Hi, Running Parallels 3.0 build 5160 on a MacBook Pro 17" with 3GB RAM. No real problem to start (only the mounting issue already described in other treaths) and run Parallels with Windows XP. Speed = OK, features = OK). Only when stopping Parallels, the all Mac OS X becomes unstable and I'm not even able to restart or stop the computer. Applications that are started after a Parallels exit are not running and a Force to Quit doesn't work either on those applications. I need an hard reboot of the MBP to recover some stability. i'll wait for the 5540-build but this post is to help on solving issues for this build. Regards
Unfortunately I had the EXACT same thing happen to me. It actually messed up my computer to the point that I could not get it to boot from the hard drive......at all. After 1.5 hours on the phone with Apple, I had to do an erase and install of my computer. Not fun. Apple advised me to not use Parallels with Leopard until there is a Leopard compatible version available. It's good advice I'm going to take. I hope it's soon, though, as I really need to work in Windoze.
One step to take, as advised by Parallels, in the expectation of the Leopard-build, is to uncheck the option to mount to disk to Mac Desktop in the Virutal Machine configuration (Menu -> Edit -> Virtual Machine -> Shared Folders). I regained some stability and was able to work further without too many problems.