D-related issues.

[mooninite]

Not sure if this is the same issue, but on my Fedora 14 x86_64 host I get display corruption in a Fedora 14 x86_64 guest when I move a window. 3D is disabled. I have tried the 4.0.3 guest additions listed on the Download page but they did not help. The 4.0.0, 4.0.2, and 4.0.3 GA all result in the same problem.

A Fedora 14 x86 guest does not get display corruption when I move a window, so it seems to be a 64-bit guest issue.

[michael]

Replying to mooninite: It doesn't sound like the same thing. Could you please open a new ticket and attach a screenshot and the guest's /var/log/Xorg.0.log?

[mooninite]

Replying to michael:

It doesn't sound like the same thing. Could you please open a new ticket and attach a screenshot and the guest's /var/log/Xorg.0.log?

Done. Ticket 8198 created.