Cannot run Parallels 4 (3848) VM after upgrading host OS to Snow Leopard

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pwb503

Junior Member
I was running XP (guest OS) on my Macbook Pro just fine under 10.5 Leopard (host OS) and Parallels Desktop for Mac 4.0 I then upgraded my OS to 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and now I canot startup my Virtual Machine (XP). I am running a Macbook Pro in 32-bit mode. My OS is 10.6.1. Parallels Desktop for Mac is build 3838.


Upon trying to start my VM I get the following error message:
"Unable to start the virtual machine. An unexpected error occured while starting the virtual machine. Contact the Parallels support team for assistance."

Then another error pops up as soon as I hit the OK button:
"Unable to load the Parallels driver. Restart your Mac and try again."

I've restarted my computer several times. I've made sure I'm running the most current version of Parallels Desktop. Please tell me what I can do in order to get Parallels back up and running. Thanks in advance.
 
UPDATE:

I've updated my host OS to 10.6.2 but nothing has changed.

I've tried to uninstall parallels and reinstall it, but the uninstaller application just crashes (with no error message) as soon as I launch it. I have not tried to reinstall it over the existing installation without first uninstalling it...
 
Still not working. Still no help from Parallels...

First off let me say that before reinstalling Parallels, I'd like to uninstall it from my computer, however I cannot seem to do so. The installer disk image I downloaded to upgrade Parallels to the newest version included an uninstaller but it will not open. It just bounces once in the dock and then disappears. I found my original installer disk for Parallels 4.0, I tried running the uninstaller from the CD but it bounced in the dock and then quit as well.

So, without uninstalling first, I tried reinstalling Paralells 4.0 from the installer CD. I was asked if I wanted to install the current version from the CD or see if there was a newer version onilne. I choose the get the newest version from online and ran the installer. After a restart, parallels still gave me the exact same error message (see above...)

So again I tried reinstalling Parallels 4.0 from the CD but this time I chose the current (4.0) version from the CD rather than the newer version from online. After a restart, I can run Parallels, but now I get a new error:

"Are you sure you want to start the virtual machine?

One or more kernel components loaded on your Mac are for another version of Parallels Desktop. If you start the virtual machine now, it may work incorrectly. To solve this problem, restart your Mac. If the problem persists, reinstall Parallels Desktop."

Restarting the computer doesn't help, I tried that several times. Hitting continue however, gets me this error:

"Unable to start the virtual machine "Windows XP".

Parallels Desktop cannot allocate enough memory for running the virtual machine. Suspend or stop one or more of the virtual machines currently running on your Mac and try again. If the problem persists, contact the Parallels support team for assistance."

So, anyone care to suggest what I can do now to try to get Parallels working?
 
UPDATE - still not working

UPDATE -

I was able to completely uninstall Parallels Desktop with AppCleaner and then tried reinstalling it with the original 4.0 installer from the CD I bought. Still no go though. Exactly the same problem...

Hey Parallels tech support? A little help please? How about a reply?
 
pwb503 said:
Elric, thanks for the suggestion. Even though the KB article you referenced said to follow the instructions "only in case the version 4 build 3844 is currently installed" and I have 3848 installed I decided to follow your suggestion.

Unfortunately it didn't do anything. Same problem.
Click to expand...

Please reboot the Mac OS, try to start some VM and send a problem report using menu of Parallels Desktop "Help" -> "Report a Problem" and post here its number
 
Elric said:
Please reboot the Mac OS, try to start some VM and send a problem report using menu of Parallels Desktop "Help" -> "Report a Problem" and post here its number
Click to expand...

After reinstalling Parallels (3848), restarting my computer, and launching Parallels I get the following error immediately:
"Unable to load the Parallels driver. Restart your Mac and try again."

After clicking the "Ok" button, I get the following error:
"Unable to start virtual machine. An unexpected error occurred while starting the virtual machine. Contact the Parallels support team for assistance."

After clikcing the "Ok" button, I followed your instructions to report a problem, but I cannot start a VM then "report a problem" 'cause I cannot start a VM...

My problem report is:
970199

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
 
pwb503 said:
After clikcing the "Ok" button, I followed your instructions to report a problem, but I cannot start a VM then "report a problem" 'cause I cannot start a VM...

My problem report is:
970199

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Click to expand...

Something very unexpected have happened in the Mac OS installation..

Could you please start the /Application/Utilities/Terminal and execute next three command (without quotations), then post here their output:

1) "sw_vers -productVersion"
2) "echo $PATH"
3) "/usr/bin/sw_vers -productVersion"
 
I hope this helps

Elric said:
Something very unexpected have happened in the Mac OS installation..

Could you please start the /Application/Utilities/Terminal and execute next three command (without quotations), then post here their output:

1) "sw_vers -productVersion"
2) "echo $PATH"
3) "/usr/bin/sw_vers -productVersion"
Click to expand...

