6 Replies Latest reply: Oct 20, 2011 8:26 PM by cgrscott RSS

    Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation

    cgrscott Community Member

      When using my '07 Mac Pro Quad Core, Photoshop CS4 11.0.1, under OS 10.4.11, has a problem when I open a Photoshop layered file that has fonts that need to be auto-activated in Font Agent Pro 4.0.3.  I get this Photoshop error message, while the auto-activation is taking place, saying, "Could not complete your request because of a program error."  At this point Photoshop freezes and the only solution is to force quit Photoshop CS4.  At this point the needed fonts have been auto-activated so when I re-launch Photoshop and open the same file, everything works fine.

       

      I was worried about the problem being RAM related so I removed my 8 GBs of OWC RAM and re-installed just my 1 GB of Apple RAM and restarted the computer.  I still found Photoshop to freeze up with the same error message so I'm glad to know it is not necessarily the quality of RAM I'm using, causing this problem .

       

      When I open the same file in Photoshop CS4 on my Powerbook G4, with OS 10.4.11, Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 and 2 GBs of RAM, I have no problem during the Font Agent Pro auto activation.

       

      Attached is a screen capture of my error message I received on my Mac Pro.  I'm going to share this account in the Font Agent Pro forums, also.

        • 1. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
          Community Member

          When I see that I usually run Diskwarrior or Disk Utility from the DVD and fix the directory.

           

          I don't have any problems with FAP auto activation. the other thing you might do is clean your font cashes with Smasher.

          • 2. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
            cgrscott Community Member

            Thanks!

             

            It looks like running Smasher might have been something I needed to do before I loaded all my fonts into FAP's Vault/Database.  I did run Apple's disk utiltiy and the latest version of Diskwarrior.

             

            I still have the problem.  I sent an email to Insider software tech support and received a message back saying,

             

            _____________________________________

             

            "Hi . 

             

            Thank you for submitting your question to us online. This matter has been assigned the following designation:

             

            Case #(deleted): "Photoshop CS4 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4 auto-activation"

             

            An Insider Customer Advocate will respond to you by the next business day."

             

            If this is urgent, (deleted).

             

            Thank you, 

             

            Insider Customer Service

            _____________________________________

            • 3. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
              cgrscott Community Member

              I purchased Smasher and installed it.  Smasher always crashes when ever I load my fonts from my personal font libarary.  But, I was able to use Smasher to smash all my font cash's.

               

              I also reinstalled the latest build of Font Agent Pro and Smasher but Photoshop continues to freez up during auto-activation.

               

              I did one thing that is not a complete fix but it reduces the occurrences of Photoshop CS4 crashing during auto-activation.  In Font Agent Pro, I went to Peferences = Activation = Reactivate fonts at startup: = and then I clicked on "Include manually activated fonts" and "Include auto-actovated fonts.  This set up is similar to what I had in Font Reserve, before I replaced it with Font Agent Pro.  It reduces the need for many occurances of auto-activation but prabably, after a few months, I will need to de-activate all the fonts, restart, and then gradually build up again.

              • 4. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
                cgrscott Community Member

                I received this reply from Font Agent Pro support:

                 

                "Hi Robert,

                There are a few things that can be causing Photoshop to crash or give you program errors and here are a few things you can do to solve or prevent the issue

                 

                First Clear the font caches. Adobe products depend heavily on fonts and font caches so when they are corrupt or damaged, your apps can become unstable.

                Insider has an application available called Smasher, that can clear these caches, along with Adobe and Microsoft caches. A demo version of the software is available at our website, www.insidersoftware.com. The demo software will allow you to clear your os font caches. To gain access to the full cache smashing suite, you will need to purchase Smasher.

                 

                Check for possible fonts in any of their system font folders to see if they have instances of duplicate fonts. Font conflicts will throw adobe apps into a tailspin as well.

                 

                Reset the Photoshop prefs by pressing Command+Option+Shift+Control as you launch the application. This can help if there is any issue with preferences.

                 

                Sometimes it is necessary to reset the tools in Photoshop. This usually helps in the instances of repeated crashes when using the type tool, or any other tool. Reset the tools by selecting the type tool and accessing the tool presets as seen below:"

                 

                (see attached jpeg)

                 

                I did all the things Font Agent Pro tech support suggested, accept check for possible instances of duplicate fonts in any of their system font folders, because I did not want to take the time at this point, and now the problem is cured, even with Font Agent Pro's Preferences set to Preferences / Activation / Reactivate fonts at startup: / with "Include manually activated fonts" and "Include auto-activated fonts" turned off and then restarting the machine.  Photoshop CS4 can let Font Agent Pro auto-activate without freezing or crashing after following the above steps.

                 

                Font Agent Pro works so much better than when I was only using PowerPC Macs with OS 10.4.11 and Font Reserve 3.1.4.  Their email tech support is decent too.

                • 5. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
                  cgrscott Community Member

                  An email response from Font Agent Pro tech support completely cured my problems so I posted a copy of that tech support response at the end of this forum thread.

                   

                   

                  • 6. Re: Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Freezes during Font Agent Pro 4.0.3 auto-activation
                    cgrscott Community Member

                    In follow up to this initial problem of Photoshop CS4 crashing:

                     

                    A year ago I moved my Mac Pro from Tiger to Leopard and Photoshop CS4 (11.0.2) crashed dramaticly less often.  Now I'm running my Quad Core Mac Pro on a clean install of Snow Leopard and Photoshop CS4 is totally rock solid.  I'm also using Font Agent Pro 4.2.

                     

                    Using Smasher to clear Adobe App font cashes does not reduce crashing and just makes Acrobat Pro run too slow.  Reseting Photoshop Preferences and resetting Photoshop's font tool preferences does make Photoshop more stable in Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard.

                     

                    In Snow Leopard I have not had to reset anything in Photoshop or tweak Font Agent Pro to keep things rock solid.  It seems like Photoshop CS4 (11.0.2) and Font Agent Pro 4.2 are most optimized for Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.