Expert: Amy - 2/17/2010

Question
QUESTION: I keep trying to open Illustrator CS3 on my mac but I get an error message that says "An unknown error has occurred (-108). Adobe Illustrator will now quit."

I've had this problem for the past year but since my InDesign and Photoshop work, I've just been using my CS2 Illustrator, but now THAT won't open either so I think it's finally time to fix this problem.

ANSWER: 108's can be caused by conflicts with other applications, like Norton, or commonly, problems with TypeSupport. I would try the "move the TypeSupport" folder solution first.

Read this post in in the forums, and do what they say to do, but you're on a Mac, so you'll have to read between the lines. Come to think of it, I don't know that I've heard about this problem on a Mac but you can try it.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/320748

Also and of course, the first thing you should always try is deleting the preferences file. On a Mac:
  1. Quit Illustrator.
  2. Drag the Adobe Illustrator [version] Settings folder from the Users/[user]/Library/Preferences folder to the Trash.
  3. Restart Illustrator.

Let me know if that worked. If not, we'll try something else.

-A

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I deleted the preferences file but that didn't work.

About that other posting, I actually read through it before writing my own post but couldn't really translate it to mac 100%. I found the TypeSupport files and put them in a folder on my desktop. And nothing.

I'm not sure if maybe there's an extra step I'm missing. Or if my desktop is the wrong place for them, especially since I only have 6.55 gigs available on my computer. (Does that have anything to do with it?)

Answer
6.5 gigs should be enough, I would think... but yes it can be a memory error, especially since both versions began behaving this way after a period of working fine.

You probably did it right. If you moved [not copied] all the TypeSupport files and it still won't work, you could also try clearing the font cache.
------
From the Adobe website:

Restart in Safe Mode and then restart again to clear the font cache.

In Mac OS X 10.4.x, safe mode disables all fonts other than those in the System\Library\Fonts folder, and it moves to the Trash all font caches normally stored in \Library\Caches\com.apple.ATS\[uid] where [uid] is a user ID number such as 501.

To start up in Safe Boot or Safe Mode, do the following:

  1. Shut down the computer.
  2. Press the power button.
  3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
  4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator. During startup in Mac OS X v10.4.x or later, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login window, even if normally you log in automatically.

To leave Safe Mode, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup.
-------

Incidentally, does the program work in safe mode?

Or it could be as simple as one corrupt font. There's a thread up on the Forums where a bunch of mac users having a similar issue all found they had a font named Zebra that was bad. Do you have a font mgmt utility? Try turning them all off and turning them back on a few at a time. You can still do this without a utility, you just have to remove the fonts manually.

Or it could be an application conflict. Try quitting all background applications and seeing if something is conflicting. Are you running Norton or something that's running in the background all the time?

To tell you the truth it has been some time since I have run AI on a Mac, so my knowledge of application/system troubleshooting is a bit limited.

-A