Windows program keeps going into 'not responding' mode

B

Billymac231

Member
Hi.

I have an old version of MS Outlook, (part of the Office XP, or Office 10 bundle), which I use to keep a journal log. I run this on Windows 7 under Parallels Desktop 10 (10.2.0 build 28956), which itself runs under OS X 10.10.3 on my MacBook Pro.
When I was running Desktop 9 under OS X 10.9 Mavericks the Outlook program launched pretty faultlessly, but as soon as I upgraded to Desktop 10 and Yosemite the Outlook program regularly goes into 'Not Responding' mode before it finally gets up and running. And then, whenever I make entries in the journal and ask to save them, it goes into 'Not Responding' mode again before the window it's running in sort of 'pops' and it saves my entry.
I don't think I've lost any data so far, but these are definite signs that something isn't fully stable, and the problem is definitely connected with the upgrade to Desktop 10.

Can anyone suggest a solution please?
 
Thanks Padman.

I had a look at the KB article, but the only things I could find that might make an improvement were to increase the RAM available to Parallels from 1356MB to 2544MB, deleted my temporary Windows files and defragmented my Windows hard drive. I did them all but Outlook is still flipping into 'not responding' mode as before. As I say, I think it is something that Desktop 10 does that Desktop 9 didn't.
 
Hi Billymac231,
Try to run sfc scannow in the Windows Virtual Machine. Please follow the steps below:
  1. Click the Start button.
  2. In the "search" box at the bottom, type cmd.
  3. Look for Cmd.exe to appear at the top of the menu. Right-click on cmd.exe and choose Run As Administrator.
  4. You should now have an elevated command prompt.
  5. Type sfc /scannow
  6. Restart the Virtual Machine and check how it works.
 
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Thanks Dhruba.

I followed your instructions above, and the dos screen, when it had finished, read as follows:-

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some while.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
C:\Windows\system32>

i restarted the Windows 7 VM and launched the troublesome Outlook XP program... and it behaved exactly as it has done since I installed Desktop 10; it hung briefly and displayed the 'not responding' text at the top of it's window before 'popping', or refreshing, into a new window that worked.

It might be worth saying here that other Windows programs don't behave in this way; it is only Outlook XP that I've noticed that does it. BUT... This program is the main reason I still run Windows on my Mac, and the main reason I have Parallels, so it's quite important to me.
 
Hello Billymac231, please follow the steps suggested below:
1. Start Parallels Desktop application and start Windows virtual machine in Safe Mode by pressing F8 key before the BIOS screen appears.
2. Click start > type cmd in search > open Cmd > run the following check disk command > chkdsk /f/r
3. Type exit, restart Windows 7 to check if the issue still persisting,
4. Please go through to know more about CheckDisk
 
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I'm afraid I didn't get very far with that...
I did as instructed, but pressing my F8 key always launches iTunes and starts my first tune playing; my Windows 7 VM starts normally, not in safe mode.
Please advise.
 
Okay, I managed to get my VM to start in safe mode by going via msconfig from the Start menu...
When I got to the DOS screen I typed what you instructed and the following text appeared:-
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? <Y/N>
I chose 'Y' and then accepted the offer to restart Windows 7. It started normally though, without apparently going through the CheckDisk procedure.
I next followed the link and chose to run CheckDisk via Windows Explorer, and again I had to 'schedule' a check. When I restarted Windows this time it did go through a check procedure. I attach a screenshot taken at 42 percent progress. (I tried to take one on completion, but the text disappeared and Windows started while I was getting my fingers over the right keys.)
Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 15.46.53.png
I then went back to msconfig to restart Windows in normal mode.
Once Windows was running again I tried opening the problem program, and it behaved as it had done before, briefly showing the 'not responding' legend before 'popping' into running normally. I thought I'd take a screenshot of that, but each subsequent time I've tried opening the program to take the screenshot it has opened normally...
 
Opening normally after the CheckDisk & restart was only a transient phase, it seems...
Within a couple of hours opening the program was back to how it was before, with the 'not responding' text showing in it's title bar briefly before the window pops into a refresh. I managed to get a screenshot of it 'not responding' this time:-
Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 19.54.37.png
 
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