update to virtualbox 4.3.34 causing issues on ubuntu 14.04

I have been running virtualbox (recent version that you get from apt-get) on an ubuntu 14.04 LTS host. There was just a "normal" update via System Tools -> Administration -> Software Updater that updated virtualbox to 4.3.34_Ubuntu r104062 . Now when I try to run a guest os (ubuntu 14.04) or start a new guest with ubuntu 15.10 the guest crashes as it tries to start up.

From the virtualbox log, the crucial lines appear to be:

00:00:31.838258 Guest Log: BIOS: Booting from CD-ROM...
00:00:32.028360 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=00007f821b400000 w=640 h=480 bpp=16 cbLine=0x500, flags=0x1
00:00:32.028379 UIFrameBuffer::RequestResize: Screen=0, Format=843204434, BitsPerPixel=16, BytesPerLine=1280, Size=640x480, Sending to async-handler..
00:00:32.028436 UIFrameBufferQImage::resizeEvent: Format=843204434, BitsPerPixel=16, BytesPerLine=1280, Size=640x480
00:00:32.028445 UIFrameBufferQImage::resizeEvent: Resizing to FALLBACK buffer due to format is invalid..
00:00:45.670222 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=0000000000000000 w=720 h=400 bpp=0 cbLine=0x0, flags=0x1
00:00:45.670249 UIFrameBuffer::RequestResize: Screen=0, Format=0, BitsPerPixel=0, BytesPerLine=0, Size=720x400, Sending to async-handler..
00:00:45.670375 UIFrameBufferQImage::resizeEvent: Format=0, BitsPerPixel=0, BytesPerLine=0, Size=720x400
00:00:45.670384 UIFrameBufferQImage::resizeEvent: Resizing to FALLBACK buffer due to format is invalid..
00:00:45.670845 Guest Log: BIOS: KBD: unsupported int 16h function 03

I am guessing that some kind of local preferences file is corrupted. Can anyone suggest how to get the virtualbox guests running again? I have tried:

sudo apt-get purge virtualbox
sudo apt-get install virtualbox
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

And that did not work.

Solution 1:

I experienced the exact same problem. In my case it turned out to be an outdated extension pack causing USB 2.0 to break at boot. I could boot my guests by disabling the USB 2.0 support.

You can find the latest extension pack here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Solution 2:

After Ubuntu upgraded Virtualbox from 4.3.10 to 4.3.34, all my Windows 7 and Windows 10 virtual machines abort on startup. Was only able to get to run by disabling USB 2.0. Then I saw Marg G's entry on updating the extension pack, which then allowed USB 2.0 to work again.

Solution 3:

I had the same problem. Solution for me was the update of the extension pack. Just download it from http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.3.34/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.3.34-104062.vbox-extpack then update in virtualbox via "global settings". Then it should work again.