Ubuntu Linux gets stuck while booting when changing memory of VM?

Hi!

I installed Ubuntu Linux, and it worked fine.
Now I increased the memory of my virtual machine from 256 to 1024, and since then, Ubuntu won't boot anymore.
As soon as you change it back to 256, it works again, as soon as you change it to another value, ubuntu gets stuck again.

???

Tom

I waited half an hour, and all it displays is this

 

I've had the exact same experience. My initial memory was 524, everything was fine, but any attempt to increase the memory beyond its initial setting results in a failure to boot successfully.

Was there any resolution to this?

 

Hi guys,

I have the same problem than you. Luckily I discovered this before I was going to buy his software (which I won't now until this issue is resolved).
I really need more than just 512mb ram. Is there any way to fix this or will there be an update released soon? Does this problem still persist with ubuntu 7.10?

 

I have the same experience. If I change the memory size for any flavor of Linux, Linux crashes very early in the boot sequence.

Does Parallels have any comment on this?

 

Same problem here as well....

I didn't even realize this was the problem. I just assumed a "RAM upgrade" (increase in the VM) would work fine with Ubuntu.... This explains a lot of my problems.

I got so frustrated with 7.04 which worked at 256MB (but nothing more) that I gave up on it and tried 7.10rc (no luck there, I'm getting a "CPU Too Old" kernel panic error).

grrr.... really need to be able to test some Linux stuff and Parallels has cost me two days of attempted installs of different Linux variants

 

The problem is in Linux kernel. It works incorrectly with Intel 815 chipset emulated by Parallels when more than 512Mb memory is used.

It was fixed since kernel 2.6.23. All should update guest OS kernels.

 

How can I update this kernel version in ubuntu (mine ist still stuck at 2.6.22.xx even though I use ubuntu 7.10 with all updates installed)?

 

You need to build new 2.6.23 kernel for Ubuntu. Check here for more information.

 

Don't build a new kernel (unless you really want to...)
Use the linux-virtual kernel Complete Linux kernel geared towards virtualised hardware

YMMV, but it works great for me.

1) Set VM to 512M of memory
2) Boot
3) Use apt-get to install the 'virtual' kernel
sudo apt-get udpate
sudo apt-get install linux-virtual
4) reboot and verify linux-virtual is being used
uname -a should show a version number - virtual
5) shutdown linux, stop the vm, change memory to 1024M, and start the vm

It should boot.
(at least mine does...runs better too.)

 

Hi Patrick,

have installed the virtual Kernel now. The Kernel works and runs fine, but the VM crashes/hangs during boot if the Memory 1024MB. 512MB works as before.

 

Are you sure the virtual kernel is what is booting?
If you type uname -a does the kernel name say 'virtual'?

I'm running with 1024M now, and was surprised and happy when it actually worked.

This is with Ubuntu 7.10.

 

Just for fun I just set my VM to 1500M, I do hope this does work for someone other than me. This is my uname -a output:
Linux fubenVM 2.6.22-14-virtual #1 SMP Fri Feb 1 06:13:59 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

And the first two lines of /proc/meminfo:
MemTotal: 1523412 kB
MemFree: 1430100 kB

I'm running build 5584 of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac ....

 

Have also Ubuntu 7.10 with 2.6.22-14-virtual Kernel and Parallels build 5584. But here, it's not working with 1024MB. Hangs during boot.

 

Patrick, thanks for the tip. I was excited about the linux-virtual package helping with this problem, but it is not working for me either. I'm using Mac OS 10.4.11, Parallels Desktop 5584, Ubuntu 7.10 with updates, and a 'uname -a' report of '2.6.22-14-virtual #1 SMP'.

I am not excited at the thought of compiling or even switching to a new kernel, but I will if I have to in order to work around this problem. 512 MB RAM for the guest OS is not enough for my needs.

For reference, this problem stops the Ubuntu boot progress bar at three bars, and if you wait a few minutes, it displays 'udevd-event[3158]: run_program: '/sbin/modprobe' abnormal exit'.

 

I'm starting to wonder if the virtual kernel not working for some people could be hardware specific. I'm running on a first generation macbook. Has anyone else gotten this to work (ubuntu 7.10 with more than 512M Ram in the VM)?

 

Try the Oracle forums

You may find this thread on the Oracle Linux Forum useful - it worked for me:
<http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=2718521&#2718521>