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InDesign crashing regularly

Jun 14, 2009 11:01 PM

I am trying to create a poster in InDesign, but InDesign keeps crashing. Screenshots of the errors, in order, are attached. I have had about 4-5 crashes per day, but they seem to be getting more frequent (I had 3 crashes within an hour before shifting machines).


I thought it was a connectivity issue as I noticed Microsoft Outlook sometimes lost connection briefly at the same time that InDesign crashed.

 

Our techs have tried different network ports, new network cables, new switches and I am still having these issues. I am the only person in my office having these specific errors and issues with InDesign.

 

I switched to a different PC on the other side of the office, with a different network port & cable and a fresh install of InDesign, but I just had my first crash with the same error messages while working on the same InDesign file.

 

I suspect it may be related to the coding in the SVG files I have used to create the linked .ai files as I read somewhere that an accumulation of coding in linked files can cause problems. What I've done with my linked files is downloaded SVG files from openclipart.org (most were created with Inkscape), then opened them with Illustrator, converted them to CMYK and saved them in .ai format. Sometimes I edited the files a bit further before saving (e.g. adding some colour if the SVG is only black & white lineart), but that's pretty much it.

 

Recompiling the InDesign file through File > Save As seems to make no difference.

 

Does anyone know a solution to this problem, or at least if it may be hardware or software related?

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1851 Views   15 Replies   Latest reply: elaine montoya, Jun 22, 2009 8:49 AM
 
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  • elaine montoya
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    1. elaine montoya,
    Jun 14, 2009 11:15 PM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    My guess is either your InDesign file or one of your linked files is corrupt.

     

    One way to see if this is true, is to "progressively" create a new file.

     

    -open the file that crashes

    -file > save as (a different file name)

    -open the new file. Delete the majority of your external links (try all the SVG first)

    -continue to work with the file to see if it crashes.

    -professively add back the links that you deleted

     

    Hopefully through doing this process, you will be able to figure out which file is causing the problem.

     

    good luck!

    elaine

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    2. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 15, 2009 11:52 PM   in reply to elaine montoya
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    Okay, so I created a brand new blank document and copied everything but the graphics from the suspect InDesign file and pasted it in the new one. I then placed about half of the links in the new document, worked on it for about 2-3 hours and then had my first crash. I noticed, though, that one of the .ai links wasn't showing properly. The bounding box was visible, but the image of a star was shown. I opened the link in Illustrator and the SVG layers were there, all visible. So I deleted that link from the new document, assuming that link was the problem with the previous document, despite the fact that that particular link was displaying correctly in the older InDesign file. This was about half an hour before the crash.

     

    Do I really need to re-place each link, one by one? I have about 100 linked, converted (in the way that I described earlier) SVG files in this document, and even if I do start re-placing them, the crash seems to be delayed, so I probably couldn't put it down to any specific link unless that particular link acted weird like the star one did.

     
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  • designer1955
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    3. designer1955,
    Jun 16, 2009 6:45 AM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    I had same experience with crashes. I switched preflight off and voila, no more problems...

     
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  • elaine montoya
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    4. elaine montoya,
    Jun 16, 2009 7:46 AM   in reply to designer1955
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    Basically what you are doing with the approach that I recommended, is 'process of elimination' . . . trying to determine if it's a linked file that is causing the problem, or if it is an issue with the application. You don't have to do the links individually - just systematically. So if you add ten more links, and suddenly it starts crashing a lot - you can guess the issue is one of the ten links that you added. Make sense?

     

    As was also recomended, you can try turning preflight off, to see if that makes a difference.

     

    I forgot to ask in my original post... have you updated InDesign to the most current release? it should be 6.0.2. There were crash issues with several of the CS4 products. The update resolved a lot of this.

     

    let me know....

    elaine

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    5. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 16, 2009 6:00 PM   in reply to elaine montoya
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    I'm using InDesign CS3. I just opened Adobe updater and am installing updates now, but I couldn't see anything in the list of updates that could apply to InDesign, apart from the 'Updates to all CS3 products'.

     

    Screenshot of updates: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/scarlet_23_images/updates.jpg

     

    How do I turn off preflight? Is it a CS4 feature or something? Because I googled it, and Adobe mention some kind of Preflight panel but I can't find it.

     

    I don't have the time to do the elimination process, even if it is ten at a time, as I am on a tight deadline for this job. I might just stick it out and do the elimination when I can find more time...

