Virtual PC 2004 - HOST Hardware Lockup

microsoft.public.virtualpc news group, Robert Comer <bobcomer-delete-
> says...

My apologies Robert, this completely slipped my mind, Yesterday was a
long tough day, and you didn't deserve to be on the sharp end of it. I'm
sorry about that.

 

My apologies Robert, this completely slipped my mind, Yesterday was a

Apology accepted. The original post you commented on was under pretty much
the same circumstances and I was more negative than need be, sorry about
that.

- Bob Comer

 

I think the problem is the fact that several of us have proven that it is
something with the way our system is setup. Most likely IRQ conflicts or
etc, since I was able to actually go through and startup a fresh install on
a 2nd hard drive and it "appeared" to function fine. And I noted that the
hardware/IRQ setup on that configuration was totatlly different from the one
I am using on this machine. So short of actually shipping out a team of
developers/troubleshooters out or shipping some of us and our computers in
there I severely doubt that we will Ever see a solution to the problem on MS
end because they are not able to reproduce it .

It probably would be semi-thoughtful of MS to reissue the MS Virtual PC 5.2
ISO and Serial for those who need to go back and did not originally have or
save the information .

 

Sorry, guys, a number of us were out of town last week.

I have been looking into the Athlon problem. To this date, however, I cannot
reproduce it in house on a similarly-configured Athlon XP machine running
Windows XP Pro. VPC 2004 runs like a champ on all the AMD machines I have
tried, even if I upgrade from 5.2 as a number of people have reported doing.
I have asked for some help from PSS to get to the bottom of this.

If you want to help us figure this out, please open a PSS incident on the
problem ASAP with as much detail as you can provide on your hardware and
software configuration.

Thanks for your patience!
--
Aaron Giles
Virtual PC dev lead
Microsoft Corp.
Legal: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

I think the problem is the fact that several of us have proven that it is

But that's not the case with mine, I've rearranged IRQ's, changed bios
settings, changed cards, changed video card types, no joy.

I did the same, but it didn't make any difference for me.

I bet the could reproduce it on my motherboard. (Which has been ultrastable
for anything but VPC, including vmware and VPC5.2.)

So many problem systems is a systemic problem, something in their internal
config for VPC2004 is not able to handle various *supported* hardware.

Yes it would -- I wouldn't be complaining quite so much if that's what they
did.

- Bob Comer

 

Thank you Aaron, all I was looking for was an acknowledgement of the
problem. (well, that and a working VPC!)

- Bob Comer

 

Can you (and anyone else reading this who has the lockup) do me one more
favor?

Load VPC, open the About box, and click the "Information" tab. Reply to this
post with a list of what is listed under the "System Information" tab.

For example, on the working Athlon machine I have, I see this:

Operating system: Windows XP Professional
System version: 5.1.2600, Service Pack 1
Processor type: AMD Athlon class (x86 F6 M8 S1)
Processor features: MMX, SSE, 3DNow
Number of processors: 1
Approximate clock speed: 1.5 GHz
Total physical memory: 512 MB
Available physical memory: 347 MB

Thanks!
Aaron
--
Aaron Giles
Virtual PC dev lead
Microsoft Corp.
Legal: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

No problem, I will do this when I get home in an hour or so.

- Bob Comer

 

Mine says: (on a fresh install + fixes that exhibits the lockups in less
than 2 minutes into running a VM)

System information
Operating system: Windows XP Professional
System version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1
Processor Type AMD Athlon class (x86 F6 M6 S2)
Processor features: MMX, SSE, 3DNow
Number of processors: 1
Approximate clock speed 1.5Ghz
Total Physical memory: 512MB
Available Physical memory: 392MB

- Bob Comer

 

Operating System: Windows XP Professional
System Version: 5.1.2600, Service Pack 1
Processor Type AMD Athlon Class (x86 F6 M6 S2)
Processor Feature MMX, SSE, 3DNow
Number of Processors 1
Approximate Clock Speed 1.5GHZ
Total Physical Memory 1536MB
Available Phyical Memory 960MB

 

Windows XP Professional
5.1.2600, Service Pack 1
AMD Athlon class (x86 F6 M8 S1)
MMX, SSE, 3DNow
1
1,8 Ghz
896 MB
158 MB

 

Hmmm, okay that didn't turn anything useful up. I did a more thorough study
of the system information that was posted a few days ago, and am suspicious
of one thing: the processr.sys driver.

Can you run regedit and search for all the places where processr.sys is
referenced? Just post the paths to the registry keys that mention it. On my
AMD system, it is present but not referenced anywhere (and hence not
loaded). I'm curious why it's loaded on all the crashing systems....
--
Aaron Giles
Virtual PC dev lead
Microsoft Corp.
Legal: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

I found no references in the registry for it.

