11 Replies Latest reply: May 20, 2009 1:52 PM by silverwing_inc RSS

    CS4 stability Mac

    Michael_H._Phillips-25llKp Community Member

      Running AI CS4 on a G5 10.5.7 and finding it very crash prone. The option-dragging between layers bug has carried over from CS3 but I'm also getting occasional random crashes. I'm wondering if AI is more stable on an Intel Mac. It would be a good excuse to buy a new 'puter.

       

      MHP

        • 1. Re: CS4 stability Mac
          [scott] CommunityMVP

          I have yet to have a crash with CS4 here.

           

          I am running an 2007 MacPro and a 2008 MacBookPro.

           

          Have you tried using a different user account to verify the instability isn't just due to your user account or OS installation?

          • 2. Re: CS4 stability Mac
            Michael_H._Phillips-25llKp Community Member

            ScottWeichert wrote:

             

            I have yet to have a crash with CS4 here.

             

            I am running an 2007 MacPro and a 2008 MacBookPro.

             

            Have you tried using a different user account to verify the instability isn't just due to your user account or OS installation?

            I've been running it on two PPC machines and find it unstable on both - a crash maybe every second day.

             

            MHP

            • 3. Re: CS4 stability Mac
              Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

              It is not optimized for a PPC so that could be the problem but it runs well here one thing that might ause such a situation might be a conflict with system fonts, or a corrupt font or font database.

               

              Maintenance of your system and verification and repair of your permissions.

               

              You just might have certain things loaded on your system that are feeding the cache files in a way that would cause such instability.

               

              And it is hard to really know what your habits are so something lie this can easily be user error, even if the user is unaware of what that might be.

              • 4. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                Michael_H._Phillips-25llKp Community Member

                Wade_Zimmerman wrote:

                 

                It is not optimized for a PPC so that could be the problem but it runs well here

                Thanks Wade. And as Scott is running trouble-free on Intel Macs, maybe it is time for me to retire this G5.

                one thing that might ause such a situation might be a conflict with system fonts, or a corrupt font or font database.

                 

                Maintenance of your system and verification and repair of your permissions.

                 

                You just might have certain things loaded on your system that are feeding the cache files in a way that would cause such instability.

                 

                And it is hard to really know what your habits are so something lie this can easily be user error, even if the user is unaware of what that might be.

                Fonts are managed on the G5 by FontAgent Pro and FAP reports no problems with fonts. The only change made to the System fonts is that the Helvetica dfont has been disabled and substituted by Adobe OpenType Helvetica in a FAP startup set. The only fonts on the laptop are the default OSX and Adobe CS fonts.

                System maintenance, including permissions repair, is looked after by Macaroni on the G5.

                The G5 does have a few System enhancements (Default Folder, Launchbar, Keyboard Maestro, FAP) but the laptop is virgin.

                 

                It could, as you say, be user error but I've been using Illustrator since 5.5 (with a few years interlude with FreeHand) so I am not an inexperienced user. My work is purely for print - nothing fancy or outré.

                 

                MHP

                • 5. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                  Doug Katz Community Member

                  Not so fast, Michael. I'm finding CS4 very well behaved on this G5. Exceptionally so, in fact. Perhaps this has more to do with Tiger than the G5?

                  • 6. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                    Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

                    User error I was not referring to your Illustrator proficiency.

                     

                    Even the most experienced user makes some user error decisions.

                    • 7. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                      [scott] CommunityMVP

                      I run Default Folder and FAP, Michael. Have for years without issues.

                       

                      Have you tried just Safe Boot to see if it is indeed perhaps a third party enhancement that's the issue?

                       

                      Unsanity stuff wreaks havok.

                      • 8. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                        Michael_H._Phillips-25llKp Community Member

                        Doug Katz wrote:


                        Perhaps this has more to do with Tiger than the G5?

                        Now that's a thought. But reverting to 10.4 would not be a trivial endeavour so I don't see myself testing the theory.

                         

                        MHP

                        • 9. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                          Michael_H._Phillips-25llKp Community Member

                          ScottWeichert wrote:

                           

                          Have you tried just Safe Boot to see if it is indeed perhaps a third party enhancement that's the issue?

                           

                          As far as I can remember I did confirm the 'option-drag between layers' bug in CS3 by booting into Safe mode so I guess the result would be the same for CS4.

                          I couldn't face working for a couple of days in Safe mode to test for the random occasional crashes. Anyway the laptop has no System enhacements and Illustrator crashes there too.

                          I think I'll splurge on a Mac Pro and hope for the best.

                           

                          MHP

                          • 10. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                            PrepressPro1 Community Member

                            Running a Mac Pro Duel core intel with CS4 and the only time I have a crash is when I quit the program. At that point who cares.

                            • 11. Re: CS4 stability Mac
                              silverwing_inc Community Member

                              Mac Pro G5 and it's a daily event. At least one significant crash, occasionally I get a visit from Colonel Panic and his spinning wheel of death. Illustrator Process showing 16TB of shared memory, both processors hitting at 100%, the RAM allocation jumping up in 500MB blocks till it caps out at 5GB or so... occasionally it'll pull itself out of it, other times I force quit. Illustrator CS4/CS3 hates Photoshop(X) DCS2 place images. I shoot all my separations this way. Whatever they changed after AI10 in regards to how it handles placed linked DCS2 eps files, I wish they'd change it back. I'm sure it's not saving me any money.

                               

                              How necessary is it to verify each channel each time?

                              (I'd like some help resolving this if anyone has any ideas how to force it to stop doing it. Some of the files I'm sending out are 7-10 channels deep at 7000x12000p. It reads the first 5-7 just fine, but the last few seem to grind it to a crawl or it'll crash outright and I have to set the whole thing up again. If it took it 30-40sec I could understand, but 5-10 minutes is just silly).