Weird display problems prevent installation

I'm trying to install Parallels 2 build 1848.2 on my MacBook for the first time. And yes, I blew the dust off before I inserted the disk. The problem seems to stop right after the wizard finishes. The first window with the four buttons at the bottom (Create New VM - Open VM - Edit VM - Save VM) is the beginning of the weird display. Those four buttons can't be read. You only know what they are by passing the pointer over them. They are Yellow rectangles that seem to have some text but it can't be read.
Then, at the installation point where it says to choose Default CD/DVD-ROM from the Devices menu, all of the items in that list are dimmed.

When you start the Windows XP Pro installation the window's display becomes garbled. You can tell it's the opening screen for Windows Install but you can't read it. Switching to full display produces a really weird effect. As the full screen starts to rotate but not fully rotated, the part of the Windows window is perfect but when fully rotated, the screen size is reduced and it is garbled as before. No way to follow the instructions.
Is my build hopelessly outdated? Is there a few update to the latest Parallels 2? I'd like to get this version running before I upgrade to version 3.

Thanks
Steve Butler

 

If you bought it recently, please return it back to reseller, and buy version 3, if you have it for a long time use build 3224
http://www.parallels.com/en/download/file/en/GA/Parallels-Desktop-3224-Mac-en.dmg

 

there is a word for this

There is a word ....well more accurately , term, for what just happened. It's called first class customer service.
Post a message about a problem and with in an hour or two your problem is solved.

Thanks John./

Steve Butler