FM crashes on print book to file (surprise! No?)

[Rush, Jay]

I posted a similar message to the framers, Acrobat, and InDesign lists.
I had Frame 7.2 p158 and Acrobat 7.0.8 (not 7.0.9) installed for quite
some time with no problems. I then upgraded my CS2 with CS3 upgrade,
which came with Acrobat 8. I then got frequent, random Frame crashes
when PDFing as you describe. I went through similar troubleshooting
steps to no avail. I also use Publi PDF
(http://www.grafikhuset.net/international/) to create custom PDFs from
Frame. I got crashes from Frame when printing both to the Adobe PDF
printer instance and to a Publi PDF print queue.

Publi PDF's tech support suspected "either a Windows GDI font problem or
a FrameMaker 'PostScript injection' problem (i.e. when Frame injects
private PostScript data into the data stream generated via Windows
GDI)". In reply to the "character dropout" issue with Frame, Dov Isaacs
replied to the list that the fix is to delete the
C:\WINDOWS\system32\FNTCACHE.DAT file and reboot, and ideally write a
script that deletes that file every time you power down. Dov further
stated that, "Since there is nothing that FrameMaker as a program can do
to corrupt that system file or even open it, the problems are probably
secondary to some issue associated with FrameMaker's novel use of its
own character set in combination with standard Windows GDI calls."

I put those two issues together, did what they said, and also tweaked
Adobe PDF Printer Properties based on recommendations for older versions
of Distiller. And, if you're on Acrobat 8, see Adobe Tech Note 333453
regarding where to place custom joboptions settings. 

Now, after all that, for some reason, I still get a Frame crash at the
book level IF it's the first PDF I try to create after bootup. If,
however, I PDF a single Frame file first (so far, always with success),
then PDF the whole book, it works for me.

That's my workaround. Hope it helps.

Jay

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+jrush=c-cor.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+jrush=c-cor.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf
Of Art Campbell
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 2:19 PM
To: Bodvar Bjorgvinsson
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: FM crashes on print book to file (surprise! No?)

What's your platform and Acrobat configuration?

On 5/31/07, Bodvar Bjorgvinsson <bodvar at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am starting to get annoyed with FrameMaker. (Sorry for a lengthy
message).
>
> On a few occasions I have plagued the list with my complaints about FM
> (mainly 7.2) crashing on printing a book to ps. I have now spent half
> the day trying to produce an online PDF with bookmarks. No problem
> printing to ps without bookmarks, so we have that one in the clear.
>
> It started by FM crashing on a certain file (chapter 3) on a specific
> page, no matter whether I had the files open or not. Having them open
> only added the extra work of removing the recovery files. Having
> removed these three times, I went for the closed files printing.
>
> Also I MIF-washed the files but go no better results.
>
> I tested the "offending" file by itself and it printed to file with
> bookmarks ok, but printing from the book, it always crashed FM at the
> same page.
>
> A couple of pages earlier, around the point where the pdf started to
> lack contents seriously (yes, I managed to pdf the ps part, and I also
> had a look at the ps in GSView which showed less content), there was a
> OLEd Visio file. I found the pdf and eps-ed it and replaced the
> graphics. Same result.
>
> I found a Xref marker on the crashing page and deleted it, and now it
> went a couple of pages further.
>
> I removed FM 7.2 (plus patch), restarted the PC and installed all (FM
> + patches) again.
> No change.
>
> I started a new document, imported the formats and then the contents
> and replaced the file. Now it went all the way down to one of the last
> chapters, where it crashed again with the same messages. No Xref on
> that page, only a table (and this file got a lot of tables).
>
> Now I did as with chapter 3, started a new document, copied etc. and
> started the printing again. And what now. Now I got as far as to the
> same page in chapter 3 as in the first tries.
>
> I am out of guesses. What can I do? And why cannot FM give any humanly
> understandable hints?
>
> For 8.0, why not add internal checkpoints that tells us what exactly
> is causing the crashing? It should not be that difficult when the
> print process hits an offending item to have the application point
> that out. Is there a malfunction in the Xref marker, is the graphic
> not kosher, etc.
>
> Any help out there, please? I am going home now. Will check the mail
> in the morning.
>
> Bodvar Bjorgvinsson
> Supervisor Publishing
> Air Atlanta Icelandic.
> http://www.airatlanta.com
> _______________________________________________
>

-- 
Art Campbell
art.campbell at gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
               and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                             No disclaimers apply.
                                     DoD 358
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