PD Crashing

G

georgedyke

Bit poster
Hello Folks,

First time in the forum, so I wasn't quite sure if this was the right home for my issue.

I have been struggling with an issue with Parallels 7 crashing ever since I upgraded PD from 6 --> 7, and upgraded to OS X Lion. Before that, with PD 6 and Snow Leopard, my stability was quite good. Here are some notes on the issue:

- I can start the PD VM no problem (Windows XP Pro), and it runs well.
- At some moment, usually within 1-5 hours of starting the VM, it crashes.
- I have experienced the crash in coherence, full screen and window modes.
- Often just before the crash, I hear the Windows sound of a USB device being unplugged.
- The main symptom of the "crash" is that the VM windows disappear and/or the applications disappear from the OS X toolbar. However, because I am running IIS within Windows for web development work, I can see that the machine is somehow still running - because the web sites I am hosting on the VM are still accessible in my OS X browser.
- The crash is almost always accompanied by a loss of internet connectivity on OS X. This normally impacts Safari and Mac Mail, but doesn't seem to impact other application like Skype as much.
- Usually after the crash a reboot of OS X is required before I can re-establish the internet connection.
- After the crash, but before the OS X reboot, if I try and re-start Parallels 7, often PD boots up, and the Windows XP windows and applications are exact ally as I left them - but not always. And in some cases, I have been unable to re-start PD without it crashing repeatedly and before I can even see the window.
- I am running the latest OS X version 10.7.2, and the latest PD version 7.0.14924.
- Also of interest - I have the same configuration on my MacBook, with the same software versions, but I don't seem to experience the issue there. Not really sure why.

I reviewed the troubleshooting threads, but couldn't find a really good match for my issue. And I have submitted a support ticket.

But any support others who have experienced a similar issue would be great. Thanks again for any ideas you can offer.

Cheers, George
 
Common advice: reinstall Parallels and uninstall, reboot, then reinstall Parallels Tools in the VM.

This solves 95% of weird issues like this.

Steve
 
Thanks Steve. I tried this (uninstalling and reinstalling just the tools) but no luck - the issue recurred.

At the advice of the support person, I have just uninstalled and reinstalled PD totally (keeping my VM of course) and am now running to see if that helps. Will post if there are any further crashes.

For reference, I have included the steps advised by support below.

George

---

VM Backup Steps Advised (I have an active backup strategy anyway - but for reference).

To Back up Virtual Machine please check the following link:

http://kb.parallels.com/8829

Uninstall-Reinstall Steps Advised

1. Shut down Windows

2. Quit Parallels Desktop

3. Launch Safari/Firefox

4. Copy and paste the following web link in it:
http://www.parallels.com/download/desktop/
http://kb.parallels.com/en/5802

5. Click on 'Download Trial'
Note: the installation file for the trial and thwe full version is exactly the same

6. Enter your email address and click on 'Proceed to Download'
Note: You will receive a trial activation key in this email address, please ignore it, we do not need it.

7. Click on 'Download your trial software'

8. It will start downloading now

9. Once done, click on the downloaded file, you will get options- 'Install' and 'Uninstall' and 'Getting Started'

10. Click on 'Uninstall'

11. In the second page, place a check mark beside 'Application settings'

12. Proceed with the Uninstall wizard

13. Once it is uninstalled successfully, click on 'Close'

14. Click on the White icon your Mac desktop screen that has 2 red parallel lines on it, then click on 'Install'

15. Once it is installed successfully, click on 'Close'

16. After this, do not start your Parallels

17. Go to Finder(first icon on your Dock) => Documents => Parallels => Windows XP/7.pvm => Double click on it, that will start your Windows.

18. Once the Windows starts for the first time, installation of Parallel Tools will start automatically and your Windows will again restart after it's installation. Sometimes Parallels Tools gets installed along with the Windows installation, so you might not be able to see the Parallels Tools installation.

19. Right click(Ctrl+Click) on the Windows XP/7 .pvm that you have just backed up on the desktop screen => Click on 'Move to Trash'
 
An update here - unfortunately nothing has helped this issue.

I have followed the re-install steps below.

And then upon further advice on the support ticket, I have done a terminal uninstall-reinstall, but no luck there either. (Steps below.)

