Build 3540 any improvements?

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by Scudder, Nov 22, 2008.

  1. Scudder

    Scudder Bit poster

    Messages:
    6
    I have been watching the forums prior to taking the plunge on an upgrade from v3 to v4. I noticed there was a new build this morning and was wondering if any of you that are more brave than I have updated to the new build and if it fixes most of the problems with installation, sluggishness, etc.

    Any insight would be appreciated!
     
  2. angusm

    angusm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    I've upgraded to 3540. It does not fix the problem with Windows losing keyboard/mouse input after a minute or two.

    To clarify, this is a problem that has affected a number of users; the symptoms are that after running for a minute or two, the guest OS - Windows XP in my case - will no longer respond to keyboard or mouse input, leaving a restart as the only option.

    This was a problem in 3525, and is still a problem in 3540.
     
  3. STim

    STim Bit poster

    Messages:
    942
    angusm,

    More detail needed on this problem. Please:
    1. Start your VM. Important: after starting, do not press anything, use mouse only to proceed.
    2. In Windows, click Start.
    3. Right-click "My Computer"
    4. Switch to Hardware tab and launch Device Manager.
    5. Take a picture of the device manager window and post here.
     
  4. angusm

    angusm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Attached is a snapshot of the device manager window. I opened up the 'USB' section because I thought it might be relevant.

    For reference, there is an external USB hub/card reader attached, with a Kensington USB wheel mouse and a Canon printer connected. There are also two external drives connected on the Firewire 800 bus, and one on the Firewire 400 bus.

    Disconnecting the external USB hub before launching Parallels does not resolve the problem.

    The Devices menu in the Parallels desktop application lists:

    Apple BlueTooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Built-in iSight
    Apple Internal Trackpad / Keyboard
    Apple IR Receiver
    USB Reader
    USB/PS2 Wheel Mouse

    under the USB menu. If I choose the 'Configure ...' submenu from that menu, it shows the USB controller as enabled, but reports "No USB devices are connected." This is true both before and after the guest OS stops responding.

    Please let me know if there's anything else that you'd like me to try.
     

    Attached Files:

  5. STim

    STim Bit poster

    Messages:
    942
    Thanks. The workaround will be:

    0. You still should not press any keyboard keys and use only mouse.
    1. Right-click the "Unknown Device" under Keyboards node.
    2. Select "Update driver" and follow the wizard instructions.
    3. Input might freeze again after update is finished. Just reboot VM.

    After this all should be fine.

    If it works, please tell us:
    1. Did your original PD3 VM upgrade automatically (without the need to manually interfere into the process)?
    2. If you had to interfere, what were your actions?
     
  6. angusm

    angusm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    This did indeed resolve the issue. Thank you very much.

    I did not interfere with the upgrade process from PD3, which worked successfully without intervention.

    The only remaining issue that I have is extremely sluggish performance - to the point of unusability - in one application, Pandromeda's Mojoworld. I believe that the interface for this application is heavily based on OpenGL, so I'm guessing that it's an OpenGL problem (some features of the application don't depend on OpenGL, and these run quite quickly). The application was quite responsive under PD3 and BootCamp.

    Is there anything that I can do to improve performance in this application?

    Thank you again for your help.
     
  7. John@Parallels

    John@Parallels Forum Maven

    Messages:
    6,333
    1. Set memory for Virtual Machine to more than 1 gb, taking into consideration p 9
    2. Perform Mac and Windows side disk defragmentation http://www.xvsxp.com/system/system_tools_defrag.php
    3. Set Adjust memory limit from Auto to Manual at Parallels Desktop -Preferences-Memory, and set limit a bit more higher than VM memory
    4. Disable Themes in Windows XP serives.msc stop Themes service
    5. If you are running in Coherence, try to switch to Single Window, or lower Mac resolution
    6. Some antivirus software can load CPU when Heuristic Prediction is set, or Tamper protection (Symantec, MacAffey), adjust settings to risk you are supposed, high security settings is not always good idea, as it can also affect software running
    7. Run msconfig , and disable unneeded startup items
    See http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_xp.html
    8. Optimize computer experience for best performance -
    9. Make sure that at least 1.25 GB of Memory is free for Mac OS (it is Total Memory - Virtual Machine Memory)
    10. Make sure that at least 2 GB +Virtual Machine assigned memory *2 is available on Mac OS partition where VM is located
     
  8. jorn

    jorn Bit poster

    Messages:
    23
    Tim, this suggestion won't work if one does not have auto-login enabled in the guest OS. In my case, this is not an option, as the security policy for my company does not permit it.

    As such, I attached another keyboard to the host and attached it to the VM. This allowed me to enter my password and continue the login process. Howvere, I'm still facing two issues:

    1. The device driver update wizard did not succesfully locate a new driver. (Perhaps some suggestions on what to feed it might help.)
    2. My mouse does not work. Even grabbing the mouse in the VM (as I did with the keyboard) did nothing.

    Next steps?

