FHMXa: frequent unexpected quits (Mac)

[jenn_bob webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Grrr, I'm having a frustrating morning here...a co-worker keeps experiencing frequent "unexpected quits" and I can't seem to make them stop.

Her system: Mac G5, 512 RAM, 1.8Ghz, with 10.2.7 and FHMXa. (I know, she should probably have more memory but a second system with the *exact same specs* seems to be fine in this regard (he can't print from FH but that's another thread...))

Anyway, it doesn't matter what she's doing: zooming in, moving a tiff, scrolling, it all seems to trigger the quit in 60 seconds or less.

What we've done to try to fix it:

-tried the document on another computer
-uninstalled and reinstalled FH
-run disk utility
-created a new user

When opening the document from the new user account, it made it past the 60 second mark which is success in our book right now. What does this mean? I'm guessing it means there is something corrupt in her admin account. How do I figure out what it is and how to fix it?

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

..Jennifer.

[Judy Arndt]

Is this happening with only one document? Can she make a new document, add
few elements and work without crashing?

Judy Arndt


jenn_bob wrote:

> Grrr, I'm having a frustrating morning here...a co-worker keeps experiencing
> frequent "unexpected quits" and I can't seem to make them stop.
>
> Her system: Mac G5, 512 RAM, 1.8Ghz, with 10.2.7 and FHMXa. (I know, she
> should probably have more memory but a second system with the *exact same
> specs* seems to be fine in this regard (he can't print from FH but that's
> another thread...))
>
> Anyway, it doesn't matter what she's doing: zooming in, moving a tiff,
> scrolling, it all seems to trigger the quit in 60 seconds or less.

[jenn_bob webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Is this happening with only one document?

Today, it appears to only happen with one particular document, on her machine, though not on another similarly set-up system. It has happened before with other documents though times between 'unexpected quits' was longer. I just tried a "save as" thinking maybe that would make a difference...no dice.

..Jennifer

[Judy Arndt]

jenn_bob wrote:

> Today, it appears to only happen with one particular document, on her machine,
> though not on another similarly set-up system. It has happened before with
> other documents though times between 'unexpected quits' was longer. I just
> tried a "save as" thinking maybe that would make a difference...no dice.

In that case, it may be a corrupt font on the problem machine.

Try copying the contents of the document into a new document. This
frequently clears document corruption.

Judy Arndt

[jenn_bob webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

> Today, it appears to only happen with one particular document, on her machine,

> though not on another similarly set-up system. It has happened before with
> other documents though times between 'unexpected quits' was longer. I just
> tried a "save as" thinking maybe that would make a difference...no dice.

In that case, it may be a corrupt font on the problem machine.

I just ran Font Doctor on her machine, hoping it was a corrupt font. The diagnosis was clean fonts. drat!

Try copying the contents of the document into a new document. This
frequently clears document corruption.

Tried this and still no go. double drat!

Still looking for the answer to this one...

Thanks for the suggestions, Judy.

..Jennifer.

[David Plank]

I have found the Sudden Application Quitting Syndrome also. I
usually can trace the problem to fonts (too many open with
Suitcase or just using FontAgent Pro) or to a complex document
(if I click on Styles with a complex document open, FH goes south.)

My suggestion. Pair down the fonts. They may pass the Font Doctor
test but still be bad. I have had them corrupt while using them.
Get more memory. Like I said, when I open a complex document with
a lot of effects, blends, gradients, transparencies, etc. I think
FH just gets mixed up and quits. I have learned to save continuously.

dp

"jenn_bob" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

>>Today, it appears to only happen with one particular document, on her machine,
>>though not on another similarly set-up system. It has happened before with
>>other documents though times between 'unexpected quits' was longer. I just
>>tried a "save as" thinking maybe that would make a difference...no dice.

>
>
> In that case, it may be a corrupt font on the problem machine.
>
> I just ran Font Doctor on her machine, hoping it was a corrupt font. The diagnosis was clean fonts. drat!
>
> Try copying the contents of the document into a new document. This
> frequently clears document corruption.
>
> Tried this and still no go. double drat!
>
> Still looking for the answer to this one...
>
> Thanks for the suggestions, Judy.
>
> .Jennifer.
>
>
>

[jenn_bob webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I will definitely take a look at paring down the number of fonts that are open with Freehand. I'll need to organize them through a font management program like Suitcase, correct? (We have Suitcase 10 available but when she upgraded to her G5, it was decided not to install it. Looks like we need to revisit that decision.)

When I left yesterday afternoon, she was working on the file without a problem. How did she get there? I booted the machine from a Panther CD and ran Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk and permissions. I have MacJanitor on my G4 that I only occasionally remember to run but I think it helps keep the system happier. Perhaps she needs to get into a routine such as that.

Thanks Judy and David for your suggestions.

..Jennifer.

[jenn_bob webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I'm back...my co-worker was able to keep working for a couple of days and now the quitting problem is returning. Not as often as initially, but this is beginning to look like what happened before...work for a bit (/- 20 minutes), FH would quit, she'd re-open the document and re-do what was lost with the quits progressively getting more frequent until it would quit merely by moving around in the document or zooming in.

I got this to come to a stop by running Disk Utility and repairing permissions. Why is this problem coming back so quickly? Is this something that needs to be done on a weekly basis? Anyone know of a reason the system would be getting so flaky so quickly? Though, I must admit it's not acting this way with any other programs...just FHMXa...

..Jennifer.

[Wes Rand]

"jenn_bob" [email]webforumsuser@macromedia.com[/email] wrote:

> I'm back...my co-worker was able to keep working for a couple of days
> and now the quitting problem is returning. Not as often as initially,
> but this is beginning to look like what happened before...work for a
> bit (/- 20 minutes), FH would quit, she'd re-open the document and
> re-do what was lost with the quits progressively getting more
> frequent until it would quit merely by moving around in the document
> or zooming in.
>
> I got this to come to a stop by running Disk Utility and repairing
> permissions. Why is this problem coming back so quickly? Is this
> something that needs to be done on a weekly basis? Anyone know of a
> reason the system would be getting so flaky so quickly? Though, I
> must admit it's not acting this way with any other programs...just
> FHMXa...
>
> .Jennifer.
>
>
>

I would have that happen quite often with Freehand MX but I haven't with
the update. Is it just the one document that causes the quits or does it
happen no matter what documents are being worked on?

I have noticed some oddities with various programs in OS X. Freehand,
Illustrator, Safari, Mail, TextEdit and others will have problems with
quits for weeks at a time and then will suddenly behave well for months
at a time. I have begun to run repair programs weekly (Cocktail, Onyx or
Mac Sweeper) and that seems to help.

Perhaps an extreme attempt to solve this would be to reinstall OS X
using the archive and install option? It would set you up with a clean
version of OS X and sweep away any built up problems from just
upgrading. I did this when I upgraded my home computer to 10.3 and it
has been running really smoothly.