CorelDRAW 9 Problem on new PC

I've been rummaging through the knowledge base at the Corel website and not been making much progress, so I figured I would also ask here.

I just set up a new Dell Dimension 9100 PC running WindowsXP Pro SP2. CorelDRAW 9 has problems running under the thing. On occaision when I hit the File>Open dialog box the program will hang. I've tried to apply the two service packs for CDR9, but they refuse to install. I tried a suggested fix for setting the clock back to 1998 and that didn't help either. So the installation is stuck at build 9.337. Anyone else running WinXP ProSP2 had any luck getting around that problem?

The new machine I'm using has a PentiumD 840 CPU, with dual 3.2GHz cores, 2GB of system memory, a 256MB GeForce6800 video card, SB Audigy2 ZS sound card, dual layer DVD burner, DVD-ROM, etc. The machine is set up to run two 19" monitors (my old vanilla colored Dell P990 monitor and a new black Dell M990 unit). Both monitors are set at 1600 X 1200 resolution.

I can hold the F8 key when launching CorelDRAW to force it to reset the workspace, and that will get the File>Open dialog to work again. Unfortunately that's kind of a pain because I hate the default workspace, and I want to spread the workspace across both monitors. I imagine the expanded workspace is one source of the instability problems.

Another curiosity is when Task Manager comes up during a Corel9 crash it is showing two processes for CDR9. I don't understand that. Is Windows trying to spread this app across both CPU cores? Corel is not a multi-threaded application and should only use one core.

FWIW, I'm caving in and getting the CorelDRAW 12 upgrade to try to get things running more properly. But I would still like to know why Corel 9 is doing this frustrating stuff.

 

Trouble is most new machines come with SP2 pre-loaded. I don't think SP2 is really the problem with this CDR9 installation. It just doesn't seem to like multiple monitors very well at all. The trick of holding F8 when launching Corel (to restore the default workspace) seemed to do the trick on solving the system hang issues. I just need to confine it to run on my primary monitor (like it's doing right now).

As for DRAW 12, I have the upgrade box on my desk. I'll install it once I get past a couple projects I'm finishing. Hopefully I will be able to keep my DRAW 9 installation (for transitional purposes).

 

Normally, CorelDRAW 9 works great much of the time. However, there are some bugs -particularly with the standard off-the-CD 9.337 build.

One of the most noticeable bugs involves the snap to objects function. When that is enabled and you try to move text the system nearly hangs. The SP1 and SP1 patches for Corel9 fix that.

Another bug involves the use of certain Type 1 fonts. Depending on how you're moving the cursor around within artistic or paragraph text, Corel9 could crash out of nowhere. It likes to do that when auto-backing up an open file. The system will hang for a second and then you're hit with a crash dialog box. The failed auto-backup attempt actually erases everything in the document. This kind of issue is somewhat rare. But I seem to see it happen more often when I use Adobe's ITC Officina Sans and Officina Serif families.

Even with the SP1 and SP2 patches installed I have seen errors from time to time. I recall the application just quitting completely on my old computer. No warning. No crash dialog box. The application is there and then next second I'm looking at the desktop.

Now that I have CorelDRAW 12, I'll see how that one goes. Given the app requires either Win2000 or XP it may be coded more stable than previous Win3.1/95/98/Me compatible builds.