Last login: Mon Nov 23 08:27:09 on console
128-193-226-28:~ paulbradley$ sw_vers -productVersion
10.6.2
128-193-226-28:~ paulbradley$ echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
128-193-226-28:~ paulbradley$ /usr/bin/sw_vers -productVersion
10.6.2
128-193-226-28:~ paulbradley$
 
pwb503 said:
Last login: Mon Nov 23 08:27:09 on console
128-193-226-28:~ paulbradley$ sw_vers -productVersion
10.6.2
Click to expand...

Here is a script in attach that should fix the problem (also, it have embedded diagnostic)

Installation instructions:

1. Quit the Parallels Desktop

2. Please unzip the content of attached patch_disp.zip to your home directory.

3. Execute /Application/Utilities/Terminal and execute in it next commands
1) cd ~
2) chmod a+x patch_disp.sh
3) sudo ./patch_disp.sh

caveat: Archiver may unpack the patch_disp.sh to the separate folder patch_disp. In this case the first command should be "cd ~/patch_disp".

The third command will ask for your password

After execution should appear message "Restarting Parallels.. done"

it is not necessary to reboot. Just start the Parallels Desktop and check whether it works.

We'd appreciate if you could send a problem report one more time even if the script helps. This will be a great help in improving the Parallels Desktop. Please post sent problem id here
 

Attachments

Unfortunately Still Not Working...

Elric, I really appreciate your help with this but it didn't work. First, here's the output you requested:
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$ which sw_vers
/usr/bin/sw_vers

I ran your script successfully. The first time I ran Parallels after running the script I got the following error:
"Unable to connect to Parallels Service. Make sure that prl_disp_service is running or check your firewall settings. If the problem persists, contact Parallels..."

In Activity Monitor I can see that prl_disp_service is indeed running under the root user.

Parallels then quits. The next time I try to run Parallels, the same old problems and the same old error messages apear.
 
Here you go...

Elric said:
Ok.. interesting.. could you please, when you get some time, reboot the Mac OS and post the problem report one more time?
Click to expand...

I just restarted and sent another problem report. It's:
991664

There is one other thing I should mention. Lately, when running software update for my computer and occasionally when installing software I get the following error:
"System extension cannot be used. The system extension "/System/Library/Extensions/hpPlugInInit.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product's vendor for an update. "

I believe this started when I first tried to update Parallels to the most recent build. However since this was simply an HP plugin something or other, I didn't think it had anything to do with Parallels actually not working. In any event, just in case it's important, now you know about that too.
 
Output

Elric said:
Strange. A couple more commands:

1) echo "10.6.2" | cut -d . -f 2
2) echo "10.6.2" | /usr/bin/cut -d . -f 2
3) which -a cut
Click to expand...

We might be getting somewhere with this output:
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$ echo "10.6.2" | cut -d . -f 2
-bash: echo: write error: Broken pipe
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$ echo "10.6.2" | /usr/bin/cut -d . -f 2
-bash: echo: write error: Broken pipe
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$ which -a cut
/usr/bin/cut
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$
 
pwb503 said:
We might be getting somewhere with this output:
paul-bradleys-macbook:~ paulbradley$ echo "10.6.2" | cut -d . -f 2
-bash: echo: write error: Broken pipe
Click to expand...

Amused... cannot expect this. The expected output (this command is very basic and should not give Broken Pipe) is number "6"

I tend to think that something is broken inside installation of Mac OS. It may be that either /usr/bin/cut is broken, or may be something blocks functionality. Could you please execute just "/usr/bin/cut": the expected output is

dhcp-10-30-19-126:~ test$ cut
usage: cut -b list [-n] [file ...]
cut -c list [file ...]
cut -f list [-s] [-d delim] [file ...]

There are also some messages is system.log, that are very suspicious:
"com.apple.launchd[1] (at.obdev.): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds"

may be Parallels Desktop is not the only affected application.

--

So, I think that either there is some application that affects the system in a bad way (then uninstall or reinstall of this problematic application will help), or Mac OS installation is corrupted and should be reinstalled.

In the case of reinstall may be "Archive & install" is the best choice: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1710
 
Elric said:
Amused... cannot expect this. The expected output (this command is very basic and should not give Broken Pipe) is number "6"

I tend to think that something is broken inside installation of Mac OS. It may be that either /usr/bin/cut is broken, or may be something blocks functionality. Could you please execute just "/usr/bin/cut": the expected output is

dhcp-10-30-19-126:~ test$ cut
usage: cut -b list [-n] [file ...]
cut -c list [file ...]
cut -f list [-s] [-d delim] [file ...]

So, I think that either there is some application that affects the system in a bad way (then uninstall or reinstall of this problematic application will help), or Mac OS installation is corrupted and should be reinstalled.
Click to expand...

Elric, Thank you so much for your help. I really truly appreciate you helping me through this. Per your suggestion I reinstalled Snow Leopard and everything now works perfectly. I executed "/usr/bin/cut" and got the anticipated results, and Parallels now runs my VM without a problem. In case you wanted to see the inner workings of my system now afte the fix, I submitted a Problem Report (1013551), but everything is running smoothly thus far. Thanks again. Happy Thanksgiving!
 
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