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RiderAlberta Calculating status...

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Contribute CS4 Sloooooooooow

Nov 28, 2008 10:12 PM

I have tried installing, reinstalling on my computer (MacBook Pro, OS 10.5.5), another computer etc. and nothing I do can solve my problem here: Contribute (for posting to a blog) is very, very slow. Backspacing to delete a word takes about a half second per key press. The same with typing, the response if very slow. I have opened a case on this, but Adobe is not responding. Their tech folks in India don't know anything about the product. CS3, on the other hand, does not exhibit this behavior. It is something in CS4.

Short of a refund, what else can I do?

15946 Views 90 Replies Latest reply: easel01, Jul 22, 2010 1:17 PM

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1. Stuart Haiz,

Nov 30, 2008 2:35 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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It feels with the CS4 suite, (lots of weird crashes across all the apps) the early purchase discount incentive was a way of letting us pay for the privilege of Beta testing...

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2. RiderAlberta,

Nov 30, 2008 4:30 PM in reply to Stuart Haiz

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That's good to know as we were looking at purchasing it. Unfortunately, Adobe Tech support is among the least responsive I've experienced in decades of Mac applications, otherwise I wouldn't mind working through some of this stuff (that is, I'll have open cases sitting there for weeks. And phone support is somewhere in India where I either cannot understand the person, or they have zippo experience with the application).

Right now, Contribute doesn't work at all. I get the spinning beach ball and nothing I do, including wiping it from the hardrive (prefs and all) and reinstalling, fixes it.

I think I'm going to resign my beta testing position and ask for a refund (again).

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3. Stewart Design,

Nov 30, 2008 5:06 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Same problem here-- Macbook Pro, 10.5.5, brand new system and fresh install of Contribute CS4. The beachball spins and spins when it gets to the Website Connection Assistant, and all I can do is force quit. Adobe, any answers to this? I've seen loads of users with the exact problem on other forums as well.

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4. sitedesign,

Dec 1, 2008 9:57 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Try checking "Don't show this again" and make the home screen go away.
It had improved the performance in the CS3 and the same trick may work here.

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5. RiderAlberta,

Dec 1, 2008 10:04 PM in reply to sitedesign

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Hi, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, whenever I open CS4, I get a spinning beach ball and barely an opportunity to do anything. I tried clicking that box (in the opening window), but it did not want to select.... and then the program was consumed by the black hole beach ball.

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6. ThinkInk,

Dec 2, 2008 12:14 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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I don't know if it has anything to do with the solution to your specific spinning ball problem, but here my scenario's in which it shows up or not:

Case 1:
1. computer is connected to an ethernet switch
2. ethernet switch is connected to modem/router
3. modem/router has NO connection to outside line
Result: spinning ball, no possibility to choose online or offline mode in Contribute, only solution is to close the program down, there is no start-up possible.

Case 2:
1. computer is connected to an ethernet switch
2. ethernet switch is NOT connected to modem/router or the modem/router is off
Result: spinning ball, no possibility to choose online or offline mode in Contribute, only solution is to close the program down, there is no start-up possible.

Case 3:
1. computer is directly connected to modem/router
3. modem/router has NO connection to outside line
Result: no spinning ball, and there is a possibility to choose online or offline mode in Contribute, start-up is possible.

Case 4:
1. computer is connected to an ethernet switch
2. ethernet switch is connected to modem/router
3. modem/router has a connection to outside line
Result: no spinning ball, possibility to choose online or offline mode in Contribute, start-up possible.

Case 5:
1. computer is NOT connected to an ethernet switch
1. computer is NOT connected to a modem/router
Result: no spinning ball, possibility to choose online or offline mode in Contribute, start-up possible.

Conclusion: This spinning ball problem has something to do with the way Contribute connects to Adobe online and gets problematic when it cannot connect, and the interpretation of when a connection is there or not. When the progam notices a connection to a LAN it does not give the option to work offline, but at the same time it can't connect to Adobe, cause there is no connection to the internet. This seems to be the cause off the programs problem to start up at all.

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7. Stewart Design,

Dec 2, 2008 12:15 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Here's what solved my problem: disable all but the system fonts. CS4 starts right up without a hitch. I've added back slowly the fonts that I need. I'm sure I'll eventually hit on the one that is making it act up.

