HELP: Parallels sometimes doesn't start up

I'm running "Parallels Desktop for Mac, Build 3214 (June 21, 2007)" (there's no version number in the About box). On Leopard, OS X 10.5.3.

My problem is, sometimes Parallels doesn't start. I click on the app icon on the Dock and it just bounces-and-bounces ... causes the whole system to slow down and get choppy. The only way to get things back to normal is to kill the Parallels task.

I can recreate this pretty easily by launching Parallels and then launching another application, like the Finder, or Safari, or something. The only way Parallels will launch cleanly is if I don't click anything else until after Parallels is running.

Any thoughts on what's gone wrong? Is there a log somewhere I look in to see what error is happening on startup? It's possible that this only started when I upgraded to Leopard, but I couldn't say for sure.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

You use too old Parallels build, you can try to downgarade Mac to tiger or upgrade Parallels to latest build 5600. http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/ But I am not sure it's free or not. It is free if you use Parallels Desktop 3.

 

Please use 3224, which is free update
http://www.parallels.com/en/download/file/en/GA/Parallels-Desktop-3224-Mac-en.dmg
and reinstall as described in
and reinstall Parallels Desktop as described in kb
http://kb.parallels.com/en/4790

 

Having the same issue

I am having the exact same problem on build 5608. should I downgrade to 3204 also?

 

sorry, I meant 3224

 

No, the initial problem is old build, in your case situation is a bit different
I suppose there is either not enough memory, or some disk defragmentation
Steps to try:
1. Set memory for Virtual Machine to less than 1 GB
2. Perform Mac and Windows side disk defragmentation http://www.xvsxp.com/system/system_tools_defrag.php
3. Set Adjust memory limit from Auto to Manual at Parallels Desktop -Preferences-Memory, and set limit a bit more higher than VM memory
4. Disable Themes in Windows XP serives.msc stop Themes service
5. If you are running in Coherence, try to switch to Single Window, or lower Mac resolution
6. Some antivirus software can load CPU when Heuristic Prediction is set, or Tamper protection (Symantec, MacAffey), adjust settings to risk you are supposed, high security settings is not always good idea, as it can also affect software running
7. Run msconfig , and disable unneeded startup items
See http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_xp.html

Also please make sure you have enough disk space on Mac disk at least 512mb+Virtual Machine memory