Trying to start a VM causes a "gray screen of death" requiring reboot of MAC

I am new to Mac's, and am using a iMac desktop. After installing Parallels and creating a VM for WinXP, when I click on the run arrow to begin the VM, I get a gray screen that starts at the top and slowly fills the monitor, then provides a box that says in multiple languages that I must reboot my Mac. I have tried uninstalling Parallels and reinstalling, upgrading to 1970, and still can't get by this problem. Interesting, each time I uninstall Parallels and reinstall it, it continues to show the other VM's that I tried to create on previous installs.

Does anyone have any help for me? Thanks in advance.

 

The uninstall removes most of what the install put there, and since you created the VMs after installing the app, the uninstaller, quite properly, IMO, does not know about them or touch them.

If you have moved anything the installer installed, put it back where it was. Then...

If you run the uninstall that came with your original version, reboot your Mac, install 1970, and reboot your Mac, then remove any Parallels dock icons and start Parallels from /Applications/Parallels, it should work. This is a known problem with core 2 duo processors.

If that doesn't work, you may be able to remove all the Parallels components by hand (after running the uninstaller) but finding them all can be tricky -- start by spotlighting Parallels and trashing all the directories (folders) it finds that you didn't create by hand. Then look in activity monitor for "prl" anything and track it down and remove it. There's a ".Parallels_settings" file in your user directory you may want to trash as well (using terminal). Then install 1970 again. If it doesn't ask you to activate, you haven't removed everything.