I'm brand new to OSX, but I guess I need to remember that a lot of application weirdness on OSX is actually font-related. For some reason, I don't recall ever having this sort of thing on the Windows side.

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8. RiderAlberta,

Dec 2, 2008 10:38 AM in reply to Stewart Design

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Some interesting responses here! Definitely, there is a connection with the internet. I want to note that I had no spinning ball when I first installed CS4, and that it only started recently.

The slow response, however, has always been an issue. CS3, on the other hand, has none of these issues.

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9. m gupta,

Dec 3, 2008 4:18 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Hi All,
There was a recent release of Safari on 26th Nov 2008 [Version 3.2.1] and Contribute seems to have the issue with the same i.e. taking a longer time to come up when the user launches it. We are investigating the issue, meanwhile following is the workaround and we will post more info as and when we find more details.

Workaround:
• Launch Contribute without any Network i.e. no LAN connection and Wireless disabled
• Click on the "Don't show again" check box at the Contribute start page.
• Enable the network and re-start Contribute, it will come up showing the index page of the connection instead of your start page.
• In case you want to go the start page anytime please click "Contribute start page" icon on the top right hand side.

Thanks,
Manoj
[Contribute Team]

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10. RiderAlberta,

Dec 3, 2008 8:59 AM in reply to m gupta

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Thanks Mano. This does solve the spinning beach ball issue. But it doesn't solve why Contribute CS4 is so slow in type response compared to CS3. Try this:

Type a sentence in CS4 and then backspace (delete) it all the way to the first character. Then do the same in CS3. You'll notice that there is a greater lag time in CS4 in both typing and deleting compared to CS3. When you use Contribute for typing articles for a blog, this becomes a noticeable and annoying delay .

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11. marrigo,

Dec 4, 2008 7:21 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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I have the same problem. Running Intel based iMac 24 with Mac OS X 10.5.5 and CS4 v 4.1 unusable, crashes, fails to connect to our web site.

This is the first time in 5 years of using Apple and Adobe software that we have experienced this. ** It feels like using Microsoft Windows ** on Windows about once per month we had a problem with the OS or an application. On the Apple platform we usually experience few problems. However this OS update combined with Adobe CS4 feels like a mysterious, unsupported problem that no one wants to fix. Adobe and Apple need to be open about this and fix it quick! We switched away from Windows because of issues like this - hoping there is a clear, transparent remedy soon.

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12. glenbarney1,

Dec 5, 2008 2:45 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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RiderAlberta wrote:

quote:

The slow response, however, has always been an issue. CS3, on the other hand, has none of these issues.

Actually, Contribute CS3 DOES have these very same issues. I've got another thread on the forum, AND a paid support case open on this. As you said, CS3 "was" working fine for me until just about a week ago.

M Gupta/Manoj wrote:

quote:

Contribute seems to have the issue with the same i.e. taking a longer time to come up when the user launches it. We are investigating the issue, meanwhile following is the workaround and we will post more info as and when we find more details.

Fabulous! Your CS3 people are impacted also - I hope that information helps you find the problem!

Glen

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13. RiderAlberta,

Dec 5, 2008 2:55 PM in reply to glenbarney1

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Wow... so it's right across the board. Well, I hope Adobe reads my post here. I'm not just talking about slow startup (or none at all), but also about slow type response. It takes nearly twice as long for a word to display as it does with me typing you now. Is this is also what you're experiencing, Glen?

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14. jpeth,

Dec 7, 2008 5:02 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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I will join the beachball club. I got it as soon as I opened Contribute CS3 on my Powemac G5 Quad x 2.5 w/8GB Ram. I tried checking "Don't show this again" to make the home screen go away, but the ball never stopped spinning. I tried disabling all but the system fonts, which bought me enough time to check "Don't show this again" and make the home screen go away. Great! However, once I got a page loaded and tried to admister a site, the program slowed to its unresponsive state again.

