Macbook Air Kernel Crash (build 5584) under 10.5.1/10.5.2

Build 4182

So I did a reinstall of 10.5.2, did NOT set up Boot Camp as the trackpad was not tapping and the screen was out of focus, loaded my parallels disc, I think build 4182 and things were running sweet for two days. Than I forgot about this forum and "upgraded" to build 5584. Am I a moron or what? After loading it there was a request to restart and the machine is still hanging there. Damn. Any thoughts how to salvage? Restarts have not helped. I get back to the screen stuck on "windows is shutting down."
Thanks!

 

Frustrating. I just bought the Macbook air thinking I could use Parallels to run XP. I have had so many crashes that I have given up using the Macbook air and gone back to use the Macbook Pro. I think I will try WM fusion instead and give up Parallels. Annoyed.

 

It's not tied together with the use of external monitor on my setup. It happens just as often when I am using the Air alone and when I have my samsung 205BW screen running.
However it seems to happen a little less frequently after I lowered my graphics settings in Win XP ( Choose the setting "Best Performance" in XP and classic look). However I do not have enough test time yet, to be confident that this is the case. Its pure speculation that it in fact helps..
Im glad that parallels are on it! Really hope they get it fixed soon.
BR
Henrik

 

update anytime soon?

To the Parallels moderator(s). Can you give us an idea of what the problem is and maybe when a patch or update might be released?

 

We are working at this bug but currently we have no solution for it. We will inform you as soon as we have a fix.

 

For what it's worth, I am very pleased to see both the acknowledgement of the issue and these updates. These things take time, but getting even this much visibility into the process is great.

 

I could not seem to get a pattern as when it will crash. Its seems to crash randomly. A lot of the time it crashes when I close the lid (to put the MBA to sleep) while Parallels is running. Has anybody worked out a pattern as to when the MBA crashes while running Parallels??
Parallels moderator, please come out with a solution quick. It is very frustrating for me at the moment because I could predict when my MBA is going to crash!! Thanks.

 

Fusion Problems

Just to let you know... I downloaded VMWare Fusion, and am having similar problems with that... It runs great for a while, then the CPU gets pegged and the system slows to a crawl. No Kernal panic, but close enough.

 

I am using VWWare Fusion for the last 2 days. No more kernel panic. No crash. I am happy. I will continue to use VWWare and will report any problems. So far so good.

 

Fusion

It may just be the particular programs I am running. Only my tax preparation program seems to cause the problem in Fusion. I am glad I have gotten to try the VMWare product though so I can see the superiority of Parallels. I hope the fix come soon!

 

Fusion

My feeling is that everybody has their own needs. My need is that I move around a lot taking a my Macbook Air around the office. I just close the lid without closing Parallels. But this has caused Parallels to crash (kernel panic). So Parallels does not satisfy my need.
I have used Fusion for 3 days. It is very stable, uses less resources and most importantly, it does not crash when I close and reopen the Macbook Air lid. Fusion does all the things that Parallels does for me. There are certain things that Fusion is inferior like file sharing (in Fusion it is manual but it is automatic in Parallels) but I can put up with Fusion because it does not crash and therefore satisfy my need. You may have a different need and therefore will choose the one that fits you. For me at the moment, Fusion is the answer. I am happy now.

 

Kernel Crash Solution

After a visit to the 5th avenue NY genius bar and consultation with the chief genius, Josh, I seem to have a solution. He pointed out that in in Parallels preferences, the memory tab default of apportioning memory automatically allows Parallels to take over all the memory of the computer. I switched to manual apportionment of memory up to a maximum of 1000mb and have had smooth sailing since. Sounds like Parallels programmers need to fix the automatic feature to resolve this.

 

Well, I hope you are right. I have made the change and will report back on success or failure.
I had downloaded a trial of Fusion but in going to their forums it seems they, also, are having issues with the MBA. Their workaround involves setting up to not recognize a disk drive, since we do not have one. Resetting memory sounds easier than loading another program.

 

Didn't work for me

I tried playing with this setting--512 mb, 256 mb, and 1000 mb of RAM, and I still got kernel panics. Did limiting the RAM available to Parallels solve the issue for anyone else?

Also, I disabled the floppy drive and still got kernel panics.

 

Fusion

I have bought the Super drive for the Air and it works fine with Fusion. Fusion recognises it as another USB devise. I have now used it for 4 days and not a single kernel panic. Everything works fine with Fusion so far. Will report if I discover any problem.

 

In addition to manual apportionment of memory, I also turned off the shared programs in preferences. When i turned them back on, i started getting kernel crashes again. The problem may be the shared programs rather than the memory allocation, but it may be both.

 

I went to sleep but Parallels didn't

Fired things up this morning and all is well.

In addition to the memory change I made a change in the general preferences window. Under application quit window I changed it to shut down from suspend as I think the hangs I have had have been stuck in suspend mode. I am using build 4128.

Chee-so are you leaving the superdrive attached all the time? That would be annoying.

 

I hope this gets fixed soon, who ever thought a virtualisation piece of software would get faulty on hardware? I have parallels running on 2 macbooks and my girlfriend ordered a macbook air, given the excellent way parallels serves me I had her order a copy of parallels to accompany the macbook air. As (so the company claims) parallels works on Mac OS X (leopard even). What a disappointment to find that I now have to wait for a suitable version to be released. I can't install windows even, it keeps crashing with the gray screen of death. be it through superdrive or through the use of an iso image. Only thing I have yet to try is transport one of my own VM's to the MBA to see if they work. But seeing the acknowledged kernel panics I don't think it will.

on a side note: Hope the guys over at parallels spend their time at making the program work instead of making this new website even worse than it alrdy is. Who ever thought this new layout would be easier for a user should be fired. Took me too long to find the forums let alone the right part to find kernel panics in. With the old site I never had these problems.

Post back any betas please and make it easy to obtain. (not with the whole signup for beta paperwork please, I want the download not a questionaire). a version that 'might' work is better than a version that doesn't work at all.

 

No. The superdrive is not attached all the time. I hardly need to use it. I am just making a point about super drive because of a previous comment about disc drive not working with Fusion. The Macbook air super drive works fine.

 

Looks like this worked for me - did you make the change in Parallels preferences or in the virtual machine setup? My Parallels was set to "automatic" - I switched to "manual" and set the memory at 1024... I couldn't start my virtual machine until I reduced the memory in the virtual machine to 924, but now all seem to be well. I still have to try one other program under Parallels, but I don't have any data here, so I have to wait until later and I get back to my office.

Tried using Fusion, but having used Parallels for almost a year it was really difficult to make the switch, I like Parallels much better.