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Quark corruption headache

AlBDamned

AlBDamned

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 14, 2005
2,641
15
Not had one of these for a while...

I'm using Q6 on an intel iMac C2D 2.0Ghz. Running under Rosetta it's been fine for the first three weeks, then it started corrupting preferences and quitting on open. This was solved each time by deleting my user preferences file and and opening again.

Now, it won't even open despite trashing preferences over and over. I've now reinstalled and reactivated three times, but with the same results.

I've also cleared out font caches.

One thing I tried that worked was setting up a new account and opening Quark in it. This worked - I still got an error message early on but it worked anyway. However, this doesn't really help as all my stuff is on the other account...

It must be something unique to my user (main admin) account but I don't know what. I can post a bug report if anyone's any good at deciphering them?

Cheers in advance!
 
Double check your Xtensions Disabled folder to be sure none of your folders have been misplaced there. If there is anything in that folder, move it to your Xtensions folder.

That is all I can suggest.
 
bluetooth said:
Double check your Xtensions Disabled folder to be sure none of your folders have been misplaced there. If there is anything in that folder, move it to your Xtensions folder.

That is all I can suggest.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bluetooth. I have reinstalled it several times now, trying a completely clean installation, and just going over the top of the old one, and it keeps coming up with "preferences corrupted" before quitting.

Manged to get round it yesterday by trashing a cache, but this morning it was messed up again. Now after several reboots and trashing that cache and preferences it's opened again, but something's rottten in Denmark. it's very frustrating. This POS program instinctively knows when you've got a deadline. I can't wait till I never have to use it again... :mad:
 
When you've got urgent Quark problems, the first port of call should always be here. Always.

I can't think of anything else to suggest at this stage but will give it a ponder. If I was tight up against a deadline, I'd do anything to get things working, no matter how much of a hack it would be.

So in this case, if it was me and time was pressing, I'd probably copy the contents of my entire project folder into the other account's dropbox and work on it there, and then save the real troubleshooting when I've got the time because it could be a whole heap of things.

Let us know how you get on. :)
 
Blue Velvet said:
I can't think of anything else to suggest at this stage but will give it a ponder. If I was tight up against a deadline, I'd do anything to get things working, no matter how much of a hack it would be.

So in this case, if it was me and time was pressing, I'd probably copy the contents of my entire project folder into the other account's dropbox and work on it there, and then save the real troubleshooting when I've got the time because it could be a whole heap of things.

Let us know how you get on. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks BV, that's what I've had to do, although this morning it wouldn't open on either account, and I had to reinstall again. Now, it won't activate on either account (just hangs at 1 minute), so I've had to skip that and am effectively working on the demo version on the secondary account.

I have my laptop as backup but it's not ideal for layout. I really am at my wits end with it. I feel like snapping my quark discs into tiny pieces, covering them in some rotten egg fluid and sending it them via direct mail back to Quark with a note saying sort your %$^£*^% software out!!! Makes me so damn angry. :mad: :eek:
 
I had problems with Quark crashing this morning. I ultimately did a combination of Font Cache cleaning (Mac OS, Quark, Adobe & Microsoft), followed up by MacJanitor (running all the OSX maintenance scripts, daily, weekly, monthly).

Are you using a font manager? If so, try disabling auto-activation, and see if your problem still occurs.

Finally, check out this link from the Quark forums.

http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/support/techinfo/view.jsp?faq_id=304

It deals with Troubleshooting Unexpected Quits. I was surprised at some of the results when using modifier keys when opening files.
 
I could be mistaken, but I think 10.4 can only run Quark 7.0 properly. I Had 10.3 and could not run Quark 7.0 until I upgraded to 10.4. Not sure how 6 plays into all of this but from what they told me, Quark 6 is intended for OS 10.3. Ask the folks at Quark in the forums...
 
bluetooth said:
I could be mistaken, but I think 10.4 can only run Quark 7.0 properly. I Had 10.3 and could not run Quark 7.0 until I upgraded to 10.4. Not sure how 6 plays into all of this but from what they told me, Quark 6 is intended for OS 10.3. Ask the folks at Quark in the forums...
Click to expand...

I can't believe that's the case here mate. It's been running ok (intermittent problems of course...) on several machines I've used with 10.4 and I know of several more besides that. And if it's even remotely suggested in the Quark forums that it's "intended for 10.3" then my thoughts on the program and it's makers have plumbed new depths of disgust that I didn't know existed. Absolute piss take.

I love the troubleshooting instructions too: "Buy this $80 piece of software to find out problems with Quark, or alternatively try this process, [which will take you approximately 19 hours and require you to reboot your machine around 87 times].

POS.

Not my intention to shoot the messenger Bluetooth, I appreciate your help, but repeated problems with this software have really caused me problems over the last few years and this episode is the latest and one of the worst. No other program I have ever used has this sort of trouble and for a professional application it's beyond a joke.

/rant over - for now ;)
 
No worries, I have been down a similiar road. I run Quark 7.0 in 10.4 with no problems but if you search the Quark forum, you will find lots of people who's Quark 6 and earlier was broken by the newer OS.

http://www.quark.com/service/forums/index.php

All in all QXP 6.x runs on a plain vanilla in OS 10.3.x. Lots of people have experienced all the little bugs that upgrading has brought along - the inability to hide the program - the highlight of active tool boxes - the frequent freezes and crashes, etc. Quark 7 seemed to take care of these issues, since it was developed with 0S 10.4.x in mind.
 
bluetooth said:
All in all QXP 6.x runs on a plain vanilla in OS 10.3.x. Lots of people have experienced all the little bugs that upgrading has brought along - the inability to hide the program - the highlight of active tool boxes - the frequent freezes and crashes, etc. Quark 7 seemed to take care of these issues, since it was developed with 0S 10.4.x in mind.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. I've been considering an upgrade request at work, but the thought of spewing another gob of money to Quark is not something that I really want to do. Also, I wonder the inevitable issues we'd have with our press-ready PDF printing?

I guess it would be cheaper and more efficient than it going wrong all the time with Q6 or switching to ID.

Is Q7 reliable or does it display irritating faults like its predecessor? Have they sorted out the speed issues too?
 
If it is the update, there's not going to be an easy quick fix. No problems here so far, updated on my G4 and Quark is doing fine.

First I would update to Quark 7.2 Next run the 10.4.9 COMBO updater (go download it from Apple) and run it. This seems to have fixed a lot of problems for people.

The initial release of 7 seems to be about as slow as the initial release of 6.0. Updates 6.1, 6.5, and 6.52 improved that as does the later versions of 7.

I will say that Quark 7.2 is infuriatingly slow when applying style sheets in text-heavy, directory-type work. There's hesitation, trembling, and then finally the change is made! Have worked with Quark support on this problem several times, with minimal success. Used Font Finagler to cleanse font caches; do not use legacy files, but start from scratch; have only necessary fonts open; import text from MS Word rather than copy & paste. Still, the slowness is agonizing.

I was told by a Quark service rep that this will not be a problem with v. 7.2 if/when I buy a Pentium Mac! Would be curious to know the experiences of those using Quark 7.2 on the Pentium Mac.

Overall, am very happy with Quark 7.2. But the slowness glitch in formatting text is ridiculous.

I am starting to convert and begin new projects with Indesign but will still use Quark on a regular basis due to a large volume of previous files.
 
I run Quark 7.2 on a G5.

After initial major problems with text formatting slowness/crashing (as mentioned above), since 7.2 update it is now very stable and a lot faster than any other version.

Only picky issue is the slowness and rendering when using shadows and a few bugs now and again when working on old files.

Its the best upgrade I have encountered – for any software.
 
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