OK, Now I'm Pissed! New update sucks!

M

machawk

Junior Member
So I was having a few problems with my 1970, nothing major though. I read that the new update is great and free to paid users, like myself, so I figured I would install. I downloaded and followed the instructions to a tee!

I open Parallels and get the message to update Parallels Tools. I proceed. The VM locks up, so I re-start it. Now when I load it, it opens up with the standard Windows XP Icon and acts like it is going to start. The screen goes black and never recovers. The VM says it is running, but it is nothing more than a black screen. Over the past few weeks, I had loaded quite a bit of data onto the 1970 setup. I have tried re-installing, but it doesn't help. I can't afford to lose my data and I don't have the computer knowledge to go any further. I'm stuck... I'm pissed... and I'm ready to disregard all the talk of how great parallels is and just keep a PC at my desk next to the mac. This is VERY frustrating!

Any helpful suggestions?
 
did you back up your data first?

this morning I just exported some critical files which include many years work to the Mac desktop

and then uploaded them off site
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=hughw36
and
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=lapham

Using my password I can download a copy onto any machine on line

I DID LOSE a months work in September 2006 because I had not backed up my work
and messed up installing Parallels tools in the new beta

Another back up I use is to email files to myself as an attachment in mail.google.com and
always when before I take my laptop on an aeroplane

what kind of files have you lost?

Hugh W
 
Well, I guess I should have seen that post before I upgraded. It's very informative. Too late for that however, and I didn't back up. I guess I can just chalk that up as a loss. Question now is, what do I do from here. I cannot get the machine to show anything but a black screen. Should I uninstall and start all over? If so, what's the best method of doing so? I'm thinking that if I have to go to the trouble of re-installing, I might purchase an external hard drive and point it to that drive to start with so I don't have issues with the size of the drive. What do you guys think?

Thanks again for the help.
 
One more question....

The only files that I am really concerned about losing during a re-install are some .jpeg, .gif and .psp files that I created for my business. Is there a way to extract these from the .hdd file that is on my Mac? PLEASE SAY YES!
 
Some people have reported being able to attach an hdd file as a second drive, and then to access its contents. I have not tried this myself. Do a search in the Mac Technical Forum (Go to forum jump below, then select technical discussions / parallels desktop for Mac) and you may be able to find these threads.

So you would do a fresh install of Parallels, install your operating system, then attach the 2nd drive.

You may want to check out SuperDuper! as a really easy to use backup tool for the Mac. You can Google it. There is a free version, but for $30 bucks you get incremental backups and scheduled backups.
 
I have been successful on several occasions of dropping the bad drive on as a second drive. Just get a configuration set-up pointing to both drives. Make sure the bootable one is the primary one.
 
Eru Ithildur said:
I have been successful on several occasions of dropping the bad drive on as a second drive. Just get a configuration set-up pointing to both drives. Make sure the bootable one is the primary one.
Click to expand...

How do I do that? I'm pretty much a knucklehead when it comes to the technical side of computers. :D
 
Fix for Black Screen troubles

Hey machawk,
The black screen thing is due to a corrupt video driver. In most cases, it's just a five minute fix. You'll want to start your VM in safe mode (hold down the F8 key, or fn/F8 keys on a Macbook) immediately after starting the VM. This should bring you to a DOS window where you can choose to start in SAFE MODE. Windows should boot up, but wth limited device drivers loaded. When at the Windows desktop, click on the actions menu then choose to install Parallels tools. Follow the defaults through the install procedure. At the end, a window should appear that says Install Complete. Click on the reststart button to restart the VM.
It should then start normally and you should be back in business. If this still doesn't get you going, let us know and we can go to plan B. DS
 
parallels support said:
Hey machawk,
The black screen thing is due to a corrupt video driver. In most cases, it's just a five minute fix. You'll want to start your VM in safe mode (hold down the F8 key, or fn/F8 keys on a Macbook) immediately after starting the VM. This should bring you to a DOS window where you can choose to start in SAFE MODE. Windows should boot up, but wth limited device drivers loaded. When at the Windows desktop, click on the actions menu then choose to install Parallels tools. Follow the defaults through the install procedure. At the end, a window should appear that says Install Complete. Click on the reststart button to restart the VM.
It should then start normally and you should be back in business. If this still doesn't get you going, let us know and we can go to plan B. DS
Click to expand...

Thank you for the help. I did as you suggested and it seems to work fine now. Since you were so helpul with this, I would like to ask you if you have an easy solution for increasing the size of my HD. Actually, I would like to move the HD to an external HD so I don't have size limitations. Your thoughts?

By the way, I think you guys have a fine product. The major complaint seems to be service related. If you can figure out a way to be as responsive to all service calls as you were to my need, you will be miles ahead! Again, thank you.
 
Regarding your question about increasing the size of your virtual hard disk:

This question should really be asked on the Parallels for Mac Technical Forum. In fact, if you went there and looked at the "sticky" threads on top, you would find THIS THREAD


Good luck.
 
Expanding virtual HD size

machawk said:
Thank you for the help. I did as you suggested and it seems to work fine now. Since you were so helpul with this, I would like to ask you if you have an easy solution for increasing the size of my HD. Actually, I would like to move the HD to an external HD so I don't have size limitations. Your thoughts?

By the way, I think you guys have a fine product. The major complaint seems to be service related. If you can figure out a way to be as responsive to all service calls as you were to my need, you will be miles ahead! Again, thank you.
Click to expand...

Machawk,
There are two Parallels approved methods of obtaining more HD space within the VM. First one is to disregard your current VM and create a new VM using the "Custom" install method where you can designate your HD size up front. If that's not appealing, then the second method would be to create an additional virtual hard drive inside your current VM, i.e. an "E" drive. I have info on that if you want. If either of those suggestions aren't acceptable, then praises go to our users/forum group for coming up with alternatives (see the link that Purplish posted). I have an MS Word file that I can send you which details a different procedure but with the same outcome. Email me at [email protected] if you'd like it. Regarding moving the VM to an external hard drive, It sounds very possible but I haven't personally tested this procedure yet. DS
 
parallels support said:
Hey machawk,
The black screen thing is due to a corrupt video driver. In most cases, it's just a five minute fix. You'll want to start your VM in safe mode (hold down the F8 key, or fn/F8 keys on a Macbook) immediately after starting the VM. This should bring you to a DOS window where you can choose to start in SAFE MODE. Windows should boot up, but wth limited device drivers loaded. When at the Windows desktop, click on the actions menu then choose to install Parallels tools. Follow the defaults through the install procedure. At the end, a window should appear that says Install Complete. Click on the reststart button to restart the VM.
It should then start normally and you should be back in business. If this still doesn't get you going, let us know and we can go to plan B. DS
Click to expand...
I have the black screen problem that machawk had, but using fn/f8 doesn't seem to have had any effect on my MacBook Pro. Any thoughts?
 
I went for telephone support, and managed to get through (on day 2 of trying). It took some time but the end result was successful - I'm back up and running again. Sorry I can't help others, as I simply followed instructions to push various buttons. All I can say is that telephone support worked!
 
machawk said:
How do I do that? I'm pretty much a knucklehead when it comes to the technical side of computers. :D
Click to expand...
Set-up a new VM just like you did before but with the new build. Once it is up and running, in the Properties box add a second HD by click on it and then 'locating' your old one.

Does that help?
 
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