Virtue Desktops and Crashes...

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by MarkHolbrook, Oct 8, 2006.

  1. MarkHolbrook

    MarkHolbrook Pro

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    350
    Since I got the hint here on Parallels forum about Virtue Desktops I've been running them and like them very much. But I've noticed I've gotten three "curtains of death" from my normally stable as hell MBP.

    I think and I'm not sure but I've bound Parallels to a particular desktop of it's own. If I click on the Parallels icon in the dock and don't switch to the desktop it's bound to I think about 50% of the time it can and may generate a crash.

    Not sure if this is the connection but everytime it does crash and take the system down when I reboot and launch Parallels while watching the desktop it works fine.

    At first I thought I was not giving enough time after boot up to get everything loaded. But I got the curtain today after my MBP had been booted for almost 10 minutes. But again this time I was not on the desktop bound to Parallels.

    So I'll watch it and see if this might be the case. Wonder if any others have seen the same kind of behavior.
     
  2. Scott Willsey

    Scott Willsey Hunter

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    174
    Mark, I don't have a MBP. I'm running both Parallels build 1922 and Virtue Desktops 0.53 (build 220 or something like that) and I have Parallels bound to a particular desktop so I can run it full screen and I've had no issues.

    Sorry this isn't more helpful but at least on my system this combination has been very stable.
     
  3. MarkHolbrook

    MarkHolbrook Pro

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    350
    Thanks for the reply. Up until about 3 months ago my MBP was probably the most stable computer I've ever owned. Even with Parallels... I never saw the curtain of death.

    Now it is happening about 2 out of every 15 startups. So I'll have to look into what has changed.

    Glad to hear that your machine is solid. That's the way they should be!

    M
     
  4. Tony Arnold

    Tony Arnold Member

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    54
    Mark, is your MBP leaving any crashdumps when it kernel panics? I'm the author of VirtueDesktops, and if there's any chance that my software is involved, I'd like to help.

    Generally (in my experience), kernel panics are caused by software that interacts with hardware, or by bad hardware. Have you had any RAM installed recently, or any other hardware?
     
  5. philnewts

    philnewts Member

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    34
    What version of PD are you using as one was quite buggy for me and caused loads of Kernel Panics on boot, I too run MBP with Virtue Desktop and have not had issue with Virtue specifically .P.S Great Programme Tony
     
  6. MarkHolbrook

    MarkHolbrook Pro

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    350
    Hi Tony, Please understand, I'm not blaming Virtue at all. I've just noticed the problem when I have bound Parallels to a particular desktop. Before I understood how to bind things I was just letting things run where they were. So I would manually switch to the "code" desktop then run Parallels.

    Once I understood your binding method I bound a few apps to go where I want them. Now Parallels has it's own desktop. So I would from man get Parallels going from my dock and like I said all of a sudden about 2 out of every 15 give a crash.

    I looked at the dump once but haven't the other times. If it does it again I'll check and get back with you. I'm trying an experiment this week to switch to the Parallels desktop prior to starting it and see what I get.

    No new RAM or anything else. Yesterday I did update to 10.4.8.

    Phil, I'm on my MacMini. When I boot my MBP later I'll let you know what version it is. I have a feeling it's 1896.2.

    Mark
     
  7. MarkHolbrook

    MarkHolbrook Pro

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    350
    I just verified that my MBP is running Parallels build 1896.2 as well.
     
  8. plarusa

    plarusa Member

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    33
    Same here, no issues what so ever.
     
  9. MarkHolbrook

    MarkHolbrook Pro

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    350
    Do you start Parallels while NOT on the desktop it's bound to? Thats when I seem to see the problems. It acts like because the window it is tryin to paint on is virtual or something that it crashes.

    I'm not sure I'm correct about that but so far if I'm on the desktop that Parallels is bound to and I start it, it seems fine. I'll keep ya all posted if I find out anything different.
     
  10. Scott Willsey

    Scott Willsey Hunter

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    174
    Yes. It briefly opens on whatever desktop I'm on, then hops to desktop 2 (where I have it bound). Haven't seen any issues. Then again, you have the Radeon X1600 and I have the GMA 950. There may well be differences in how the drivers handle this "problem" which results in a crash for you and not for me.
     

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