Hi all, I am a new user to Parallels (I am running the trial version of PD6, build 11994). I am using it to run Windows XP Pro SP3. It has worked fairly well for light duties, however I have had some problems with more CPU-intensive tasks like gaming. I am able to install the games fine, they start up fine and I am able to begin playing. All seems well, but when I check the Activity Monitor, I notice that CPU usage for the main Parallels VM app is well above 100%; usually about 120% with peak almost reaching 200%. This has twice caused OSX to flicker rapidly for about 5 seconds and then freeze. It isn't a kernel panic, I can still move the cursor after the flicker but nothing responds and I am forced to do a hard reset. I have tried changing the number of cores the VM can use and enabling the adaptive hypervisor but the same CPU usage spike occurs. After the first freeze, I wondered if this was a heat issue (CPU/GPU overheating) and I installed some temperature monitoring software. Problematically, all data from before the second crash was lost and Console had no entries relating to the freeze. Strangely, after the last freeze, OSX lost all of my bluetooth pairings and I was forced to re-pair all my devices. I am concerned that I could be doing some real physical damage to my MacBook's CPU or GPU if this continues and as a new user to Parallels I am unsure if it is even designed to be able to handle CPU intensive tasks like gaming. I should note that the VM app only uses 2-5% of the CPU when idle. The spike only occurs when gaming. Any feedback on this issue would be helpful. I am running: Windows XP Pro SP3 on Parallels 6, build 11994 (trial version) on a MacBook Pro (15.4", model identifier 5,3) Intel Core2 Duo 2.66 GHz 4 GB RAM both freezes occurred while connected to a 22" external display (1680 x 1050)
