Upgraded Fedora 16 to Linux 3.3, VM won't start X

So Fedora 16 is an early adopter of Linux 3.3, I updated yesterday, rebuilt Parallels tools (which failed) and now my system hangs during the boot process. The problem is that the prlvideo module is not present.

So far so understandable, new linux kernel released and Parallels tools may not have caught up, the trouble is I can't seem to recover the situation by booting a previous system version or attempting to mount Parallels tools again.

I can boot my system into runlevels 1 or 3 from the grub console and it works in dumb terminal mode, executing startx in runlevel 3 fails with a complaint about being unable to find prlvideo. The obvious remedy is to boot a previous system version (I keep 3 for exactly this eventuality), try that and no joy, same hang and same root cause. Doing telinit 5 from runlevel 3 again hangs the system.

The obvious next step is to keep booting into runlevel 3 and rebuliding ParallelTools until it works, the trouble is that I click "Reinstall Parallels Tools", it says it has done so but I can't find the image mounted anywhere (usually /media/Parallels Tools).

So 3 support questions:
Why does updating parallels tools clobber the tools for ALL system versions? Surely it should do it for the current system only.
How do I access Parallels tools again?
How can I recover this situation?

UPDATE: I found an entry in /dev/disk/by-label/Parallels%20Tools - I mounted this and can now attempt to install/update the tools again. Doing this gets me a system which can boot but which complains that Parallels tools are out of date, I suspect that trying to update Parallels Tools will get me a non starting system again so I will leave it for now.

UPDATE 2: I have kind of answered my second 2 questions, the first remains: why after updating Parallels tools following a new kernel am I unable to boot using a previous kernel which had worked before I upgraded?

 

Regardless of the kernel version you boot, you updated your X11 binaries when upgrading the kernel (it came with it). That puts the version of X11 installed out of sync with the one provided by Parallels. Until the Parallels team gets around to upgrading their X11 binaries and issuing an update, we're all SOL for any cutting edge upgrades and distros.

 

That explains it, thanks. Also explains why earlier versions of the system did not work either. Maybe I'll look at snapshotting before the next upgrade.

 

Seems to be fixed in Parallels Desktop 7.0.15094

 

Confirmed!

 

Is that the same kernel that comes with Fedora 17 beta? Just tried installing the tools, I did a reboot and won't start x, it just crashes completely. Have to go into recovery and manually uninstall the tools. This is with 15094. Any ideas?

UPDATE: Some install logs error;

Start installation of user space modules
X server: xorg, v1.12
Error: No prebuilt modules for x server (1.12.0)
Skip X Server configuration and installation of X modules

 

Kernel version is immaterial, the error message says it all. It doesn't support the version of X you are using.

 

Figured so much with that error, thanks Ed0!

 

prlvideo can't load

I have been happily using Scientific Linux 6.0 for about a year now, happily running on my Mac in a Parallels Desktop virtual environment:

SciLinux 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6.i686 #1 SMP Mon Jun 18 09:58:35 CDT 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
xorg-x11-server-Xorg Version : 1.7.7-29.el6_1.2
Parallels Desktop 7.0.15104(778994)
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)

After trying to install routine security updates to Xorg to bring it up to 1.10.6 Release : 1.sl6 (and the kernel to 2.6.32-279.1.1.el6) the X server will not start.

In the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file, I see that the Parallels video driver "prlvideo" cannot load because it includes an undefined symbol: "miEmptyData". The Parallels mouse driver cannot load because of the undefined symbol: "dixScreenOrigins".

So, my system has a prlvideo driver, but it can't load it. Is this also a "cutting edge" issue?

I can boot into single-user mode (run level 3) after doing the update. Would this be solvable by updating Parallels Tools before trying to start Xorg? If so, how?

 

Well, it turns out that a fresh install of Scientific Linux (6.2) works just fine. Must have some cruft in the updated 6.0 installation.

Never mind.

 

Fresh install always helpful. It resolve 90% problems.

Thanks