computer question-- Acrobat Pro 7.0 under WinXP....

[mike_c]

This is driving me absolutely nuts. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro 7.0 installed on my windows computer (XP SP2). Actually, I had v6.0 first, and the problem developed then.

When I click on the icon, or a PDF file IN MY USER ACCOUNT the program starts, but nothing displays. Nothing in the taskbar. No evidence at all that it is running, except in the Task Manager, where I can see that Acrobat.exe is grabbing 49 percent of the CPU time (i.e. one whole "half" of the hyper-threaded P4). Acrotray.exe is usually running too. Both have to be killed manually to recover those cycles, othewise Acrobat.exe just eats up 49 percent of CPU capacity indefinitely. Same thing happens when I try to print to a PDF file, only the print process locks as well. As I said, this started with v6.0, which had previously worked flawlessly. I don't really know when it started, because I didn't use Acrobat that often. The free reader does the same thing, in all versions that I've tested (5-7).

Here's something really weird. It only does this in my account. If I log in on another account that I created for system testing, it runs fine. I didn't know this until recently, but it appears to be a configuration issue (?), but I haven't a clue what might be causing it.

I initially upgraded to Acrobat v7.0 thinking that might solve the problem, but no dice. I haven't found anything useful on the tech support pages either.

Anyone solved a similar problem before?

[matcom]

1. same thing at my office

don't know how to solve it EXCEPT that i have no problems if i right-click, save the pdf and THEN open it :shrug:

[mike_c]

3. I can't even do that....

In my user account Acrobat simply locks up while starting, no matter what.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. Let me research this for you.

[mike_c]

4. I'll appreciate any advice you can offer....

I've been beating my head against the wall for months on this one.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

5. First go to the Adobe weebsite .......

www.Adobe.com and make sure you have *all* updates including Macromedia. Then I'll get back to you.

[mike_c]

8. I have upgraded to Adobe Acrobat Pro 7.0.2...

...which is the latest update on the Adobe site. The upgrade manager handles this automatically, and I've confirmed that that's the version installed.

Since it works in the admin account, is there a config file there that I can simply copy to my user account?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

9. Yes. Hold on. Because all you have to do is drag it over to your

user account. Take a look inside the Program Files\Adobe see if there's anything in there. I'll take a look.

[mike_c]

10. I'm looking in...

...C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\7.0

[Crazy Guggenheim]

12. Keep clicking on the files until you get to a *setup* icon.

Then click on it.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

11. Ok. *First make sure your Adobe data is backed up*. Then

click on {Your Hard Drive} - Program Files - Adobe - The version

Click on Setup Files - {Keep clicking on the folders until you get to a setup file} - click on the setup file and reinstall.

[mike_c]

14. hmmm-- there are four *READER* subdirs with setup files....

...but none in AcroPro. Here is the file structure:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\AcroPro\ENU
contains AcroPro.msi (Windows package installer), and data1.cab, nothing else

and four Acrobat Reader subdirs:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig\ENU_
contains several files, including setup.exe and it's config file setup.ini

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig\ENU__
ditto

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig\ENU___
same

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig\ENU____
same

Do you think the problem might be in the reader config?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

15. Click on the setup.exe.

"Do you think the problem might be in the reader config?"

Maybe. Take a look at them.

[mike_c]

18. no dice....

I tried both the repair and remove (then reinstall) options. This was for Adobe Reader, not Acrobat Pro, but did not solve the problem in any event. There is no such setup file in the Acrobat Pro setup dir. Still works fine in the admin account.

I also tried backing up the files in my C:\Documents and Settings\Michael Camann\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat directory and then copying the corresponding files from C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat into there, but that did not work either.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

19. I'm going to PM you.

[Elidor]

6. You're not going to like this

I had this recently. Do you have Creative Suite, or just Acrobat? Because some of your Adobe preferences have become corrupted. You need to trash them. I forget the extensions and what all and I'm not at my work computer right now. I had an Adobe tech support person walk me through it and it involved trashing preferences for all Adobe programs.

Meaning, of course, that everything will be reset to the defaults. I have some notes on this at work, I'll see if I can find time to post more tomorrow if you don't solve the problem.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

7. I was thinking it was along those lines; corrupt documents.

[Deja Q]

13. Well, there's something nasty running in your user account.

Delete and re-create your account if running anti-spyware and anti-virus utilities fail. Doesn't Adobe hire staff with functioning brain cells?

(also, we all thought the Dems would win in 2000 and 2004... your sig line is a bit too optimistic...)

[mike_c]

16. not spyware or anything like that....

My computer is clean. Deleting my account is not really a good option-- LOTS of data stored in there. I guess I could go that route if absolutely necessary, but I was hoping to not have to take the amount of time it would take to start over again. God I hate Windows....

[Deja Q]

21. ???!!! (I hate windows too, the damn registry for one thing...)

Why not back up your data beforehand? If your hard drive crashed you'd lose it all anyway.

Also consider how much time it takes to fiddle-piddle around with tinkering over a proper account refresh, also noting that when you tinker with one thing you might inadvertantly knock something else out of alignment?

And thans to XP, be wary of doing a full OS-reinstall. Those fuckers at microsoft also, from what I've read, only allow you a new activation code so many times before they say you've done it too many times. (switch to linux, I keep telling people but too many prefer the status quo... While some apps can't yet be duplicated perfectly in Linux, I've replaced 80% of my needs to date and closing in on the final 20. I've a decent Win emulator too...)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

22. He can also Slipstream his updates on to one cd. BTW, I think

that's a myth about using the Activation code so many times. Besides all's you have to do is call Microsleeze on their 1-800 number to get a new one.

[mike_c]

23. yeah, I was a linux user almost exclusively for several years...

...but lately I'm not doing much software development-- which I would ONLY do on a *nix variant-- and over the last couple of years I've gotten more and more deeply invested in windows apps for compatibility reasons. It sucks because I could probably get pretty close to 100 percent crossover for my own use, especially using Crossover Office or Win4Lin.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

17. Uninstall then Reinstall Adobe.

[mike_c]

20. ok-- I've tried that before, but I'll try again....

It'll take a few minutes. I'll get back to you. I'm going to take all Adobe programs off (except PS).