General Macintosh troubleshooting
Introduction
This TechNote suggests some general troubleshooting techniques for problems or unexpected behaviors with Macromedia applications running on Apple Macintosh OS X. It is broken up into three main sections:
Answers to common questions and additional information are at the end of this TechNote.
Note: This TechNote is exclusively for Macintosh OS X. For Macintosh operating systems 9.2.2 and older, please refer to Macintosh OS 9.x Troubleshooting.
Collecting Information
Troubleshooting problems with Macromedia applications is generally easier when complete information about the problem and conditions for reproducing the problem are available. Some of the information which helps narrow down the problem can be found using some of the items below:
- Does the computer meet the minimum system requirements for the Macromedia application.
- Will the older Macromedia applications run on Macintosh OS X?
- Which applications are starting up with the computer / which applications are running before the Macromedia application starts?
- Is there any way to get detailed reports about crashes?
Does the computer meet the minimum system requirements for Macromedia application?
Verify that your system meets the minimum requirements. Running below or without the advertised minimum requirements may cause the software to malfunction. System Requirements for each application are listed on the product page for that application at www.macromedia.com/software/. Please see the example system requirements for Dreamweaver below:
- Dreamweaver 8:
600 MHz PowerPC G3 and later
Macintosh OS X 10.3 and later
256 MB RAM
300 MB available disk space
You must have at least 1024 x 768, thousands of colors monitor, although millions of colors is recommended.
Note: This product must be activated over the Internet or phone prior to use. Visit the Product Activation Center to learn more about activation.
- Dreamweaver MX 2004:
500 MHz Power PC G3 processor
Macintosh OS X 10.2.6 and later, 10.3
128 MB computer RAM (256 MB recommended)
275 MB available disk space
You must have at least 800 x 600, thousands of colors monitor, although 1024 x 768, millions of colors is recommended.
Note: This product must be activated over the Internet or phone prior to use. Visit the Product Activation Center to learn more about activation.
- Dreamweaver MX:
A Power Macintosh G3 or better
Macintosh OS 9.1 and higher or Macintosh OS X 10.1 and higher
96MB RAM (128 MB recommended)
275 MB of available disk space
You must have at least 800 x 600, thousands of colors monitor, although 1024 x 768, millions of colors is recommended.
Note: Unix File System (UFS) is not a supported File system format to use Dreamweaver on Macintosh OS 10.x. Use Macintosh OS Extended (Journaled) HFS formatting in your hard disks.
Will the older Macromedia applications run on Macintosh OS X?
After extensive testing, we have determined that older Macromedia applications operate in the Macintosh OS X's classic mode without any new problems. For specific product statements seeMacromedia product support for Mac OS X (TechNote tn_15224).
Which applications are starting up with the computer?
The operating system programs that are executed when the computer starts are located in /System/Library/StartupItems. These files are essential to the operation of OS X and should not be altered. Some applications may install files in /Library/StartupItems. This folder is not part of the default installation of OS X. Certain applications installed for a single user need to write files in /Users/USERNAME/Library/StartupItems. Because of this it may be created during the installation of an application. To see if one of these programs is interfering with your Macromedia application, please move the files from /Library/StartupItems and/or /Users/USERNAME/Library/StartupItems and restart the computer.
Which applications are starting up with the computer / which applications are running before the Macromedia application starts?
As with previous Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS X allows you to force quit applications by pressing Option-Apple-Escape. In OS X, when you press that key combination a Force Quit Application window appears listing the running applications. You can Quit each program by selecting it and clicking Quit. Depending on your system configuration all of the running applications may not appear here.
Note: For advanced users, the ProcessViewer utility (found in /Applications/Utilities) provides some information about currently running applications, but the names of the applications may be missing. Additional information can be found by running the Unix command top in the terminal window which shows the name of the application. Please see Apple's article Mac OS X: How to View Memory Usage With the "top" Utility for more information. Background information about processes and daemons can be found in Apple's article Mac OS X Server: Processes and Westwind Computing's Mac OS X: What Are All Those Processes?.
Is there any way to get detailed reports about crashes?
Apple includes a utility for viewing technical messages from Macintosh OS X applications called the Console. To turn on crash logging, start the console (found in /Applications/Utilities/Console), choose Console> Preferences, choose the Crashes tab and check "Log crash information in ~Library/Logs/". The log file is /Users/USERNAME/Library/Logs/<macromedia product name>.crash.log, for example. These .log files will be comprised of text messages and can be opened and viewed in TextEdit.
Isolating the problem
After confirming that the system requirements are met, and collecting information about what applications are running at the same time as the Macromedia application, you can begin to isolate the problem:
- Can the problem be reproduced in Macintosh OS 9?
- Does the problem happen when Classic mode is not running?
- Is there a conflict with another application?
- Does the same problem happen with other user accounts on the same computer?
- Could the problem be with the preferences file?
- Is there a problem with permissions?
- Corrupt fonts - or is there a problem with Extensis Suitcase or DiamondSoft Font Reserve?
- Macromedia application help is not working.
- Where did the sites, or extensions, go when I logged in as a different user?
Can the problem be reproduced in Macintosh OS 9?
Another useful piece of information is whether a problem can be reproduced in Macintosh OS 9.x. (Note that this is not the same as running in classic mode - to run the applications in Macintosh OS 9.x, you will need to restart the computer. Apple Knowledgebase document 106667 describes switching between Macintosh OS 9.x and Macintosh OS X.)
If the problem cannot be reproduced in Macintosh OS 9.x, then further investigation should determine if the problem is with the Macromedia application installation (use a new account with admin privileges to see if the problem reproduces), other applications running (turn off other applications/Startup Items), or with Fonts (remove third party fonts).
