problem with virtualization

Hey all,

Bought my M17x in Dec 2009 and freakin' LOVE it. Glad I've found these forums today too.

In the past few days I've done some major upgrades:
1. Win7 Home Premium -> Professional -> Ultimate
2. Flashed the BIOS to A03
3. Upgraded my RAM from 4GB to 8GB (I have the two 2GB 1066 SODIMMs for sale if anyone wants to buy them?)

Somewhere in the process of all of this, I've run into a major problem with virtualization.

I use Virtualbox on the laptop and have a 64-bit Gentoo Linux VM that I've been working on for a while, and have lots of client data and work data on it, and suddenly it's not working. I have the only virtualization setting in the A03 BIOS set to 'enabled' but Virtualbox refuses to start the VM (i have a post at http://cormyn.com/ with more details):



Everything I can find in Windows 7 so far (as well as 3DMark and PCMark) ensure me that I indeed have a 64-bit processor.

Is anyone familiar with win7/virtualization that could offer some tips/tricks to try? This is impeding my ability to get some work done.

m17x: Core2 Duo 9800 (2.93GHz), 8GB RAM (2x4GB 1066 DDR3), dual nvidia 260M

 

Have you tried flashing back to A02 and seeing if that cures the problem ? The RAM shouldn't make a difference and neither should the OS if you have done an upgrade rather then a full reinstall.

If you have done the latter (The full reinstall.) are you sure you have a 64bit version of the OS ?

I believe it's most likely down to the A03 BIOs as it has been.. Slightly less then perfect from my and other's experiance.

P.S - Your link says you have an M17x R2, Is that right ?... I wasn't even aware of there even being an A03 Bios for it only for the R1

 

The OS upgrades were done via Windows' "Anytime Upgrade".

The A03 installation *said* it was backing up my A02 BIOS, but (a) I'm not sure where it got put, and (b) I'm not sure how to revert. I'll start looking for an installation package at dell.com

Thanks,
Cormyn

 

i believe this has been coverd earlyer last month the laptops bios has VT locked and until further notice this laptop is incapable of it.

 

err nvm you have an r1 my bad

 

@deltaone45: but this worked just fine since mid-December when I bought the laptop.

 

R1? I thought the one I bought was a "second revision" late last year? Or was that just an upgrade from M17 to M17x ?

 

it was an upgrade from the original all alienware to the new M17x allpowerful in association with dell

 

ah, thanks, I was all confused about the R2 deal.

 

Well, I just downgraded to A02 and enabled the Intel Virtualization setting in the BIOS, and it's still giving me that error in Virtualbox.

Any other suggestions? This worked just fine two days ago. Looking back, the Windows 7 upgrades were done on the weekend, and the VM worked on Monday morning, so I don't believe it's a problem with Windows 7.

Monday afternoon I upgraded to A03 but didn't use my 64-bit VM until this morning. However, I did notice that the 32-bit VM's I use most for work were *incredibly* slow.

 

pm mandrake or joker5151 i think thats his alias or the moo they will know for sure

 

SOLVED -- the edit tool won't let me edit the subject line.

On A02, I had set the Intel Virtualization to "enabled" but Virtualbox wasn't working.

I went back into the BIOS, set it to "disabled", rebooted and shut the machine off at the BIOS POST screen, then unplugged the M17x and took out the battery. I put it back together and turned it on, set it back to "enabled", and shut it off at the BIOS POST screen, unplugged it and removed the battery for a few seconds again, put it all back together, and voila.

Now to try that with the A03 BIOS.

 

Since he has core2duo i am sure its r1

 

Nice that you got it working.

 

update: following the same "change the BIOS, power off, unplug, no battery" routine, I was able to get 64-bit virtualization working with A03 as well.

 

gratz



/10char