Update: Parallels Desktop 3.0 Build 5160 is available

Ever since I updated to this build coherance mode has been a nuisance for me: VM becomes unresponsive; can't remove the shade effect on the windows; dragging a window around is a pain (slow, ugly and lags alot); cpu usage and mem usage goes sky rocket; typing, copy'n'pasting is a nightmare (huge delay/lag).

For the first time I had to disable coherance since it come out in beta. I've read most comments, and noticed that I'm not the only one, althou several other people have no complaint about it.... I'm wondering how many of those who do complain use a MB like me.

 

Slow mac since 5160

I am somewhat considered a poweruser and heavily use my macbook pro for work and personal. Parallels has allowed me to use my mac for work with windows xp running pretty nicely in it until... that day 5160 came down and ruined my world.

Today while using the Windows XP Pro session in Parallels I get prompted to upgrade to 5160 which means... fixes, better performance, maybe more goodies. I follow through and install the upgrade. It appeared to go smoothly and followed the prompts and rebooted.

Ever since the reboot my macbook pro crawls to bootup, applications take a very long time to launch in or out of the parallels session. I am now looking into how to downgrade to the previous version (which I was happy with... think it was 4560) but the sad part is I lost a days worth of work which in turn means I am working late tonight.

Anyone else experience the degraded performance on your mac after the upgrade? Any idea's on how to troubleshoot? My console log show's nothing.

 

Visual Studio bug?

I was checking to see if upgrading to 5160 makes sense. Coherence improvements might be interesting, since it would allow me to use both screens for Windows. But reviews seem mixed so far. With the prior release, Parallels tends to lose the ability to connect to the internet without rebooting everything as I move my laptop between networks. I don't see mention of that being fixed.

Rather, what I do see mention of is some Visual Studio bug that is causing work stoppage. Well, that would be a deal-killer for me... I live in VS.

Is this new bug just in 5160? Or was it in the prior release?
Is it just when you re-dock the VS toolbar? Or is it a bigger thing than that?

Is there a thread on this VS bug and its implications? If so, I can't find it.

Thanks,
Brian

 

It has to do with docking the different tool palletes.

I personally LIVE in SQL, and end up moving those around all the time in order to get the most out of whatever it is i'm doing at that time, and if you try to move any of them around at all it stops responding completely. This is a bug that is new in 5160, and was introduced in either the last beta or the Release Candidate phase. Before that, this bug didn't exist. Admittedly, the earlier beta's actually had better Coherence performance then the current GM build, and didn't have the bugs in VS that we have now.

It really isn't bigger then that, but it's enough so where I've moved all my development work over to VMWare Fusion where VS will function just fine without any issues. I simply don't have the patience to deal with the VS problem considering the amount of time I spend in VS, and the problems I'd have if I have to kill VS because it's locked up, because I forgot about the bug and the entire application stops functioning. I can't afford to lose my work over this kind of bug.

 

I have to post a correction... After I installed parallels 5160 I started to experience slow down's on my mac and was beginning to get quite frustrated but never loosing hope I purchased different tools to clean up my system thinking something was wrong.

To make a long 36 hours shorter... what it ended up being is a corrupt spotlight database (mds.crashed or otherwise known as metadata server). Anyhow, sounds more serious then it really is. Very easy fix---

In Terminal:

sudo mdutil -i off
sudo mdutil -E

When you want to turn Spotlight back on:

sudo mdutil -i on

 

Forgot to mention that I am running the latest and greatest 5160 from Parallels with no issues no after turning off the spotlight, clearing the database and turning spotlight back on.

Please note: Moving back to 4560 did nothing, removing parallels did nothing to fix my slow down issues (why would it, it's spotlight's db that is corrupt). My question to parallels is, "Could the installation of 5160 corrupt the spotlight database somehow because that's all I did and it messed me up?"

No hard feelings... running 5160 and loving it. No issues here (well no parallels issues)

 

VS bug is already fixed and update will be provided soon.

 

I can't install the update at all....

The update downloads, then I get beach ball of death, and have to force quit Parallels. (my first attempt locked up my whole machine). Attempting to launch the DMG file does nothing.

Any clues?

XP on a MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz, 2 Gb RAM, OS 10.4.10

 

NickO,

Have you tried this solution - http://kb.parallels.com/entry/21/235/ ?

 

I did a reboot, and successfully installed it thanks.

The next problem was BSOD while updating Tools, but things are OK now.

Many Thanks.

 

The screen size has decreased to about 1/4 of the total screen size after I updated to 5160 on my macbook pro - how can I fix this - is it possible to change back to an older version of parallels???

 

IE7 Crashing Parallels build 5160

Had parallels build 4560 working wonderfully, had it loaded permanently for over a month and never a hiccup, just installed 5160 and periodically when I open IE and browse to a site parallels just bombs straight out...

back 4560 and work up from there i suppose

 

alaistair,

It is most likely fixed in hotfix update 5162 - please give it a try:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=17239