Note: Macromedia products released since mid-2003 do not run in Classic mode or on any non-Carbonized operating system. Check your application's minimum system requirements to determine if this troubleshooting step will work for you.
Does the problem happen when Classic mode is not running?
The Classic mode is Macintosh OS 9.x running as a separate process on top of Macintosh OS X. One useful troubleshooting technique is to turn off Classic mode and try reproducing the problem. If multiple non-OS X programs are running please stop those programs and then quit the Classic mode. To turn off Classic mode, start System Preferences (Apple> System Preferences), Classic (View> Classic) and click Stop (and if that does not work then click Force Quit). If the problem happens only when Classic mode is running, then test for an extension conflict.
Is there a conflict with another application?
Close all other applications and verify that the problem still happens if your Macromedia application is the only program running. A list of currently running applications can be viewed in the Force Quit Applications window by pressing Option-Apple-Escape. If you are an advanced user the ProcessViewer utility (found in /Applications/Utilities) provides some information about currently running applications.
Does the same problem happen with other accounts on the same computer?
Each user account contains a large number of files used for configuration, preferences, fonts, and other purposes. Those files can interact to cause problems, and by logging in as a newly created user those problems can be eliminated. Before creating a new user, please copy or move the document files to a location which can be read by other users:
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Choose View> Users.
- Choose New User.
- Give the new user a name and a short name.
- On the Password tab, give the user a password.
- Select "Allow users to administer this computer". This makes the user an Admin user.
- Choose OK.
- Log out and then log in as the new user.
- Launch your Macromedia application, open the document file in the selected local folder, and try reproducing the problem.
If the problem goes away there may be some problem with the original account. Continue to use the new user account and copy any documents/folders from the other, old account.
If the problem goes away then another test would be to create a new user without admin privileges and perform the same test. If the problem goes away then one option would be to start using that user account, and copy any documents/folders as needed to the new user account.
Could the problem be with the preferences file?
The preferences file for Macromedia applications (/Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Dreamweaver 8 Prefs, for example) is generally updated more frequently than other Macromedia application files, so the chance of that file becoming corrupt is greater. To test if the problem is with the Macromedia application preference file, simply move the file to a different directory (or the desktop) while the application is not running, and then restart the application and try to reproduce the problem. The Macromedia application will create a new preferences file if the file is missing.
Is there a problem with permissions?
If the problem cannot be reproduced when using the Macromedia application with a new user account with admin privileges the problem might well be with individual file or folder permissions. Apple computer has a utility for download which can reset the permissions for files and directories used by Macintosh OS X 10.1.5.
Corrupt fonts - or is there a problem with DiamondSoft Font Reserve or Extensis Suitcase?
Research has shown that corrupt fonts are frequently the source of crashes/problems on the Macintosh. Brief testing of Extensis Suitcase v10.1.2 and DiamondSoft Font Reserve has shown no problem with Macromedia applications on Macintosh OS X. If your Macromedia application exhibits any unusual behavior while either of these applications are running then the problem is likely caused by a corrupt font. In either application close all open fonts and restart your Macromedia program - if the problem does not continue then the problem is almost certainly a corrupt font. Please refer to the documentation for these products for troubleshooting techniques for problem fonts. The general idea is to identify which font is corrupt and replace the font with a working copy or simply not use that font. For Macintosh OS 9 font troubleshooting see How to detect a corrupt font on the Macintosh (TechNote tn_15830).
Macromedia application help is not working.
First, does help work outside of Macromedia application? In the finder, select "Mac Help?" from the Help menu. If Help is working outside of the application then check if the aliases pointing to the Macromedia application Help files are located in /Library/Documentation/Help - if the files are missing reinstall the application.
Where did the sites, or extensions, go when I logged in as a different user?
Macromedia applications were designed to allow different users to set different preferences, define different sites, install different extensions, and otherwise customize your application. As a result different users may have different sites defined, and different extensions installed. The site definitions are stored in the preferences, for example: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Dreamweaver 8 Prefs. Please log in as different users to locate the sites that may be missing.
Searching for a workaround
Some problems with Macromedia applications can be fixed once the problem has been defined. Other problems may require reinstalling, or disabling a corrupt font.
- How do I uninstall the Macromedia application?
- How do I reinstall the Macromedia application?
- How to disable a font which is causing problems?
How do I uninstall my Macromedia application?
Please refer to Uninstalling Studio 8 applications on Macintosh OS X (TechNote 8f101099) for instructions on Studio 8 product uninstallation.
How do I reinstall my Macromedia application?
To install/reinstall Macromedia applications on Macintosh OS X, please create a new user with Admin privileges. Then install the Macromedia application in the default location. After installation, please copy the preferences file DRIVE:Users:USERNAME:Library:Preferences:Dreamweaver 8 Prefs (for example... file names will vary by application) to a temporary location before logging in as a different user.
How to disable a font which is causing problems
To Add or Remove Classic Fonts (from the Font folder in "System Folder", see Apple's Knowledge Base document 106417
Additional information
For application specific troubleshooting for Macintosh see thesupport page for the specific application.
Third-party resources:
- Macintosh Knowledgebase
www.apple.com/support/ - Troubleshooting Solutions for the Macintosh
www.macfixit.com - The Ultimate Macintosh Page
www.ultimatemac.com/
Third party links
Although links to external web sites are provided as a resource, the web sites are not part of Macromedia. Please see the Macromedia policy regarding links to third party web sites in the Legal Notices and Information section. Pages to external web sites will open in a new browser window.
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