It's back to Version 3 again for me due to V4 problems

[otoc]

It's back to Version 3 again for me due to V4 problems:Some Solved back on 4

First, for the tech department, my trouble ticket is #613005 and I have done every suggestion made. I spent my last 6 hours uninstalling V4, installing V3 with successful results and have repeatedly installed the latest version of V4.

Never have I had such a problem with an upgrade and never have I spent so much time on trying to make something work after reading several posts showing successful upgrades/fresh installs.

Apparently there are still issues that remain that are software/hardware dependent.

Here is my last post for the trouble ticket. If someone from Parallels could respond after reading the entire thread of issues and solutions tried, I might consider another trial run with Version 4. My system info is in the trouble ticket and my background is both hardware and software development. In other words I have patience and understanding, but will not waste any more time on this problem unless someone is actually interested in getting screen shots and the debug info from Parallels V4....

Summary:
Slow boot times-6 minutes
No Windows Partition showing in MacOS.
Office XP reactivation on bootcycles between BootCamp and VM.

Latest Bootcamp version updated from original beta.
Windows XP Pro SP3 (after latest Bootcamp upgrade) Fat32 Bootcamp partition.
MacOS10.5.5 upgraded repeatedly through each version from 10.4
Powerbook G3 settings/apps migrated to Macbook Pro 3,1

I find it dismal that I must respond to my last post here as no response occurred from support.

Since the latest update did not improve things, I tried a little experiment since I had a few hours to waste. Actually 6 hours.

I read all forum entries and was intrigued that some are having excellent results with Version 4.

The downgrade to Version 3 worked fine, btw, with fast boot times, no more windows activation of Office XP on boot cycles between bootcamp and the VM based on bootcamp, as well as the Windows VM partition properly showing up in the MAC OS after tools was installed. Version 3 required an initial Windows and Office XP activation after install. I made sure all Bootcamp functions worked properly before I began the version 3 Install.

To prep for the Version 4 install, I tried to uninstall tools while running Bootcamp. An error came up stating tools needed to be uninstalled in the VM. This WAS NOT the case with version 4.

I uninstalled tools after booting back to the VM ver3.

I went back to Bootcamp and ran disk tools and upon reboot I went into msconfig and stopped all Norton system tools, windows defender, all Roxio apps, and all HP apps that start and run in the background. Several reboots were done to make sure Windows XP Pro (SP3) and latest Apple bootcamp software ran properly. Including Office XP.

I booted into OSX10.5.5 and first ran a permissions repair. Upon reboot I ran the Parallels V3 uninstall program. I ran a repair of disk permissions and rebooted. I manually deleted all Parallel remnants--except for the folder containing the registration info, as I never found it.

I rebooted into Bootcamp and deleted all system32 Parallel files and rebooted to make sure everything functioned and all previous startup apps still remained off.

I booted into OSX and ran Techtool pro off the DVD. I ran file, volume and directory repairs.

I booted into OSX and ran the latest Parallels installer.

The registration info was still there.

It showed the original Parallels Welcome Screen.

"My BootCamp" was immediately discovered and came up as a VM. I made changes: to no shared applications, show windows partition, set memory to 512MB, set to 2 cpus, restored default settings in the preference before setting the preference memory to manual and 640MB, and booted the VM.

Boot time was 6 minutes, the initial 5 minute warning screen came up and I allowed the VM to act on it's own.

No Windows activation was needed, and Tools installed by itself before logging in (Version 3 needed the log in to install).

The VM booted itself and took another 6 minutes to boot. I logged into the user and saw Tools had installed properly according to the menu bar.

No Windows partition was visible.

I noticed during the boot process the CPU activity was around 90-100% due to prl_vm_app, which went down after the boot process was completed. I have a screen shot of that available as I have a complete Parallels diagnostic report. I will not post these on the forum and need instructions on delivery if someone would like to see them.


Even though no app sharing or Mac sharing was selected, I had all shared apps showing up in the Windows Program file listing.

I also noticed in opposition to a forum post that my selection of the BootCamp partition lacked the bottom screen. I have a screen shot of that.

Obviously, something from my previous installs of Parallels is staying in place. I also wonder if the problem is my BootCamp partition is Fat32.

I would appreciate instructions for a full uninstall of everything including locations. I have my registration #s on hand for both V3 and 4.

There is nothing I can do as a user to make Version 4 function. I am going back to Version 3 again.

I would appreciate some response.

Actually I'd just like an educated opinion on whether or not to stay at V3 and if these issues might find their way into a future fix.

 

[otoc]

Results of version 4 uninstall

For Windows XP ProSP3, it is a more complete uninstall if done through Control Panel/Remove Software while in Boot Camp than if done in the VM. In Boot Camp only the network server in /system32 and the boot aid in /system32/drivers remain.

In OSX, aside from the license info the attached image shows what remains.

I hope this helps for a totally fresh install with these files removed before installation still gives bad results.

Either I'm missing something or V4 needs something from V3. Or the problem is something else...

 

[bi11]

the picture has been resized too small for me to make out anything useful. can you post a larger cap?

 

[otoc]

yeah, I noticed their vBulletin settings for images are set too small for the file sizes they allow.

Try this pdf.

That's just a capture of what went into the Trash. If you are looking for the files search in Spotlight.

The uninstaller seems incomplete. But again, it didn't help to remove them for a fresh install.

I suspect either they are getting the same issues VM had on their v2 release (iSight, bootcamp keyboard mapping bug) or V4 needs something left over from V3.

