HELP - illustrator cs5 error message when opening cs3 files

[csc309]

Has anyone else had this issue? Do you know how to fix it.

I just bought and downloaded cs5. When opening Illustrator cs3 files I get an error message: "Can't finish previewing. Could not complete the requested operation."

Then it opens the file but I it is only line work (no fills, gradients, etc) and I can not do anything in the file. If I click an object the error message pops up again.

This is what it looks like in cs3.

This is how it displays in cs5

I cant find anything online about this issue. Also this occurs on all of my illustrator files, not just one.

any advice?

thanks

[davidmacy]

This usually indicates that Illustrator can't get enough memory.

Can you try restarting your computer and then just starting Illustrator CS5 and opening these files?

[csc309]

I hope that is not the issue. I just bought this computer 2 weeks ago.

27 in. imac.

4gb ram.

3.06 GHz processor.

1tb hardrive.

Do you think I need more ram or should this be sufficient (I'm not all tec savvy with stuff like this)?

@Wade_Zimmerman

Just saw your post... Thanks for the additional info

[csc309]

After restarting Ai twice it is now opening files just fine.  So hopefully the issue is

fixed. I'm still interested if anyone knows why this happened or if this has happened to others.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

The buffer was probably filled, that is the cache was not released. Restarting the computer  sort of dumped this cache.

What might help is if you can get yourself another hard drive that you can used as a scratch disk for AI, perhaps some more RAm as well and us the new scratch disk as a dediticated scratch.

It is important that Ai has a good amount of continuous free space as a scratch which will relieve the cache.

Keep in mind AI has an unlimited re do feature.

[csc309]

can you tell me how to specify which disc you want illustrator too?  or should I just google it.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

Wel I would think that is not the scratch disk with a two week old computer. However it is still a food idea to partition a disk and use a partition as a scratch.

The way you select the scratch disk is to go the the Illustrator Preferences and go to the tab that says plug ins and scratch disk, from the pull down menu there will be the available disks you can use as a scratch. iMacs only have one disk so you have to either use a partition of an external drive connected by Firewire or usb.

Look under the menu item Illustrator to find the preferences.

Also I think you can use more RAM but you do not have to buy from Adobe. They have made the iMacs easier to install RAM.

[csc309]

Thanks!

[davidmacy]

I think your current system should be fine for running Illustrator CS5. Please let us know if the original problem happens for you again.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

davidmacy wrote:

I think your current system should be fine for running Illustrator CS5. Please let us know if the original problem happens for you again.

I think your system is also fine for running Adobe Illustrator CS 5 but of course you are running the system as well and a browser and e-mail client…and perhaps Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word in which case I think there might be on occasion an out of memory issue and with a complex file you will lose your preview.

I have lost my preview as well on certain files and found that it usually is because I had trashed the preferences and forgot to set the scratch to a different disk other than the startup disk.

I have 16 GB of RAm and once in a while I still lose the preview.

[xtopherh]

I've finally and recently installed CS5, and have this problem so frequently, that it's almost making illustrator unusable.  Running a MBP with 8GB ram, minimal applications.  Have primary scratch disk specified as "Startup" and Secondary Scratch Disk as "Macintosh HD".   Have attempted complete uninstall and re-install of CS5 Design Premium.  Still same problems exist.

[Neurone22]

Exact problem here with a brand new iMac 27' (may2011) and a Adobe CS5.5 Illustrator (version 15.1.0)

Changing the scratch disk to another one don't work.

I need a solution !

[Guest]

Try a reboot, and try only having that file open. If you have alot of other files and programs open it will chew up your 4gb of ram pretty quick!

[xtopherh]

I have resolved this sitation on my machine.  It was specifically due to the number of fonts I had installed on my system.  Turns out, fonts are a major memory drain on both the operating system and the application. 

Deleting fonts resolved the Illustrator issues.  But be careful not to delete system fonts.... use font manager to identify unused user fonts.

[Neurone22]

I solved the problem by removing font added by the application " POWERTERM"  (terminal emulator).

tks for the tips.