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Virtual Server 2005 R2 'fatal error' when attempting to resume from saved state

Hello - I hope someone can shed some light on why our Virtual Server 2005 R2 installation threw a 'fatal error' when attempting to resume from 'saved state'. Last activity on the host system (Win2k3 Std Server host)was simply to restart. I have since restarted again and re-tried to 'resume from saved state' and was successful! All is working as expected now, but I fear this may occurr again. This is a production piece and would cause major interruption to business, if unavailable. Understanding the root cause will be extremely helpful, at this point. Can someone please review the Virtual Server 2005 R2 exception log created by the 'fatal error' and provide insight on why this occurrred? Thank you!!

--------------------------Fatal Error Log below-------------------------------------

PROGRAM INFORMATION

      Program Name = Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
      Version = 1.1.603.0 EE R2 SP1
      Build = ENT_VOLUME
      Timestamp (date/time) = Sun Dec 27 12:25:13 2009
      Timestamp (microseconds) = 220356807.600000

HOST INFORMATION

      Host OS Name = Windows Server? 2003, Standard Edition
      Host OS Version = 5.2.3790
      Host OS Service Pack = Service Pack 2
      CPU Manufactuer = Intel Pentium III class
      CPU Architecture = x86
      CPU Version = x86 F6 M15 S6
      Logical CPUs = 2
      Physical CPUs = 1
      CPU Speed = 2.3 GHz
      Host Memory = 4091 MB
      Memory Available = 1796 MB
      Processor Affinity for Virtual Machines = 0x00000003

EXCEPTION RECORD

      Exception Code = 0xC0000005
      Exception Flags = 0x00000000
      ExceptionAddress = 0x005B62E1
      Additional Exception Information:
            0x00000000
            0x00000014

CONTEXT INFORMATION

      EAX = 0x00000000
      EBX = 0x00000000
      ECX = 0x00000000
      EDX = 0x02B7F734
      ESI = 0x02BDA5BC
      EDI = 0x00000010
      EBP = 0x02B7F6D8
      ESP = 0x02B7F6C0
      EIP = 0x005B62E1
      EFlags = 0x00010246

STACK CONTENTS

      02B7F6C0: 02BDA440 02BDA440 02BD8A00 00000000
      02B7F6D0: 00000000 00000000 02B7F714 0049CF19
      02B7F6E0: 00000010 02BDA0A8 02B7F714 0049D1AE
      02B7F6F0: 2435703A 00D3A5EC 02BDA0A8 02BD8AA8
      02B7F700: 00D3A5EC 02B7F6F0 02B7F758 005E5930
      02B7F710: 00000000 02B7F738 0049BAA8 02BD8AA8
      02B7F720: 00D3A5EC 02B7F734 02BDA0A8 02B7F784
      02B7F730: 00E1E918 00000000 02BD8AA8 0051585D
      02B7F740: 02BD8AA8 00D3A5EC 24357062 02B7F79C
      02B7F750: 02B7F784 02B7F7E8 02B7F7DC 005F1928
      02B7F760: FFFFFFFF 005157AB 02BD8AA8 243570C6
      02B7F770: 00D3A5EC 02C0E388 00D3A5EC 00CB89B8
      02B7F780: 02B7F7A8 00E1E95C 00E1A628 00E1E948
      02B7F790: 02B7F701 00D3A5EC 00CB89B8 00E1E95C
      02B7F7A0: 00E1A628 00000000 0050EE21 00D3A5EC
      02B7F7B0: 0000002A 0050EE84 243570C2 00CB89B8

STACK FRAME

Frame 0:
      Program Counter: 0x005B62E1
      Return Address: 0x0049CF19
      Frame Pointer: 0x02B7F6D8
      Parameter 1: 0x00000010
      Parameter 2: 0x02BDA0A8
      Parameter 3: 0x02B7F714
      Parameter 4: 0x0049D1AE

Frame 1:
      Program Counter: 0x0049CF19
      Return Address: 0x0049BAA8
      Frame Pointer: 0x02B7F714
      Parameter 1: 0x02BD8AA8
      Parameter 2: 0x00D3A5EC
      Parameter 3: 0x02B7F734
      Parameter 4: 0x02BDA0A8

Frame 2:
      Program Counter: 0x0049BAA8
      Return Address: 0x0051585D
      Frame Pointer: 0x02B7F738
      Parameter 1: 0x02BD8AA8
      Parameter 2: 0x00D3A5EC
      Parameter 3: 0x24357062
      Parameter 4: 0x02B7F79C

Frame 3:
      Program Counter: 0x0051585D
      Return Address: 0x02C0E388
      Frame Pointer: 0x02BD8AA8
      Parameter 1: 0xB7FF0300
      Parameter 2: 0x006172B2
      Parameter 3: 0x00000003
      Parameter 4: 0x00640065