 

[otoc]

Figured some things out

Since no response to the support thread (must be busy days), I'll pass some discoveries made at the expense of blowing out my WinXP pro license.

First, I use Boot Camp as the VM and the platform is:
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

I was able to go back to V3 and do a successful upgrade to V4 after deleting all remnants of Parallels from both the Boot Camp Partition and Mac OSX 10.5.5

For both installs I turned off all virus, spyware, trojan, system utilities, roxio, all-in-one printer stuff in bootcamp by running msconfig and stopping the startup exe's. I turned off the Guest account (XP) and took off the password.

The upgrade properly set Chuck's chipset to "0". The issue I had with long 6 minute boots and 100% CPU from the prl_vm_app was from setting the # of CPUs to 2 instead of 1. So this is not a core setting it is a physical CPU setting.

With any change to the VM setting I reinstalled tools.

prl_vm_app still shows 100% activity during XP boot, but with 1 CPU enabled I have functionality and it dies down after XP boots to the login screen.

The upgrade from 3 to 4 required another XP activation that a clean install of V4 never needed.

Shared apps can finally be turned off.

Startup time to get to the log in is now about 1.5 minutes.

Office XP still needs activation everytime I boot from the boot camp VM to Boot Camp directly. XP Pro does not.

I still can't figure out to mount the Boot Camp VM in OSX as V3 did (even with that setting set), but I'm functional and waiting for better documentation that covers the differences between a BootCamp VR and a windows install into a VM and I don't have to wait for any responses from tech support.

There are definite differences between a clean install and an upgrade from V3. As there must be differences due to hardware and VM usage particularly when Boot Camp is involved.

I think it would be most helpful if the hardware/OS for both/ and the VM were clearly described in posts to help those in similar situations. Best of luck to everyone. What an upgrade experience that included a trial run with VMware. I still prefer Parallels and hope this version quickly gets the bugs worked out.

 

[otoc]

bump

Any thoughts from support on how to get my fat32 bootcamp partition to show up in the MacOS the way V3 did would be appreciated. This has never been addressed in my support trouble ticket that I give up on after 3 weeks.

I have to turn on file sharing in Parallels which magically turns on shared apps as a folder in the VM XP Program list (ugh) and drag an' drop copies of files into the MacOS to attach files in Mail. That's a downgrade in abilities and a reason why I choose Parallels over VMware.

What am I doing wrong? It works when I restore V3 but has never worked in V4.

ps--you guys should write a kb on what the cpu setting is for--cores or physical. I noticed there are additional posts that solved issues of sluggish or none response by chaging a dual core back to a CPU setting of one and it has nothing to do with device manager driver issues.

The attached pdf shows my Bootcamp install and devices. 2 processors were showing (and show when running Boot Camp) when I used the 2 cpu setting in Parrallels which caused 6 minute boot times and 200% CPU activity as noted earlier.

 

[otoc]

First, two requests to the site administrator.
Please edit this thread title as I edited the title in the first post. Apparently permissions are not set to do both.
Thanks (well not a request) for changing the image size settings in vBulletin. In the future I won't convert gifs and tiffs to pdfs. Much appreciated.


The issue of having to reactivate Office XP on every boot cycle of the Boot Camp to Boot Camp VM appears to be solved. At least I think so and some feed back would be appreciated.

The device manager screen shot in my previous post of the Boot Camp VM is definitely different than the one that Boot Camp shows when booted.

Does Office XP differ from XP pro in the way that hardware changes trigger the reactivation?

That might explain why I didn't need an initial XP pro reactivation until I set the CPU setting to one in my final Parallels set up and why I constantly need to reactivate Office XP with each boot.

That also might explain why I got crappy results with previous Parallels installs where 2 CPUs were set up and no reactivation was needed after the upgrade or fresh install.

Boot Camp boots with 2 cpus as shown in the attached PDF.

Boot Camp VM boots with one CPU as shown in the attached PDF in the previous post.

This issue was explained in my noted trouble ticket (both no need to reactivate XP Pro and the need to keep reactivating Office XP).

The reason I post this update is because while there is a change to my current configuration now that I have Parallels running with improved speed (better than V3), the need to reactivate Office XP continues when I cycle through a boot source. This perhaps explains why it happens now, but not why it happened before when both the Parallels BC VM and the BC source were both set to (and showing without driver error) 2 CPUs.

 

[otoc]

Found the elusive Boot Camp drive...

Attached is an image if anyone else was fooled as I was by the apparent change in the way V4 and V3 display the BootCampVM drive.

In the image V3 would place the drive in the list of devices.

Only after I stumbled onto pulling the root path down, did I finally see the VM in the OSX finder, which does make attaching files available.

Both places are noted in the graphic with red circles.


Before I go and await the next release to see what gets changed or fixed, I'd like to make an apology for my posts do seem to apparently be ignored by anyone from Parallels either here or on the actual support page.

I'm sorry if anyone from Parallels took offense at my direct comments and offer my sincere apologies. My background includes tech support and I more than understand the impact of version changes that are matched with unforeseen bugs. I meant my comments, not with disrespect, but as a paying customer who was trying to find a way to answer issues and hopefully get running under V4 in a production environment.

That's why I've passed these observations along.

I now have V4 running in a state that I can use and understand. If there were places I could have found this info, I really would have appreciated it. With all the new changes, I'm sure I missed something somewhere, most likely overlooked in a scan of the manual or KB. There's nothing worse than reinventing the wheel.