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15. m gupta,

Dec 22, 2008 9:31 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Hi All,
For the workaround please refer the tech note at http://www.adobe.com/go/kb408112

Thanks,
Manoj

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16. think4d,

Dec 25, 2008 2:45 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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I had a client download Contribute CS4, and since it's unbearably slow.. there's no way I can convince them to purchase..

great, now the trial download effectively dissuades potential customers.. is this the way it's supposed to work?

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17. RiderAlberta,

Dec 25, 2008 3:46 PM in reply to think4d

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Yes, I've requested a refund because this program is sooooooooo slooooooooooow.

Amazing that Adobe is sooooooooooo sloooooooooooow to fix it.

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18. SimonEdkins,

Jan 8, 2009 10:13 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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I too am having awful problems with Contribute CS4 V5. I cannot install it correctly on my new Imac. It cannot find the browse:startpage. When and if it eventually links to my site it then creates a lock file, which I have to manually delete using Fetch.
I have successfully installed it on my macbook air but it runs so slowly as to be almost useless. It appears to be 'not responding' for long periods. I too have flash on my site which appears to be one of the problems. It does work (again too slowly) if I edit in Firefox.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling on the imac with no luck at all. Are there hidden files that the install does not remove?
Any suggestions welcome.

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19. sitedesign,

Jan 9, 2009 6:02 AM in reply to SimonEdkins

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I tried un-installing Flash player and slowness goes away, please try the same.

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20. Missteach,

Jan 11, 2009 5:38 AM in reply to sitedesign

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Yesterday, my client demanded I pay him £200 becuase I had suggested he use Contribute to update his website.

I suggested he download the demo to try but, because it wouldn't work on 4 machines owing to nothing but a 'revolving ball', he bought it thinking it was a limitation of the demo.

Obviously, it's the responsiveness issue that's been highlighted in this thread that has caused it, but how do you convince a client that as the designer of his website I'm not responsible for its maintainance?

Suddenly, his problem has become my problem. I appreciate that uninstalling flash player might work, but in the real world I can't tell clients that the only way they can update their own website is to uninstall something else!

Roll on Contribute CS5.

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21. betaeta1,

Jan 12, 2009 2:23 AM in reply to sitedesign

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I confirm.
Removing flash player make contribute (Cs3 or CS4) works again !!!! Try it.....now the problem is that I can't access flash player objects....but the spinning ball has gone avay !

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22. ThinkInk,

Jan 12, 2009 2:56 AM in reply to betaeta1

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Glad you got it solved, but this is a really bad thing. Untill this is solved I will not upgrade to CS4 nor will I advice my clients. Adobe please take action!!!!

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23. SimonEdkins,

Jan 12, 2009 4:14 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Hi Please let me know where you uninstall the flash player from? Desperate to get this working faster.

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24. Dominic Michael,

Jan 12, 2009 4:46 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Hi,
Please have a look at this link for the step to uninstall the Flash Player.
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157
or
Go to Disk->Library->Internet Plug-Ins and delete the Flash Player.plugin

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25. SimonEdkins,

Jan 12, 2009 5:54 AM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Thanks - uninstalling flash Player does make it much faster, the beach ball has disappeared, the page comes up much faster. But now of course when I view any website with flash in it, I get a message that I can't view the flash element.

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26. Missteach,

Jan 12, 2009 4:00 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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It's not easy telling a client to uninstall ostensibly unrelated software! Contribute is aimed at less technically literate people than web designers.

As my client reponded, 'I just want something to update my site with'.

Even if could get him to agree to uninstall Flash player, he expects me to drive 25 miles (and back of course) to his premises to do this for free because he sees it as a problem with the design that stops the program working!

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27. media4d,

Jan 12, 2009 5:50 PM in reply to sitedesign

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That's a terrific idea.. Flash has what.. 99% installed base.. which makes Contribute incompatible with 99% of the installed base of Macs.. I assume this problem does not exist on Windows?

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28. KortP,

Jan 16, 2009 7:47 AM in reply to m gupta

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I just tried that on CS4 installed on a new dual quad core & 4 gigs of ram Mac Pro with OS X 10.5.6 and I still get the beach ball of death. I have sites to maintain and this is killing me. It started a few weeks ago with CS3 and I hoped upgrading would be the fix, but not so. Any help is much appreciated.