Frame 4:
      Program Counter: 0x02C0E388
      Return Address: 0x00000004
      Frame Pointer: 0x00E1E918
      Parameter 1: 0x00CBA290
      Parameter 2: 0x6D583FEE
      Parameter 3: 0x2A4C8081
      Parameter 4: 0x4E5F64BC

CRASHED THREAD INFO:

mThreadLastResortIdentity = VM Main Processor (Windows Server 2003 Standard Ed)
VPCEventThread

TimeOutDuration = 0
EventGroup - IsAutoReset = 1
EventGroup - EventCount = 5

VPCMAINVIRTUALMACHINETHREAD

mVMProcessorPhase = 1
mVMProcessorReserveGoal = 0.000000
mVMProcessorCapGoal = 100.000000
mVMProcessorComputeRatioTime = 213047333.700000
mVMCappedExecutionEndTime = 0.000000
mVMReservedExecutionDuration = 0.000000
mVMNominalExecutionDuration = 50000.000000
mVMCappedExecutionDuration = 0.000000
mVMExecutionDuration = 50000.000000
mVMPriority = 1
mVMLastRunTime = 0.000000
mVMLastSampleTime = 212047334.700000
mVMAverageUtilization = 0.000000
VPCVIRTUALMACHINE OBJECT

      mInitialized = 1
      mTearingDown = 0
      mInitializingCount = 0
      mSuspended = 0
      mActivated = 1
      mDeviceCount = 31
      mInitializationLevel = 31
      mVMState = 1
      mScheduledAction = 0
      mPowerDownType = 0
      mPowerUpType = 0
      mWasRestoredFromSavedState = 1
      mSuspendReason = = 0x0
      mVMID = 0
      mConfigID = 1
      mConfigGUID = {8A5D471D-B97C-4F61-A761-551C84D59644}
      mMergeAction = 0
      mVMNumberGuestProcessors = 1

END CRASHED THREAD INFO

VPCVIRTUALMACHINE OBJECT

      mInitialized = 1
      mTearingDown = 0
      mInitializingCount = 0
      mSuspended = 0
      mActivated = 1
      mDeviceCount = 31
      mInitializationLevel = 31
      mVMState = 1
      mScheduledAction = 0
      mPowerDownType = 0
      mPowerUpType = 0
      mWasRestoredFromSavedState = 1
      mSuspendReason = = 0x0
      mVMID = 0
      mConfigID = 1
      mConfigGUID = {8A5D471D-B97C-4F61-A761-551C84D59644}
      mMergeAction = 0
      mVMNumberGuestProcessors = 1

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

            VM not powered up. Device uninitialized

Structured exception occurred inside a VM or attached thread.
VMID of crashed VM = 0
Name of crashed VM = Windows Server 2003 Standard Ed

gtworek

Did you change anything singnificant in your host machine configuration?
Some new patches? BIOS settings?

Is your VM configured for less than 1796MB RAM? Your log states that only this amount of memory remained available.

davis

ASKER

We had a couple of crashes of the host machine on 12/17 and contacted Dell support. they had me update BIOS, BMC, PERC firmware, and PERC driver. The server resumed working normally , afterwards - including a restart of the VM without any errors. The VM only showed the failure 10 days later, after the system restart on 12/27 for some routine maintenance over the weekend.

The VM is configured for 2GB. Total RAM is 4GB and host machine processes typically consume 400-700MB. After the failure, I set the swap from 2GB to 6GB for 'initial' and 'max' size. After the initial reboot, post swap increase, I was able to successfully restart the VM.

Any additioal insight is greatly appreciated! Should I shutdown the VM and backup asap?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

gtworek

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davis

ASKER

The HOST server has been working normally since the Firmware and driver updates. I've allocated 2048MB RAM to the Guest OS via the VS 2005 R2 console. So, from this crash file, the HOST is reporting only having 1.7GB available, correct? I don't have the /3GB enabled, which community concensus is to NOT use. (It reduces the amt of kernel-mode memory from 2GB to 1GB). Why, with a 'clean-restart' of the host and approx 400MB memory utilized on HOST, would the system report only having 1796 available? The Server (Dell PE2950 rack mount) is coming up on it's 3-year anniversary of production use next month.

Also, for comparison, can you tell me your procedure for shutting down the VM prior to restarting the HOST server?

thanks very much!

davis

ASKER

Hi - can you provide a recommendation for a solution for a 32Bit Windows 2003 server with 4GB of RAM which crashes with 'fatal error'?

I realize The virtual server launched properly after the increasing swap size and rebooting but I am not sure it truly was the fix. I am suspicious only because things worked properly so long with default swap size.

Thanks for your insight!

davis

ASKER

good feedback. Still