VirtualBox failed to start

[hank]

Hi, I just installed the latest VirtualBox from Synaptic.  When I started it from the menu, it showed the hourglass and then nothing.  So, I typed VirtualBox at the console and got the following error message:

Code: [Select]

VirtualBox: Error -610 in supR3HardenedMainInitRuntime!
VirtualBox: dlopen("/usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxRT.so",) failed: /usr/lib/libssh2.so.1: undefined symbol: EVP_CIPHER_CTX_get_app_data

VirtualBox: Tip! It may help to reinstall VirtualBox.

Well, I tried to uninstall VirtualBox and reinstalled it again from Synaptic, but I still got the error message.  Can anybody tell me what went wrong?  How do I get VirtualBox to start without error?

Thanks,

Hank

[AndrzejL]

Are You fully updated? Did You rebooted to allow for the dkms for virtualbox to be compiled to the kernel modules?

Andy

[hank]

Well, my PCLinuxOS installation is not fully updated.  It is a PCLinuxOS 2007 installation.  Short story, when I decided to use PCLinuxOS as my main OS two years ago, I made the decision to do selective updates only.  So, I have been updating packages that are important for my daily work using Synaptic.  The reason is that back then I heard horror stories about people who wrecked their working Linux installation after doing full updates/upgrades.  Most of the Linux systems affected were other distributions and not PCLinuxOS.  So, since I didn't see anything wrong with my installation and I had set everything up the way I wanted, I didn't want to do any full update and risked wrecking my working PCLinuxOS installation.

I found out much later that the rolling updates that PCLinuxOS has work well.  But, I thought it was too late to do a full update since I had been doing selective updates for quite some time.  So, when I decide to reinstall PCLinuxOS with the latest version, I will do the full update routine.  For now, I just have to live with my current working PCLinuxOS installation.

Back to VirtualBox, yes I rebooted my laptop after I installed VirtualBox.  Since the problem may be related to my not fully updated PCLinuxOS, what would happen if I decide to fully update it now?  Would the full update wreck my Linux installation?  I mean I don't want to reinstall everything since I had set up everything the way I wanted.  Also, if it is possible, is there any workaround to start VirtualBox without doing the full update? 

[Hootiegibbon]

hank,

the easy answer is ... who knows what will happen to a selectivly updated install, things mnove on fairly quickly, selective updates can be the easist way to mess up an install on a rolling distro, we have had an entire rolling rebase since - so anything built against the new GCC will not work on the old GCC - that may be the issue you have.

If you back up your information and /home data and give a try a synaptics mark all upgrades you MAY be lucky.  Then again you may need to reinstall.  I havce a 2007 install that is fully uptodate and went through the rebase without any issue, although that was doing regular mark all upgrades.

Please remember that PCLinuxOS is a rolling distro so top keep it working and fully supported you need to keep it up to date.

Jase

[hank]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I'll fully back up my installation and try a full update this weekend.  If it doesn't work, I'll probably try vmware for now since I don't have time to do a reinstall right now.  I'll update how the full update goes.

[j-retired]

Forgive me if you've already done it, but you have set yourself as a user in the vbox 'group' haven't you?

j

[hank]

I tried adding my username to vboxusers group as you suggested, but I still couldn't start virtualbox.  Same error message.

[j-retired]

If you're still stuck, you could try doing an install of the PCLOS version that exists on SUN's website. That's what I have done on several installs of pclos, and had very little trouble - any trouble has been self inflicted!  That way, since you're using command line, you'll get a list of any error messages.

j

[AndrzejL]

Install or reinstall this package via synaptic

libssh2_1

Andy

[YouCanToo]

Forgive me if you've already done it, but you have set yourself as a user in the vbox 'group' haven't you?

j

This should have no effect on one starting Vbox

[hank]

I tried running the one from Sun's website, but I got the same error message though.  I also reinstalled libssh2_1, but I still got the same error.  I already added my username and root to vbox group, same error.  I highly suspect that the problem was caused by my not fully updated PCLOS.  When I tried to fully update my installation, I got this error from Synaptic: ordering failed for 22 packages.  The packages were downloaded just fine, but they couldn't be installed by Synaptic.  Well, not surprising at all, since the PCLOS has not been fully updated for 2 years.  So, I tried vmware and it worked.  Until I have time to reinstall PCLOS, I just use vmware.  Thanks for all the help guys.

[AndrzejL]

Thats just about sums it up...

Open konsole

Code: [Select]

su
ENTER

Code: [Select]

roots password
ENTER

Code: [Select]

apt-get update
ENTER

Code: [Select]

apt-get dist-upgrade
then when You will receive the output look for the names of the skipped packages then forum search for them, find the solutions and apply them.

Then when thats done try updating via synaptic again...

Also... What distro do You use and what kernel is it?

kernel version will be found when you run

Code: [Select]

uname -a
in konsole.

Andy