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My Illy is acting screwy

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
My Illy CS3 is acting weird. The biggest problem right now is that I can't save in .ai format. It will save in .eps, tho. But other weird stuff is happening and I'm afraid it might get serious.

Today, I was working on a simple layout. I was trying to open a clipart from our CD collection that we've had for-EVER. All of a sudden, it said it couldn't open the clipart because it was an unknown format. I had just opened one! It was just a simple vector in .wmf format. Then I tried placing it in my file and the same thing happened. So I shut down Illy and reopened. When I reopened, that square that pops up at the beginning about if you want to open a recent document, or start a new document came up and I have it set NOT to come up. So I hit new, blank document. Then I noticed that all my palettes on the right were in different places, like a default setting. I'm also noticing that when I export files as .jpgs to send out as proofs, they're alot smaller than normal and the quality it low. My export settings are the same as always.

I googled the problem and found similar issues but none exactly like mine. So no luck there.

I've rebooted the computer, checked for updates (MS and Illy) and scanned for viruses. Anyone ever heard of something like this?

I think my next step is to uninstall and reinstall Illy. I was hoping not to have to do that, tho.
 

Bill Modzel

New Member
There should be application created preference files somewhere that you can trash and Illy will recreate fresh ones upon restart. I am a Mac guy and am totally clueless as to where they are kept on a windows machine so someone else will have to offer a hand there.
 

TripleRock

New Member
One thing I've done before is uninstall JUST illustrator and then reinstall it. I've done this before on macs and windows machines. when you insert your install disk select "custom install" and only check illustrator.
 

The Vector Doctor

Chief Bezier Manipulator
the part I don't like about trashing the preferences is that you have to reset all the toolbars and other preferences. It takes me so long to get AI the way I want it, that I would rather not start from scratch

I prefer to find a backup preference file from the same day or before and replace it. This has always worked for me and I don't spend the time redoing everything
 

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
I was going to delete the preferences folder this morning but I can't find it! I read the links that jc1cell posted but the folder isn't where it should be. I did a search on my computer and no luck. I did a google search in case I might run across a different place to look. Nothing. I looked in every possible folder that it might be in and I still can't find it.

I also tried the alt+ctrl+shift as illy was starting and although it started quicker than usual, the preferences were still set my way. I tried saving something in .ai and I still get an error message.

Any ideas on what to do or where else to look for the preferences folder? I have Illy CS3 and running Windows XP. I can probably post a screen shot of my folders tree from Windows Explorer, if that would help.
 

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
We did a system restore back to last Friday but that didn't fix the problem either.

Luckily, I can save things in a .eps format, which is the format I need to print files. But something is obviously screwed up and I need to get it fixed. Thanks!
 

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
Yeah, I was hoping to avoid doing that but it's looking like I don't have much of a choice. How does that work, with uninstalling and reinstalling, as far as the # of licenses? Do I need to contact Abobe? I'd hate to uninstall then it tell me I can't install it back!
 

showcase 66

New Member
Yeah, I was hoping to avoid doing that but it's looking like I don't have much of a choice. How does that work, with uninstalling and reinstalling, as far as the # of licenses? Do I need to contact Abobe? I'd hate to uninstall then it tell me I can't install it back!

Never thought about that. I just uninstalled and reinstalled it. Worked for me. I guess you can always call them and just make sure.
 

The Vector Doctor

Chief Bezier Manipulator
should be fine as long as you are loading on the same computer. My guess is a drastic change like a new motherboard would affect this. I think it looks at the computer's unique ID
 

omgsideburns

New Member
Go to HELP > DEACTIVATE to release the license, then uninstall, reinstall, reactivate..

You may not have to do that to install on the same windows install, but always make sure to do that before you format a computer..
 

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
Thanks, guys! Nothing to report yet. I've been too busy to do the reinstall but I hope to tomorrow. I'll let ya know if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, I don't know WHAT to do!
 
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