Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

pogeymanz · 2011-07-31 19:49:52

I don't know if it's BFS itself or one of my customized options specifically, but if I try to play Netflix inside my Windows XP virtual machine it is terrible and my CPU load is quite high.

If I boot into the stock Arch kernel I do not have this problem. Anyone else experience this?

brebs · 2011-08-01 04:06:35

Have you recompiled the kernel modules (i.e. virtualbox, nvidia/ATI and whatever else) for your BFS kernel?

brando56894 · 2011-08-01 05:16:10

If I could get the kernel26-core2 headers installed I would check this out for you, but IIRC everything was fine for me.

graysky · 2011-08-01 06:37:29

@OP - I've been running the kernel26-ck package since before I took it over as the maintainer; I also make excessive use of Virtualbox with it and have experienced no issues whatsoever.
@brebs - I think the OP must have compiled the module, else it wouldn't run, no?
@brando - Off topic but as I read your reply, I got the impression that you can't access the repo to install the headers package? Is something wrong? Please contact me via email or in the kernel26-ck repo thread so I can fix if so.

brebs · 2011-08-01 06:56:53

graysky wrote:

must have compiled the module, else it wouldn't run

It depends on the config - hopefully "uname -r" is different. If it's the same, the kernel modules might not have been recompiled, and this can sometimes introduce subtle problems, e.g. performance. Since I remember Arch using this unsafe practice (of not changing "uname -r", and also of not recompiling kernel modules unless they *see* a problem), I thought it wise to check.

Edit: I use 2.6.38-pf8 (pf patchset with additional vanilla & Fedora patches, with the binary VirtualBox 4.0.10, with no performance issue.

Last edited by brebs (2011-08-01 07:01:36)

pogeymanz · 2011-08-01 13:16:27

So it seems like it's just me and my config.

uname -r is different, and I have compiled the kernel modules for it.

It is only in the last few weeks/month that the performance issue is there.

Sometimes, when I run the VM, it'll drop me to TTY1 which a bunch of magic output, but it's not a kernel panic. I can switch back to my graphical TTY and everything is fine except the VM is just a black window and has to be forced to close via my WM.

I'm not sure what kernel config options would do something like this. I have my timer frequency at 1000Hz, which is the main thing I've seen on the Google that can cause problems.

I am on a Core i3 processor with intel graphics.

If I post my kernel config, do you think you'd be able to spot anything that would mess up Virtualbox in this subtle way?

Any ideas? I'm guessing I'm probably on my own.

brebs · 2011-08-01 13:40:29

I use 300hz, because 1000 seems excessive, especially with >1 core.

Can't think of any kernel options which are "dangerous" for virtualbox.

You might get a better result by posting on the virtualbox forum.

Might help if you take a camera shot of the error message also.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-31 19:49:52

Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#2 2011-08-01 04:06:35

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#3 2011-08-01 05:16:10

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#4 2011-08-01 06:37:29

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#5 2011-08-01 06:56:53

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#6 2011-08-01 13:16:27

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

#7 2011-08-01 13:40:29

Re: Does anyone else get poor Virtualbox performance with Kernel26-ck?

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