In KVM In a virtual machine, system crashes if vmvga video card is used

[Mirto Silvio Busico]

Host
Ubuntu 11.04 Natty 64 Bit server + kde desktop + KVM + libvirt + virtmanager

Guest
Ubuntu 12.04 Precise 64 Bit server + kde desktop

In guest, if vmvga virtual video card is used the sytem crashes at login attempt
If I use the cirrus or vga virtual video card the system works perfectly

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-23-generic 3.2.0-23.36
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 Home directory /home/sysop not ours.
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: AudioPCI [Ensoniq AudioPCI], device 0: ES1370/1 [ES1370 DAC2/ADC]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: sysop 2770 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] File o directory non esistente
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'AudioPCI'/'Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1370 at 0xc200, irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Asahi Kasei AK4531'
   Components : 'AK4531'
   Controls : 43
   Simple ctrls : 15
Date: Tue Apr 24 11:10:08 2012
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ed04c86d-fc80-4897-8541-db50664f48a7
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120327)
Lsusb: Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: Bochs Bochs
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=it_IT
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 EFI VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro
PulseList:
 Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory /home/sysop not ours.
 No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/01/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Bochs
dmi.bios.version: Bochs
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Bochs
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnBochs:bvrBochs:bd01/01/2007:svnBochs:pnBochs:pvr:cvnBochs:ct1:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Bochs
dmi.sys.vendor: Bochs

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

For clarification: does "the system crashes" mean the host system or the guest system? Do older kubuntu releases work with vmvga on the same host? I would be suspecting the host side. I just tried a Precise host and cannot see the crash there. Though the guest graphics sometimes are not rendered completely.

[Mirto Silvio Busico (m-busico)]

I mean the guest system crashes.

On the same host system with natty 64 Bit I have working correctly with vmvga virtual video card: natty 64 bit, Oneiric 64 Bit, M$ Windows XP 32 Bit, M$ Windows 7 64 Bit.

The host system hardware is an HP Pavlilion Dv6 notebook

The grapic card is an Nvidia GeForce GT 320M. Jokey says that the proprietary driver is installed but not used

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.4kernel[1] (Not a kernel in the daily directory). Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag(Only that one tag, please leave the other tags). This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.4-rc4-precise/

[Mirto Silvio Busico (m-busico)]

Weel, I'll test asap installing a fesh VM.

[Mirto Silvio Busico (m-busico)]

kernel-bug-exists-upstream

Well, no luck

On the VM I installed the guest system:
I reinstalled the VM from scratch:

Installed Ubuntu server 12.04 Beta2 64Bit
updated to today
installed kubuntu desktop
updated (with apt-get dist-upgrade)
verified that the bug exists: with cirrus virtual video card the guest system works; with the vmvga virtual video card, the login screen appears; I enter the password; and the guest system crashes

Then I installed the mainline kernel; now uname -a says:
Linux vm07-aqua5 3.4.0-030400rc4-generic #201204230908 SMP Mon Apr 23 13:10:03 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The behaviour is the same: cirrus OK; vmvga CRASH

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

Maybe the strace I gathered helps. Though I do suspect this bug needs re-assignment against the kvm user-space. It likely is the Precise guest doing something different, but at least a Precise host would handle it in a better way (not crash) as far as I can see.

[Mirto Silvio Busico (m-busico)]

Tried again with a fresh install of Kubuntu 12.04 amd64 using the kubuntu-12.04-desktop-amd64.iso iso image.

The bug still exist: you can force a 800x660 resolution install with vmvga card; but when you try to assign a different resolution (ie 1440x900) the guest system crashes

[MNLipp (mnl)]

Almost the same here. I first upgraded guest from 11.10 to 12.04. That was fine. When I upgraded the host as well, the guest crashes before I can really see anything in the console (it does become black for a short moment, bu then it's gone).

Comparing this particular guest with my other VMs showed "vmvga" to be the cause. After setting the video to cirrus, the guest starts again. (All machines are 64bit.)

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

@MNLipp, Hm, so to clarify: for you there is a problem when both the host and the guest are 12.04 (for me this did work and I only saw the crash when the host was running Natty (11.04)). Do you get to the lightdm login or does your crash happen sooner? Since for Mirto and my testing it was possible to pause at the login screen, it is possible to "sudo strace -s160 -p <pid of qemu-kvm> -f -o strace.txt" to catch the kvm crash.

It seems to be all about virtual resolution. Mirto said 800x600 is ok... So would that mean that you can bring up the guest with the cirrus card and set the resolution to that, you can boot with vmvga? It would be interesting to know whether this always works. And then which resolutions are offered running with vmvga to change into? Are all higher resolutions problematic or just certain?

[MNLipp (mnl)]

@Stefan, well as I said, the guest crashes immediately before I can really see anything but black (for a short moment), so no lightdm.

If you tell me how I can set the resolution used by vmvga when booting, I'll do some more boot attempts.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

Oh, I was hoping the resolution would be saved somewhere, so
- set the card to cirrus
- boot the guest
- change the resolution to 800x600
- shutdown the guest
- change the card to vmvga and reboot

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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