Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 3/7/2008

Question
Hi Kevin!
I am a designer and I've been working on Illustrator CS2. The program starts up fine and runs fine 99% of the time. However,  (and it has done this once before) when I go to open the program, it loads fully opening palettes and all and will even open documents but when i try to copy anything from another illustrator document into another one, the program just flat out stops and quits.

I just got a client on very recently and they have TIGHT deadlines (as in i have to design a letterhead and folder, have it reviewed, made changes to and printed by THIS tuesday) so I don't have much time at all to spare. So if there is anyway to put this at the top of your list since I really need to be working on it…well…now that would be fantastic.

Thanks!
Holly

Answer
Hi Holly,

Im hoping that you have already checked to make sure that you have run all updates. Also I am assuming that you have no other applications open when you are doing this. If you do, quit everything else and try it. Now onto more complex solutions...

Two things come to mind that could be the culprit.

First, there is a known bug with CS2 having to do with the Appearance palette being opened when the app starts up. Believe it or not, if you have this open when you start up, its a time bomb and can crash at any time. Close the Appearance palette completely (don't just collapse it) and then quit and reopen. See what happens. If it doesn't work, keep reading...

If you don't even have the Appearance palette up and it is still crashing, it may be that either what you are copying a large image  or its very complex (a lot of effects, etc.) and the clipboard doesn't have enough room to handle it.

So try these steps: create a small simple square and copy it and then try pasting it into a new Illustrator doc. If it works, you know it has to do with your document, not the program.

If it is your doc, then try dragging between documents, and not copy/paste. If it crashes when you even do that, try moving between the documents in outline mode, not preview or grabbing pieces of the image and reassembling in the new doc.

If it did crash copying the small square, then your application may need to be serviced.

Try resetting the preferences (immediately after you double click to open the app hold down shift+option/alt+ctrl/cmd and accept that you want to reset to default when the window shows up). Then try copying the small square again.

If that fails, you may need to try running a disk check to make sure you have enough memory set aside for your application and the clipboard.

The last resort is to reinstall your application. If you are on Windows, be sure to run the uninstaller and then search for anything with the word adobe in it and make sure all illustrator preferences are removed as well. Uninstallers just remove the application not some supporting files that can cause problems on reinstalls.

Good luck!

Kevin