Segmentation fault on launch

[RickCHodgin]

Linux rick-e6530 3.11.0-12-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 9 16:20:46 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

In short: 64-bit Linux Mint 16 with all current updates.

Three times out of four VirtualBox will launch with a segmentation fault. If I launch from the icon ("VirtualBox %U") it launches, displays the main window, and then terminates almost immediately (the main window appears to flicker). If I run from a Terminal Window, then it does the same, but shows "Segmentation fault" before returning to the prompt.

VirtualBox 4.3.12 r93733.

I have not observed this behavior on two other 64-bit Linux Mint 16 machines I have running this same guest VM. This is the only Dell I have so it may be a VirtualBox + Dell driver issue.

[RickCHodgin]

The VM's vbox file

[RickCHodgin]

Continues daily. Regularly requires two or three launches before the app persists. Every time it launches you can see the main dialogue window appear, render itself fully, albeit very briefly (1/3 second), then it immediately terminates.

[Frank Mehnert]

First it would be interesting to know which process crashes -- either VirtualBox or VBoxSVC. The former is the actual VM process or the GUI while the latter is a separate service. If the VBoxSVC service crashes, please provide the corresponding VBoxSVC.log from the ~/.VirtualBox directory. If the VM process crashes, please provide the VBox.log file from that VM session. And a core dump will most likely help to find the reason for the crash. Unfortunately I cannot provide you the URL of an anonymous FTP server so either you can compress the core dump to a size below 10MB, then send it to frank _dot_ mehnert _at_ oracle _dot_ com or make it somehow accessible to me.

[RickCHodgin]

I have observed the same problem happening on another laptop using a copy of the same VM, but the error only occurred one time, and it only occurred when I connected to the same ASUS HDMI monitor I use with the other laptop. It is the only VirtualBox GUI startup failure I've ever seen on the other machine, and it duplicated the same behavior. I am wondering if it's not related to having an HDMI monitor connected. The Dell uses an Intel graphics chip, while my other laptop uses an AMD. Will work on preparing the core dump and the vbox.log. Thank you for your reply.

[RickCHodgin]

Core sent. VBox.log.3 sent. If there's anything else I can do... please let me know. Thank you, Frank.

[Frank Mehnert]

Thank you for the core dump! I've found and fixed the problem. It's an invalid free() operation in case something with the update notification fails. VBox 4.3.14 has a fix for the update function which will most likely already prevent triggering of this bug. If not I can provide you a test build which would really fix the problem.

[RickCHodgin]

I have a need for this now. I have been able to workaround it, but now I need to go into preferences and it fails within 5 to 10 seconds after the preference screen launches, preventing me from setting any preferences. I am installing 4.3.14 to see if it works. I did not get an auto-update notification when I logged in to 4.3.12... which is also odd.

[RickCHodgin]

4.3.14 fixes it completely. Thank you.

[Frank Mehnert]

Thanks for the feedback!