parallels/xp startup problem

I get the following error message when trying to startup parallels and windows XP:

"Parallels Desktop is unable to operate properly since it cannot communicate with one of its drivers. Seems that drivers are inconsistent with the currently installed version of Parallels Desktop. To overcome this issue, reinstall Parallels Desktop and start it by selecting Finder->Applications->Parallels->Parallels Desktop."

I have re-installed parallels numerous times but I always end up with the same error message.

Where do I go from here?

Any help is truly appreciated

yknot

Addendum:

I am not an experienced Parallels user. I read somewhere here that in order to re-install parallels tools, xp must be up and running. I just want to clarify that I am not able to load XP. The above error message appears as xp is trying to load.
Am I better off just deleting the whole mess and do a complete re-install or is there a way to fix the problem as I have described above?

 

Hi,

I have the same problem!! I installed Boot Camp and Win XP. Everything was working. When I went to install PD 3.0 and use Boot Camp Partition, I had the challenge of Re-activating my Win XP installation. Finally, got that working, but when Win XP would boot through PD, I received a New Hardware Wizard Problem saying need drivers for PCI Bridge and VGA Controller. I installed Parallel Tools and that seemed to have worked.

But, when I booted in Win XP Boot Camp and then rebooted in OS X to run PD 3.0, I got the same error message you received. I have since uninstalled PD, Repaired Permissions and now only run OS X alone. I will reinstall Boot Camp and Win XP alone and work like that, unless PD has a solution to this strange problem.

From this point on, I am thinking of never running PD 3.0 or other releases again.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for your reply. I have 2 questions:
1. Which is better, easier and more reliable Parallels/XP or Bootcamp/XP?
2. "I had the challenge of Re-activating my Win XP installation" ---what is the problem there?

yknot

 

I too had to reactivate WinXP following an upgrade to PD 4.0 and converting my existing WinXP guest OS. The challange is calling a Microsoft activation phone no.; then reciting long strings of characters to an automated activation service followed by entry of equally strings of characters into an activation window on your computer. Then you discover you either incorrectly dictated one of the ID characters or entered an incorrect character into the form. Then you automatically get redirected to a call center in some third world country and have to repeat the whole process all over again with an unintelligible live person. That whole process took me about a half an hour.

Incidently, I rebooted my guest OS to verify that everything was OK now and I got the same warning message that I have three days to activate my WinXP installation. The guest OS that PD 4.0 converted ran flawlessly under PD 3. Since upgrading to PD 4.0 I have nothing but problems. Had I known that Parallels really released a beta version of PD 4.0 to the public I woud have never spent $40.00 on it.

This software is buggy. I am going back to version 3.

Goodluck,

Mike