- Bob Comer

 

Windows XP Professional
5.1.2600, Service Pack 1
AMD Athlon class (x86 F6 M6 S2)
MMX, SSE, 3DNow
1
1,5 Ghz
1024 MB
650 MB

 

Okay, I rebooted into the fresh install, and I do have a references to
processr.sys in the registry, don't know why i didn't find it before.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WBEM\WDM]
"I:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\DRIVERS\\processr.sys[PROCESSORWMI]"="LowDateTime:-5
33095168,HighDateTime:29511432***Binary mof compiled successfully"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WBEM\WDM\DREDGE]
"I:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\DRIVERS\\processr.sys[PROCESSORWMI]"="LowDateTime:-5
33095168,HighDateTime:29511432***Binary mof compiled successfully"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Eventlog\System\Processor]
"EventMessageFile"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f
,\

00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\

5c,00,49,00,6f,00,4c,00,6f,00,67,00,4d,00,73,00,67,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\

00,3b,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,\

25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,72,\

00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,\
73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"TypesSupported"=dword:00000007

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Processor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000001
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,
00,\

52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,\
00,73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="Processor Driver"
"Group"="Extended Base"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Processor\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,0
2,\

00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\

00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\

05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\

20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,\

00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,01,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Processor\Enum]
"0"="ACPI\\AuthenticAMD_-_x86_Family_6_Model_6\\_0"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\Eventlog\System\Processor]
"EventMessageFile"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f
,\

00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\

5c,00,49,00,6f,00,4c,00,6f,00,67,00,4d,00,73,00,67,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\

00,3b,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,\

25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,72,\

00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,\
73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"TypesSupported"=dword:00000007

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\Processor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000001
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,
00,\

52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,\
00,73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="Processor Driver"
"Group"="Extended Base"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\Processor\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,0
2,\

00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\

00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\

05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\

20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,\

00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,01,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System\Proces
sor]
"EventMessageFile"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f
,\

00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\

5c,00,49,00,6f,00,4c,00,6f,00,67,00,4d,00,73,00,67,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\

00,3b,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,\

25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,72,\

00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,\
73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"TypesSupported"=dword:00000007

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Processor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000001
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,
00,\

52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,\
00,73,00,72,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="Processor Driver"
"Group"="Extended Base"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Processor\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,0
2,\

00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\

00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\

05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\

20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,\

00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,01,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Processor\Enum]
"0"="ACPI\\AuthenticAMD_-_x86_Family_6_Model_6\\_0"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001


- Bob Comer

 

Well, on of my XP installs on this PC has the processr.sys loaded, and the
other one doesn't no idea why. (the fresh install has it, the old install
doesn't) Both installs lock up.

- Bob Comer

 

Dirty System that VPC 2004 Locks up on

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Eventlog\System\Processor]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Processor]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\Eventlog\System\Processor]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\Processor]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\Eventlog\System\Processor]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\Processor]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System\Proces
sor]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Processor]

 

The Clean Dual Booted System on this box which "appears" to run VPC 2004
without locking up has no references to processr.sys in the Registry

 

Heh, it was the sysinfo you posted on your "clean" system that made me
suspect it. However, I now think that was a red herring.

The good news is that I think we have reproduced the lockup here in our labs
after fiddling with the interrupt configuration of the system.

Virtual PC takes advantage of a processor feature called an APIC to improve
timing within the application. On some systems, the APIC is used by the OS
as well; on other systems, it is left disabled. It appears based on our
current tests that there is a problem with the way we use the APIC on AMD
machines when the OS isn't using it.

We are working on futher investigation and a true solution at the moment.
However, if you have a test system you don't mind taking risks with, you can
try switching to the HAL that uses the APIC. This means that the OS will be
using it, and we think that path is safe on AMD systems.

WARNING: only try this on a system you can risk losing! This test swaps the
HAL used by the OS, and after you are done, all your hardware will need to
re-plug & play. This is not a minor change, nor is it without risks.

With that disclaimer out of the way, you can try this:
1. Bring up Device Manager
2. Open the Computer subtree and get properties on whatever type of PC is
listed underneath
3. Click the "Driver" tab and then click the "Update Driver..." button
4. In the wizard, choose "Install from a list or specific location" and
click "Next"
5. In the next panel, choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to
install." and click "Next"
6. From the list, choose "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" and click "Next"
7. Follow the rest of the installation and reboot when it says
8. Wait for the entire system to plug & play; you may need to reboot a
couple of times
9. Try running VPC 2004

Again, be careful when doing this, and only do it on a test system! If
anyone tries it and has successes/failures, let me know.
--
Aaron Giles
Virtual PC dev lead
Microsoft Corp.
Legal: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
--

 

I'll try it right now, I'll let you know!

- Bob Comer