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29. KortP,

Jan 16, 2009 7:54 AM in reply to m gupta

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Unfortunately this did not work either. I just tried it and restarted Contribute CS4 connected to one of my sites and still the spinning ball persists. Very disappointing.

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30. RiderAlberta,

Jan 16, 2009 10:09 AM in reply to KortP

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Hello folks,

It is not necessary to un-install Flash. You may not have noticed another post above:

Hi All, For the workaround please refer the tech note at http://www.adobe.com/go/kb408112

This takes care of the beach ball, but it does not improve the slow type response in Contribute. I feel badly for those who rely on Contribute, but in my year and a half with this product, I have seen little support for this project in terms of updates and fixes. For blogging, it is the best software out there yet in concept. However, the price tag and the lack of support is dragging this software into oblivion if you ask me. I mean, look how many of us have posted here in desperation, and yet, Adobe seems to be asleep. If you call tech support, you get somebody in India who knows absolutely nothing about the product except how to read a pre-written tech note which is completely irrelevant.

You can make Contribute work. You just can't make it worth well enough to buy it, at least for me. I've asked for a refund.

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31. tafflink,

Jan 18, 2009 7:49 AM in reply to KortP

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Does anyone--Adobe included--have anything new to report on the failure of Contribute CS4 with Mac? The so-called "fix" doesn't work and I feel like we are left out in the cold.

How long can it take to fix this?????

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32. Ramesh_Gopalakrishna2,

Jan 19, 2009 10:50 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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Dear Contribute Users,

Contribute had performance issues on Macintosh (machines which had Safari 3.2.1 installed) with the launch time due to a behavior change in Safari 3.2.1.

Adobe is working with Apple to get this issue addressed. Meanwhile, Adobe Contribute team is working on a patch to address the major concerns on the launch time and other major performance concerns. You will be hearing from the team soon.

Thank you,
Ramesh.Gopalakrishna@adobe.com
Product Manager
Adobe Contribute

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33. ThinkInk,

Jan 20, 2009 12:00 AM in reply to Ramesh_Gopalakrishna2

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Hi Ramesh Gopalakrishna2,
Thank you for your reply and the steps that are being taken. Glad that Adobe still seems to care about the users of the software and keeps notice of these forums. Keep up the good work!
Come to think of it, I do have a client with a Mac and CS4 that has no trouble at all, but this client does indeed use Firefox for browsing, not Safari.

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34. tryanother,

Jan 20, 2009 1:17 PM in reply to RiderAlberta

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We use Firefox, not Safari, and we're having the same problems with acute slowness, constant freezing and frequent failures to connect to our server. I'm testing CS4 in the hope it would fix the problems, but it's the same. Does anyone know what they mean about fixing these problems "soon?"

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35. m gupta,

Jan 21, 2009 1:16 AM in reply to tryanother

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Hi,
Contribute’s embedded browser is based on Safari’s WebKit. The issue that we are facing now is with the version of Webkit that got updated with Safari 3.2.1 updater. So, even if you use Firefox as the default browser in your machine, Contribute will still use the Safari’s webkit based browser for browsing inside Contribute.

Please refer http://www.adobe.com/go/kb408112 for the workaround.
Thanks,
manoj

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36. m gupta,

Jan 21, 2009 1:19 AM in reply to ThinkInk

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Hi ThinkInk,
Please note that this issue is not there in case:
1. If the user is on 10.4.x irrespective of the Safari version.
2. If the user has 3.1.x version of Safari on 10.5.x

Thanks,
manoj

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37. jessdel1980,

Jan 21, 2009 12:24 PM in reply to m gupta

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Has anybody had any luck with the workaround suggested by m gupta? It has had no impact, Contribute is still hanging just like it was before. I'm on Leopard 10.5.6 and Safari 3.2.1.

Very frustrating.

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38. Stewart Design,

Jan 21, 2009 12:29 PM in reply to jessdel1980

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I tried Gupta's fix this morning, and Contribute did indeed open for me without delay, but I haven't tried working in it yet.

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39. Stewart Design,

Jan 21, 2009 12:30 PM in reply to jessdel1980

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I tried Gupta's fix this morning, and Contribute did indeed open for me without delay, but I haven't tried working in it yet.

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