There are a couple of other interesting data points I've picked up:

- This seems to be happening more frequently and sooner after starting up the VM now.
- After a crash, core internet connectivity seems to fail for Safari and Mac Mail until the next reboot.
- The VM is still running after the crash, but I am not always able to restart PD to re-establish contact with it. Sometimes PD crashes right away on re-start - but the VM is still there as I am able to access it via HTTP.
- The windows XP sound of a USB device disconnecting is a frequent marker. Sometimes I even hear this when the VM is still running, but in "crashed state" where PD is not otherwise running.
- I have also spent some time on the line with Apple Care, following some steps they suggested for debugging internet connectivity issues, and did a couple of reboot moves there (the old option+command+P+R restart) but with no change.

My current working hypothesis is that somehow the USB link drops between OS X and PD, which causes the crash. That may be turning a symptom into a cause... but at this point nothing seems to be working, and I'm considering just buying a cheap Dell desktop to run XP on and dropping Parallels. (Not for lack of trying - but for lack of success.) The issue with buying a Dell is that I will soon need to start running Windows 7, and was hoping to just create a second VM...

If any of this jars any tips or new lines of inquiry loose from the community they would be greatly appreciated.

The next step in the Parallels support tree is for us to setup a time to talk on the phone. Ugh.

George

---


I would like to suggest you to uninstall Parallels Desktop completely using sudo commands and reinstall it, which would help us in resolving the issue.

Please follow the instructions mentioned below:

1. Quit Parallels Desktop completely.

2. Uninstall Parallels Desktop 7 completely using sudo commands.
http://kb.parallels.com/en/112189

3. Go to the URL mentioned below and download Parallels Desktop 7.0.14924 latest build installation file.
http://kb.parallels.com/8965

4. Restart Mac.

5. Install Parallels Desktop 7.0.14924.

6. Once Parallels Desktop 7 is installed successfully, start the Virtual Machine and from the Parallels top menu bar go to Virtual Machine --> Install Parallels Tools / Reinstall Parallels Tools.
(Parallels Tools will be updated)
- If you are unable to start the Virtual Machine normally then go to Finder --> User Home --> Documents --> Parallels, or search for ".pvm" through spotlight.
- You will find ".pvm" file, double click
 
Hello George,

When parallels crashes, it suggests to send a problem report. Please send it and post here it's number.
 
Hi Elric - that's the funny thing about this "crash" is that most of the time I don't think PD totally crashes. But its GUI is certainly gone. And it certainly has a large ripple effect across my system (lost internet access for OS X applications). However (see notes about HTTP) it is "reachable". I think its because of this failure mode that I often don't get prompted to generate a problem report.

However, I was able to capture one "crash" with a problem report, with ID number 10795186. This is all documented in support ticket #1241857 if you're a Parallels admin and have access to those kinds of things.

George
 
Elric said:
Hello George,

When parallels crashes, it suggests to send a problem report. Please send it and post here it's number.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this one buddy. Thanks for helping.
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Hi Folks,

Its been a few weeks since I've updated this post, but it has been anything but quite on this front. I have been through an epic set of support cases with both Parallels and Apple Care... and think we've finally licked the issue. Thought I'd share in case any other poor souls have to go down this path.

So - the issue in the end was an OS X configuration issue. Specifically, a parameter called maxfiles was set to an off-nominal value which was causing OS X to lock up. And for whatever reason, Parallels was the application that crashed in the most demonstrable way and so became the lightning rod. It also didn't fail that well - in the sense that it gave no indication of what happened - the GUI just disappeared entirely.

This post here pretty well describes what the issue with maxfiles was for me.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2468522?start=0&tstart=0

The Smart Board application had placed a limit in the launchd.conf file, which was setting maxfiles=2000 at boot time. Once I got rid of that line in launchd.conf, and rebooted, the issue was fixed.

To tell what your maxfiles is set to, you want to run the 'launchctl limit' command in the Mac Terminal.

Before the fix:

XXX:etc xxx$ launchctl limit
cpu unlimited unlimited
filesize unlimited unlimited
data unlimited unlimited
stack 8388608 67104768
core 0 unlimited
rss unlimited unlimited
memlock unlimited unlimited
maxproc 709 1064
maxfiles 2000 2000

After the fix:

XXX:etc xxx$ launchctl limit
cpu unlimited unlimited
filesize unlimited unlimited
data unlimited unlimited
stack 8388608 67104768
core 0 unlimited
rss unlimited unlimited
memlock unlimited unlimited
maxproc 709 1064
maxfiles 256 unlimited

So - the main issue on the Parallels side is that it was very poor at handling what happened when this limit was hit. It literally just disappeared from the screen. But because it wasn't a "crash" (see my notes that the VM was still "running") it did not generate a problem report.

I think the issue is resolved - and hopefully if anyone else encounters something similar - this thread will help.

George
 
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