diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 87b373f90..512f4a786 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
   - `vagrant destroy` now asks for confirmation by default. This can be
     overridden with the `--force` flag. [GH-699]
   - Fix issue with Puppet config inheritance. [GH-722]
+  - Fix issue where starting a VM on some systems was incorrectly treated
+    as failing. [GH-720]
 
 ## 0.9.6 (February 7, 2012)
 
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_0.rb b/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_0.rb
index 1a16d44e4..8c01fd74f 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_0.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_0.rb
@@ -417,7 +417,17 @@ module Vagrant
       end
 
       def start(mode)
-        execute("startvm", @uuid, "--type", mode.to_s)
+        command = ["startvm", @uuid, "--type", mode.to_s]
+        r = raw(*command)
+
+        if r.exit_code == 0 || r.stdout =~ /VM ".+?" has been successfully started/
+          # Some systems return an exit code 1 for some reason. For that
+          # we depend on the output.
+          return true
+        end
+
+        # If we reached this point then it didn't work out.
+        raise Errors::VBoxManageError, :command => command.inspect
       end
 
       def suspend
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_1.rb b/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_1.rb
index 8fb2ee367..436121b12 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_1.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/driver/virtualbox_4_1.rb
@@ -417,7 +417,17 @@ module Vagrant
       end
 
       def start(mode)
-        execute("startvm", @uuid, "--type", mode.to_s)
+        command = ["startvm", @uuid, "--type", mode.to_s]
+        r = raw(*command)
+
+        if r.exit_code == 0 || r.stdout =~ /VM ".+?" has been successfully started/
+          # Some systems return an exit code 1 for some reason. For that
+          # we depend on the output.
+          return true
+        end
+
+        # If we reached this point then it didn't work out.
+        raise Errors::VBoxManageError, :command => command.inspect
       end
 
       def suspend