Lost my network connection! ARGH!!!

Purchased Parallels 3.0 under the MacUpdate bundle. Installed on my Mac Pro and used it once or twice under Mac OS 10.5.2. It was a hassle to get installed (see below) but, once I got it going, it worked and I had a network connection. Earlier this week, I updated to Mac OS 10.5.3 and the next time I went to use Parallels, I got all of the flickering and screen corruption mentioned in other threads. Updated to Build 5600 and that didn't help. But what updating to Build 5600 DID do is wipe out my network connection. I am completely unable to connect to the web in Parallels/Windows. Network (wired ethernet) works fine on the Mac side. Rebooting the Mac did not fix it. Tried to renew the IP inside of Windows XP and that didn't help either.

Also, Parallels seems to like to do a lot of updating and other maintenance stuff in the background WITHOUT showing any sort of message about what is going on. Both on my initial install, and with the 5600 build update, I got the spinning beach ball for an EXTENDED period of time. The program was locked up... it couldn't be force quit and it sat there for over an hour spinning its wheels.

Overall, my impression of Parallels is a very mixed bag. Prior to Parallels, I used Boot Camp for quite some time. I haven't had anywhere near as many issues with nearly two years of Boot Camp use as I've had in a few weeks of Parallels use. Granted, rebooting to enter Windows on Boot Camp is a hassle, but maybe Apple did that for a good reason. At this point, I'm inclined to trash Parallels and return to using Boot Camp. Parallels just doesn't feel "solid" to me.

If anyone has any hints on how to restore my network connectivity (which still works fine on the Mac side), please let me know.

Mark

 

Did you install Parallel Tools in Windows (or reinstall it when you upgraded Parallels)?