ArcaOS, VirtualBox, and mouse freezes

[Pete]

Hi All

No idea why Bennie has a mouse problem in VBox but suspect it is a VBox issue.

I think if I was Remy I would uninstall USB3 drivers and install either the latest AN or Lars USB2  drivers to check if the problem goes away.


Regards

Pete

[Andreas Schnellbacher]

Bennie, does your mouse work in a normal ArcaOS installation, without virtualization, on the same hardware?

(I guess, the same as Pete, that it's a VirtualBox issue on Redhat.)

[Remy]

Hi All

No idea why Bennie has a mouse problem in VBox but suspect it is a VBox issue.

I think if I was Remy I would uninstall USB3 drivers and install either the latest AN or Lars USB2  drivers to check if the problem goes away.


Regards

Pete

ArcaOs has the latest AN USB driver.
My USB dongle is connected on an USB only connecter (Something to try,removing USB3 driver)   

[Bennie Nelson]

Bennie, does your mouse work in a normal ArcaOS installation, without virtualization, on the same hardware?

(I guess, the same as Pete, that it's a VirtualBox issue on Redhat.)

I only run ArcaOS in virtual machines, so I cannot answer the question. I have had mouse pointer freezes using multiple:
mice, versions of ArcaOS, versions of VirtualBox, versions of Redhat, and Redhat video drivers.

The mouse pointer freezes have gone away when I dropped the video resolution to 1920x1200, as I noted in an earlier post. That does sound like there is an issue with the VB guest additions.

Regards,
Bennie

[Doug Bissett]

I do not understand what USB has to do with the mouse in VBox. The mouse activity is simply passed through from the host mouse driver to the virtual mouse driver, in the guest. USB, in the guest, has nothing, at all, to do with that. If VBox has a problem getting mouse activity from the host driver, there could be a problem, but that would be VBox, or the virtual mouse driver, not the USB driver, in the guest. If it stops happening, when you reduce the virtual screen resolution, that does indicate some sort of VBox problem.

What, exactly, is the configuration?

[Bennie Nelson]

I do not understand what USB has to do with the mouse in VBox. The mouse activity is simply passed through from the host mouse driver to the virtual mouse driver, in the guest. USB, in the guest, has nothing, at all, to do with that. If VBox has a problem getting mouse activity from the host driver, there could be a problem, but that would be VBox, or the virtual mouse driver, not the USB driver, in the guest. If it stops happening, when you reduce the virtual screen resolution, that does indicate some sort of VBox problem.

What, exactly, is the configuration?

I agree that my issue is somewhere in VirtualBox. I should have pointed out that I don't enable the VB USB Controller for my ArcaOS virtual machines.
VB settings:
2 CPUs
2 GB RAM
VboxVGA graphics controller with 128 MB of video memory
Two virtual disks on SSD (AHCI controller)
Audio disabled
Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop network adapter
COM1 enabled
USB disabled

[Doug Bissett]

2 CPUs

Okay, this is probably what is causing your problem. Set it to one CPU, and see if that helps (you won't notice much, if any, performance degradation). Some people seem to be able to run for a while, using more than one CPU, but most of us experience hangs, delays, and other unwanted side effects. VBox seems to use a method similar to hyper threading, and hyper threading is not, at all, compatible with OS/2 (even on real hardware).

VboxVGA graphics controller with 128 MB of video memory

I think you will find, that OS/2 doesn't use more than 16 MB of video memory, but it probably doesn't cause a problem.

[Bennie Nelson]

2 CPUs

Okay, this is probably what is causing your problem. Set it to one CPU, and see if that helps (you won't notice much, if any, performance degradation). Some people seem to be able to run for a while, using more than one CPU, but most of us experience hangs, delays, and other unwanted side effects. VBox seems to use a method similar to hyper threading, and hyper threading is not, at all, compatible with OS/2 (even on real hardware).

VboxVGA graphics controller with 128 MB of video memory

I think you will find, that OS/2 doesn't use more than 16 MB of video memory, but it probably doesn't cause a problem.

I have been running two CPUs for quite some time in multiple ArcaOS VMs and other than the mouse pointer freeze, I haven't noticed any issues. My VMs run for weeks without rebooting. I can try one CPU in one of the VMs and bump up the video resolution again to see what happens.

I wasn't sure about the video memory, so I set it to the maximum. Thanks for pointing that out.

Bennie

[Remy]

My issue seems have a connection between network interface and usb interfaces...
My investigation is now under my power supply which seems having more drop down power than expected (as well as ripple) increased during high internet activities, providing unpredictable results... (I'll try to upgrade my desktop power supply or change capacitors into the one I have! - several years old now)