CorelDRAW 9 Problem on new PC

[Bobby H]

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.

 

[Si Allen]

I may be wrong...but...it seems that WinXP with SP2 doesn't like many older programs!

Most 'puter gurus say DON'T install the SP2, instead install a good firewall and antivirus!

If you are very familiar with Corel9, go to Ebay and buy an Academic Version of Corel12! (does not come with all the books...otherwise, it is the same as the standard version) That should end your problems.

 

[Shovelhead]

COREL 9 is half your problem........

very unstable version....

 

[jayhawksigns]

I can't even get Corel 9 to open up on my design station I built last year, luckily Corel isn't what we use to do design work isn't it.

We got an offer to upgrade Corel for $149 earlier this week, probably be looking into that ourselves.

 

[Bobby H]

Most 'puter gurus say DON'T install the SP2, instead install a good firewall and antivirus!

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).

 

[OldPaint]

corel 9 was produced PRE-XP & PRE SP2!!!! lot of code changes from 9 to 10. i have corel 10 WITH BOTH UPDATES INSTALLED on a laptop with XP SP2 and a desktop WITH XP SP1 and it works flawlessly.
others said corel 9 was not one of their best workin versions..and there in is the other problem with 9....wasnt good to start with....7 was last TRUE COREL ONLY program. 8 they added a lot of code from XARA. 8 was a more stable version then 9, but not as stable as 7. 10 fixed most of the problems in 9 and the 2 updates SP1 & SP2(COREL UPGRADES)made 10 just as good as 7....11 and 12 i cant coment cause i dont have either.

 

[Techman]

The workaround to installing the SP's for corel 9 is not setting the date back. it is setting the time zone to

GMT+8 (Perth) , click on SP1 and it will install. Then install SP2.

very unstable version..

I wonder where that came from.. Actually, Corel 9 is a stable version. But, When one did have a problem,,, Corel crashes came from having the undo levels remain at 99 levels and having limited memory. The fix for this was resetting undo levels to around 25 if the user insisted on using small amounts of memory (RAM).

I run corel 9 on my XP machines all the time.. They run great. I like version 9.. It never crashes.. I like version 12 too. It never crashes either.

By the way,, this corel ver 9 SP1 fail to install problem is NOT a Corel issue but a Microsoft issue. Starting with W2K and above M$ changed the way date/time stamps are interpreted by the Windows. Since corel v9 came out long before Win 2k or XP there was no way to anticipate that M$ would change this function. Corel interpreted date/timestamp checksum based on the standards of win98 to determine whether if your files matched the requirements when trying to install SP1 over SP2.

Techman

 

[Bobby H]

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.