Re: kvm-76 --std-vga problem

[Brian Jackson <iggy@theiggy.com>]

On Sunday 28 September 2008 4:44:30 pm Michael Malone wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I just downloaded and ran the new kvm-76 (upgrading from kvm-74) and I
> have a few issues.
> I am running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) as my host and Windows XP as my guest.
> I am using VT-d and the kernel modules loaded correctly.
>
> Here is the command I use to start kvm:
> kvm-bridge -hda windows2.img -boot c -m 1000 -serial /dev/ttyUSB0
> -serial file:serial.out -smp 2 -usb -usbdevice "tablet" -full-screen
> -cdrom /dev/cdrom
>
> kvm-bridge is a script that configures my network and passes the other
> options straight through to qemu-system-x86_64
>
> 1) what is the difference between running qemu-system-x86_64 and kvm
> directly?
> Because, when I run kvm directly, I get this error:
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/home/malonem/kvm-76/kvm", line 20, in <module>
>     external_module = config.get('shell', 'want_module')
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.5/ConfigParser.py", line 511, in get
>     raise NoSectionError(section)
> ConfigParser.NoSectionError: No section: 'shell'


That's a python qemu wrapper (which is unfortunately named kvm). That is not 
the same as the kvm binary which most distros install. You'll want to use the 
qemu-system-x86_64 binary in the qemu/x86_64-softmmu dir if you want to run 
directly from the source dir. But it looks like you've already installed it 
to the system, so I wouldn't bother.


>
> 2) (this has been around for quite some time, I just haven't done
> anything about it)
> Even though I start up with -smp 2, windows only reads 1 cpu


You probably installed the guest with -smp 1. In which case, XP would have 
installed the Uniprocessor HAL. You'd have to change that out or reinstall 
the guest to be able to use more than one CPU.


>
> 3) When I run it using the --std-vga parameter, windows boots to just
> before it gets to the "welcome" screen and hangs.  The output shows a
> multitude of "kvm: get_dirty_pages returned -2"  Is this something to do
> with the kernel version I am using?  I am using the standard Ubuntu
> Hardy Kernel 2.6.24-19-generic.  I read the release notes about the
> kernel version with kvm-76 but didn't really understand them and
> presumed that I am using the kernel modules supplied with kvm. (I
> rmmod'd kvm-intel and kvm before I compiled and installed, then
> modprobe'd the modules afterwards and everything seemed to go ok)


I don't know about this, but it seems that someone else verified, so hopefully 
the devs will be on it soon.


>
> Any help or insight would be much appreciated,
>
> Michael