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    6. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 16, 2009 5:57 PM   in reply to elaine montoya
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    Ok, so I removed all links from my document, added one link and left it open but minimised while I worked on a different InDesign doc that had no links at all - just text and InDesign objects. Nothing happened after about an hour, so I added another link to the troublesome InDesign doc, then minimised it again and continued working on the other one with no links. Half an hour or so later, the crash happens again. Same error messages. Except the error message (which I just noticed is the only one I haven't uploaded a screenshot of... I will try to get one next time it happens) I got said something like 'The connection was lost for the file [pathway]', and I noticed the pathway specified was to the file with no links that I had been working on, not the dodgy InDesign document with the two linked files in it...

     

    The fact that the message says 'lost connection' leads me to believe that server issues are the problem, but like I said earlier, I'm on a completely different machine with a different network cord, a different network port and a new switch, with a fresh install of InDesign.

     

    I just don't get what the problem is. Some things point to my InDesign file, some things point to network problems. Some things indicate it's not my InDesign file, and some things indicate it's not network problems.

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    7. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 16, 2009 6:08 PM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    Just had another crash.

    Here is a screenshot of the connection lost message: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/scarlet_23_images/connection-l ost.jpg

     
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  • elaine montoya
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    8. elaine montoya,
    Jun 16, 2009 8:07 PM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    Hmmm... I didn't realize you were using InDesign CS3... but the concept of the process of elimination would work the same on both versions.

     

    I can't remember if CS3 had the preflight ability. If it does, it would be located at: menu Window > Output > Preflight. In the panel that appears, uncheck 'On'>

     

    Your last post though, leads me to also believe it is a server issue. Are you working with this document on a remote or connected server (ie - not directly on your computer). It sounds like you are connecting to it from an SMB share - or on a PC server.

     

    If so, preflight it and move it to your local computer. Preflighting it will gather all of the assests, so you know that any server disconnects will not affect it. You can always move it back to the server after you get your deadline met.

     

    good luck,

    elaine

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    9. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 16, 2009 9:53 PM   in reply to elaine montoya
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    Nope, no preflight. I've been working from my desktop for a while, and so far, so good. I was working from a PC server stored in another building, so it's not directly connected to my computer. Thanks for all your help. I hope we can resolve this soon.

     
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  • elaine montoya
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    10. elaine montoya,
    Jun 16, 2009 10:27 PM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    Most likely you'l find it was a problem with loosing your server connection. If at all possible in the future, transfer all your files to your computer - and then preflight them to store on the server as an archive.

     

    Keep me posted!

    elaine

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    11. Peter Spier,
    Jun 17, 2009 4:03 AM   in reply to elaine montoya
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    I think Elaine may mean to say "package" rather than preflight (but in CS3 you can run Preflight and package at the end).

     

    Packaging will gather a copy of the file and the fonts and any linked images required for output into one folder. Links and fonts are optional - you'll see some checkboxes, and there are limitations on fonts, and links must be either on the page or touching the bleed or defined slug area to be included -- other stuff out on the pasteboard (including text or native shapes) will not be packaged.

     

    Peter

     
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  • elaine montoya
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    12. elaine montoya,
    Jun 17, 2009 10:59 AM   in reply to Peter Spier
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    yup - that's what I meant   Still a throwback from when Extensis had their PreFlight extension ... showing my age here.

     

    So yes... package your files, and move them to your server

     
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  • Pixel Mixer
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    13. Pixel Mixer,
    Jun 21, 2009 11:28 PM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    Ok, so I switched back to working from the server today, after one of our techs did a defrag and fixed some apparently major registry issues on my machine. All was going well until about 5 minutes ago, when I had my first crash for the day. I got a few new errors though, and InDesign didn't crash straight away like it usually does. It took a few minutes and the errors didn't come up all at once. One of them said something about a damaged file, error code: 5.

     

    I'm pretty sure it's nothing anyone on these forums could help with now, but I'm posting it anyway in case anyone has this problem in future and comes across this thread.

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    14. Peter Spier,
    Jun 22, 2009 8:15 AM   in reply to Pixel Mixer
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    It won't hurt to search the forum and the knowledgebase for error code 5.

     
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  • elaine montoya
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    15. elaine montoya,
    Jun 22, 2009 8:49 AM   in reply to Peter Spier
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    Well - the part that still makes the most sense to me, is your project doesn't crash when working on your own machine - but does when you work from the server. Still seems like a network issue to me.

     

    Regarding error code 5, I beleive this can happen when there is a crash. This file most likely won't work anymore, but InDesign automatically creates a backup when there is a crash. Look for files with the .indd file type and see if you can recover your project from the backup file.

     

    If you plan to work on your server, you may want your IT person to verify that there are not network issues.

     

    good luck,

    elaine

     
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