    Much thanks :)
     
  9. uotony

    uotony Member

    Messages:
    21
    Hi Scudder,

    Build 3540 does not resolve my issue of not being able to access the Control Panel in Windows Server 2008. I'm running my guest OS from Bootcamp inside of Parallels, so this may not be an issue for you.

    My situation:
    MacBook Pro 15", 4GB RAM (2GB allocated to guest OS)
    Bootcamp Partition
    Windows Server 2008
    Bootcamp: everything works great
    Parallels: Windows "Software License" service fails to start: Control Panel inaccessible. Everything else works fine, though.
     
  10. DaTa

    DaTa Hunter

    Messages:
    192
    Hello,
    would you please, have a look at Sart -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware - > Device manager
    I am interested on any hardware problems detected (yellow and red marks near the devices) if there are some new since you upgraded to the last build. I think a screenshot (as you did previously) will be the most informative.
    For those devices, which are marked, please, also provide a driver details (right click -> properties). Please, do the same for Processor driver even it is shown as OK.
    And finally, please, seek for some errors/warnings in the Sart -> Control Panel -> Administrative tools -> Event viewer (Applications and System tabs).

    P.S. Is there any antivirus/other autoprotection software installed?
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2008
  11. wobben

    wobben Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    I'm using Delphi6 with Windows XP, and updated to 4.0 build 3540 yesterday morning. Every time I reopen a project within this IDE it takes between 1 and 30 seconds before Delphi freezes completely. Windows is mentioning that this application is not responding. Whatever I did, it does this consistently.

    I was happy to see that the clipboard worked, but this freezing renders this useless. It wasn't until this afternoon that I noticed that the parallels-tools was the real issue. When killing this task, my Delphi environment went from frozen to completely functional again...

    Needless to say that the clipboard functionality is gone again. At least I'm able to perform my duties again within Windows...

    Hope this helps (someone).
     
  12. VTSkier

    VTSkier Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    can you tell me how to roll back to v3?

    i have sent repeated emails to support but no responses.

    thank you
     
  13. STim

    STim Bit poster

    Messages:
    942
    jorn,

    > the device driver update wizard did not succesfully locate a new driver. (Perhaps some suggestions on what to feed it might help.)

    What is the error/warning message that you get from Windows? Ideally, please describe the sequence of what you do and what you see after selecting the "Update driver".
     
  14. wobben

    wobben Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    stop & start parallels tools service

    The freeze issue is solved for me when I perform a stop and start of the Parallels Tools Service. It helps me out that good that I've created a cmd file which allows me to perform this with a simple click. The freeze is instantly undone after executing these lines.

    Best of all is that the 3540 build now allows me to copy and paste, although the freeze keeps coming back every now and than...

     
  15. tlpresn

    tlpresn Junior Member

    Messages:
    16
    Printer no longer works

    I did the upgrade to Parallels Desktop 4.0 build 3540 (from build 3522). Now my printer is no longer recognized, and I can't find it to install (in Printers and Faxes>add a printer). It worked in PD 3, and PD 4 build 3522. I am using XP sp3, and the printer is attached to my iMac and a Powerbook using an Airport Extreme. I am using the default bridged ethernet adapter, but have tried shared networking and host-only settings as well to no avail. I can get on the internet.

    Also, for the first time ever since I've been using PD, Word is making Parallels crash. When this happens, I can get around in my Mac part of the system (I can even access the Parallels menu), but I can't get any response in Windows including the Start menu (either in the Windows window or in the system tray of my Mac) or use Ctrl-Alt-Del. I have to force quit from the Apple menu.

    The timing for this couldn't be worse, as I must print in Word immediately for an upcoming meeting. Any help will be appreciated.
     
  16. jorn

    jorn Bit poster

    Messages:
    23
    As you can see below, there are several "entries" for both the keyboard and mouse:

    [​IMG]


    Below is a snapshot of the mouse driver complaining about a lack of resources:

    [​IMG]


    Do you have any suggestions?

    So far, I can assign an external keyboard directly to the guest, and that works. However, nothing I do gets the mouse working correctly in my WinXP guest. (Mouse pointer does not move, but a directly-assigned USB mouse does register clicks.)

    Upgrading to 3540 didn't seem to help.
     
  17. Olmy

    Olmy Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    Oh, thank you wobben. You really saved my day! I have the same freeze problem with Delphi 7.
    Janne

     
  18. DaTa

    DaTa Hunter

    Messages:
    192
    Hello,

    To jorn:

    would you please, in Device Manager click on View -> Resources by type to see which devices lock the IO resources, so there is a lack of them for mouse and keyboard?
    A screenshot will be appreciated.
     
  19. John@Parallels

    John@Parallels Forum Maven

    Messages:
    6,333
    Please delete (not uninstall ) all keyboard and mouse devices, which are disabled, and question marked
    restart VM

    P.S.
    Start from mouse devices
     
  20. wobben

    wobben Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    After following the thread on cpu usage, I've decided to uninstall Parallel Tools using the Windows Configuration Panel. (My Ubuntu Server VM did not show any issues.) After installing it again using the Parallels menu, and waited for a long time before it finished, the freeze no longer seems to occur...

    Read more on this here: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=31944&page=3
     

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