October 17, 2006 9:11 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Special Report: Adobe Illustrator: Problems with pathfinder function, other issues

by CNET staff

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Individual applications adversely affected by incremental Mac OS X updates can present some of the most challenging troubleshooting conundrums. Updates from developers are often required, taking the problem solving process out of users' hands. Fortunately, there are often temporary workarounds, or kludgy hacks that can make the situation bearable until patches are released.

One of the most popular applications significantly hampered by the update to Mac OS X 10.4.8 is Adobe Illustrator.

The primary glitch apparent after updating to Mac OS X 10.4.8 with regard to Illustrator is an inability to properly use the application's "pathfinder" tool, which is used for manipulating compound shapes. The problem seems to occur only on Intel-based Macs.

Most users affected by this issue report that the crash occurs when attempting to use the pathfinder tool to modify shapes created by the pen tool, circle tool, and others.

Some users are able to work around this problem by creating a new user account as described in our tutorial "Common workaround -- create a new user account". In other cases, where access to pathfinder functionality is critical, users have resorted to a downgrade to Mac OS X 10.4.7.

Another significant issue is an inability to launch Illustrator

Performing a basic cache cleaning -- with a tool like Tiger Cache Cleaner -- can resolve issues with the application launching.

Reader reports

MacFixIt reader Nicolas Solberg writes:

"I have found reliable solution to fixing Illustrator's repeating launch problems on my Core Duo 2 Intel iMac. I run the latest version of Tiger Cache Cleaner and in the Cache tab I select 'light cleaning' with Local and System cache options checked. After a restart, Illustrator always launches. Seems to me there's obviously some cached file that's probably getting corrupted over time when using Mac OS X 10.4.8 and Illustrator CS2, so hopefully Apple or Adobe find a quick patch. For now Tiger Cache Cleaner allows me to use Illustrator, though I still can't use the Pathfinder tools under Mac OS X 10.4.8."

MacFixIt reader Oscar Cortez writes:

"I have been experiencing the following on my MacBook (1.83 Ghz Intel): Random application crashing; Application crashing while attempting to use any 'Pathfinder' tools, especially when related to 'Outlined Text.'; "Unknown Error [EXR]" dialog window when attempting a number of different things, including editing paths inside of Live Paint Objects. A second machine I have (800 mhz G4 iBook) has been experiencing Illustrator startup issues as well."

MacFixIt reader Alex writes:

"I just experienced a sudden application shutdown while using Illustrator CS2 on my new 2.16 Ghz Macbook Pro. I was trying to access a Pathfinder function."

Nic Solberg adds:

"I'm one the unlucky folks who thought Mac OS X 10.4.8 was a safe upgrade (seemed so with just about everything) but then I tried using some of the common to Illustrator CS2. I'm unable to use the pathfinder tools at all (crashes every time), along with various random crashes. I've also had both Illustrator and Photoshop CS2 fail to launch numerous times and I've had to used Tiger Cache Cleaner to purge cache, then dump preferences for each file and relaunch. Very annoying."

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