Parallels not compatible with new Mac Pro Mid-2010

New 12-core Mac Pro, new OS 10.6.4 build 10F2521, Parallels kernel panics during installation, and causes Mac Pro to kernel panic at each startup until safe booted and uninstalled. Beware.

Tech Support - are you aware of this, and working on a fix? Many thanks,

-Adam

 

VM Endlessly Spins, related?

Hello-
I have a new Macbook Pro 17" with a Parallels VM running Windows 7. Worked OK (some glitches) for several days. Yesterday I updated to OS X 10.6.4.

Today I tried to reboot Windows. Problems; forced shut down, restarted Parallels 5.0. Now when I choose my VM, I get the gray screen with the name of my VM and various moving transparent shadows of the name, preceded by a Win spinning "wait" icon--endlessly. Start, Shut Down, and Suspend are disabled.

Could this be related to the kernel issue noted here? Or is it likely a separate problem?
--Jim

 

Well, whatever the cause of my problem, I managed to get past it. The old adage "when in doubt, reboot" needs updating if you have a VM: when in doubt, reboot both the VM and the host. I.e., rebooting the Mac made the problem go away.

 

Don't think so. Parallels 5 worked perfectly on my 8-Core Mac Pro with 10.6.4.

It's the new build of OS X 10.6.4 or the Mac Pro 12-Core Westmere architecture that is causing the problem.

Not to be inflammatory, but VMWare Fusion is working fine .... I prefer Parallels, but it's DOA on my 12-core for now (btw, Fusion only supports 8 cores of the 12, and only up to 8 GB of RAM).

I hope in the bugfix Parallels:

1. Supports all 12 cores.
2. Supports > 8 GB of RAM in the VM.

 

adamsfbay_vm,

Thanks for the tip off. This is terrible. Parallels need to sort this out very very quickly.

Has anyone succeeded in installing in 32 bit mode (or any other way)?

 

With the 64 bit kernel running, it kernel panics during install, and every reboot until Safe Booted and uninstalled.

With the 32 bit kernel running, it installs, but kernel panics when I boot a Win7 VM that worked fine on a 2009 Mac Pro 8-core using the same Parallels build on 10.6.4. Again, only Safe Boot/uninstall at that point.

 

Having Same Problem With My 12 Core

I can confirm previous post. My new Mac Pro 12 Core crashes with curtain of death immediately after Parallels install. Only safe boot and uninstall recovers the computer. My God, they have to fix this ASAP! One of the main reason I bought this computer was to get better performance in Parallels. Come on Parallels development team. YOU HAVE TO GET ON THIS IMMeDIATELY! Thanks.

 

They are going to have to sort this out pretty quick (or at least make a statement admitting there is a problem) otherwise I am going to have to jump ship to a competitor.

 

How can there be no corporate reply to this issue? This is critical and Parallels doesn't say a single word about it?

I've been on hold with tech support (India) for over 35 minutes trying to figure out what their response is. I'm about to give up.

If I don't see something from them by morning, you can bet I'll switch over to VM rather than let my new MacPro sit in a corner hoping for some response from Parallels. And "sales", if you're reading this, once I switch, I won't be switching back!!!!!

 

It took about 6 back and forth emails with support for them to go beyond statements like "Regarding your issue PD5 itself does not depend on the amount of cores. It can be installed on Mac with any amount of cores. But it will not be possible to use more than 8 cores in VM. You can easily find it in the below article ..." and actually elevate this ticket.

it's been two days since "elevation" and I haven't heard a word. Also, I think it's strange there isn't an official reply by someone from the company on this thread???

 

I'm experiencing the exact same problem.

New 12 core mac pro
Install Parallels 5 and everything is fine up until the installation is almost finished and the OS crashes.
Every time I boot up from then on the system crashes before the desktop appears.

I'm evaluating VMware Fusion as I write this message! Parallels Team: you have 30 days to fix this before my VMware evaluation period expires and I'm forces to purchase that software! Good luck!

 

this is a bug

Same here. My 12-core Mac Pro also kernel panicked during install and subsequent boots. Thinking it was a memory problem (I'd replaced the standard 6-GB with 24GB of third-party RAM), I spent the better part of the day swapping RAM modules and rebooting. Finally thinking it was just an OS install issue (straight from the factory??) I reinstalled Mac OS X. So far so good. First thing - install Parallels so I can do some development work. Kernel panic.

Not feeling safe to just remove Parallels after a panic (and not having read these forums yet), I reinstalled the O.S one *more* time. I will likely just move on to VMware if it works. Better to spend the time migrating my VM than to waste more with Parallels if they *still* have no official response to this issue, and have no fix for the most capable VM host on the Mac side of the fence.

Don't let anyone tell you "reboot" or any such junk. It's a serious driver bug and nothing else. I've never had a Mac (and I own six!) kernel panic in over a year till now.

Unimpressed.

 

Same problem here, though my mid 2010 Mac Pro has an 8-core processor.
Tried to install version 4 first, resulted in kernel panics. So I updated to version 5, hoping that would be the solution, but no, still kernel panic during installation and unability to start up the computer. Only safe mode will work.

 

One more for the count!

I can confirm all of the above... New MacPro 8 cores 8 GB RAM. Same kernel panic. Same hysteria. One lost day trying to fix it...

I damn you, Parallels!... Give us a solution soon or I'll do something I'll regret (especially after having paid good money for this -now useless- software)

Cesar

 

Ditto for me. I maintain 40 Macs for my company. Just bought 3 new 8 core Mac Pros and was setting up all 3 at the same time. Parallels 5 brought on the curtain of death on all 3, one right after the other.

 

So what do we do!

I am in the same boat. New Mac Pro, Parallels produces kernel panic.

My question is what do we do now? I tried sending an email 2 days ago, no response, even though it was rated as urgent.

I don't want to pay for a support call only to be told that I need to re-install by a clue-less tech support person.

How will we know if a new release is out? where do you go on the website to get new releases? All I see is the try it or buy it buttons.

Anybody even have a clue how long before we can expect a fix?

 

Parallels has a Check For Updates option in the Help menu. Build 9376 is out today.
http://kb.parallels.com/8903