Corel Draw 12 Problems

[l_elliott1]

Does anyone have a direct contact email for Corel Draw Programs. I am suffering some major problems with the program locking up and closing for no reason. If you don't use it - i suggest finding something else to use. If you do and have suggestions I'm open. Thanks!!

[Techman]

SEt your UNDO levels down to about 25 or so.
VER 12 is a very stable version and I personally only heard about one other person having any problems with it.. And then it was a settign they needed to change..

Do you get an error code when it crashes? please describe what happens and what you are doing when it crashes.

[Rhinoz]

I agree with "Techman".

I'd also check 2 other things, Video card & Ram. These are constant areas for program crashes when it comes to manipulating images. If you are using another graphics program like photoshop and it doesn't crash, try installing Corel draw again, you may have a corrupt DLL file that could be causing the problem.

Also let us know what Operating Sstem you are using, that also helps in deducing what other problems could be causing your program crashes.

[l_elliott1]

Thanks for the tips. I will check the undo settings. We are running a brand new HP media center with 1gb Ram and windows XP. I doubt these are the problems. One of our sign vendors said his corel was notorious to do this. the program doesn't specifically lock up it just seems to disappear into thin air right in the middle of working on files. Ocassionally it will lock up and i will get the Corel A.R.M. but most of the time i'm just working as per usual and it just goes away and i have to relaunch and start over. I'm pretty computer savy but i've never had this happen before with a program. I'd appreciate any other tips. Thanks guys!!!

[learned the hard way]

To all those having trouble with Corel 12 crashing...you might try going to tools/options/workspace/general...change the number of undo levels to about 15 or 20 regular and 2 or 3 bitmap. Also under workspace/save... turn off the autobackup. And finally under workspace/memory... change memory usage maximum to something about 75%. These changes might help with your crashing problems.

Some suggestions I made a few weeks ago in another thread.

[2NinerNiner2]

Prior to yesterday, I would have wondered what 'l_elliott' was talking about with CDR 12 vanishing into thin air, but I was able to consistently duplicate this phenomenon, which I discovered purley by accident. Any one else with CDR 12 give this a try and see if it does the same thing:
Draw a rectangle, then using the selection tool, drag one of the corners to produce a rounded rectangle, convert to curves. While still selected, use the selection tool to click on one of the nodes of the rounded rectangle .... POOF! ...into thin air! Every time. This is the only "issue" I have ever had with any version of CDR since version 1 ...well, at least that I didn't cause myself! :)

[signage]

I just did what you said three times with no problem issue.

[cdsgraphic]

Sorry niner... Just did what your having problems with, works just fine. Actually, I bet I do that sequence of actions quite often.

More often than not, a lot of software problems are not always because of "bad" programming, but what I call a "dirty" system.

If your the type of user that likes to install all kinds of programs, uninstall them, reinstall others, play those stupid online game rooms that are filled with spyware and adware, installing chatware (the worst is aol), file sharing apps like kazaa etc., the kids surfing gods knows what sites and all their crap, and the list goes on and on...

and then still expect your computer to run flawlessly when you actually need to do some work, ha!

ALWAYS have a seperate workstation that is for doing work ONLY. I don't even get on the internet or install any applications on my workstations that are not directly related to my design and sign making.

All other programs and activities including client files, booking keeping, office suites, email, internet, etc., etc. all reside on other computers and my server. If something really starts going screwy on one of those machines, no big deal, any important info is always backed up to the server and I just format the HD and reinstall the OS.

I now I'm kind of ranting here, but I have have been using corel just as long as some and longer than others (at least since version 3) and I can say without a doubt that ver 12 is by far the most stable I have ever seen to date. I have ver 13 on the way and am told by many that is just as good if not better.

My primary workstation has been running, non-stop, since monday morning. and coreldraw has been running just as long and this weeks workload for corel has been pretty intense. No runs, drips or errors.

OK, I think I'm done now... The moral of the story is, if you don't have a dedicated workstation, get one, you'll probably find it will solve the majority of problems.

[2NinerNiner2]

my bad :)...see, that's what happens when you make a post from your Mac while trying to describe something on the PC from memory :) It wasn't 'Convert To Curves' it was 'Convert Outline To Object'. Still doing it, but it's no big deal as I don't do this very often and I can have it work properly by merely unselecting it first, then go back and do it and it works fine.

As I have mentioned in other posts here, I have been using CDR since Version 1 and it has been my workhorse, never an issue that I didn't have a hand in creating :) My X3 is on the way as well :)

In regards to system "cleanliness", I am a fanatic in that regard. Having done tech support for HP-Compaq I am quite aware of all the gremilns that can glog up one's system; that's why all my "other online activities" are done on the Mac :) Besides, I'm the only 'kid' that uses my systems :)

But I would still like to know what operations the original poster was doing when theirs locked up / crashed / 'vanished'. Aside from the above little glitch, my CDR 12 has performed flawlessly.

[cdsgraphic]

Nope... Just did that as well niner. Seemed to work just fine. Have no ideas what to tell you to try and fix that... ?

[l_elliott1]

cdsgraphic, i would assume you would need to find out about users specific problems before claiming to be the ultimate computer guru. I've been doing graphic design for about 8 years now and am pretty good at making sure that my work area is efficient and works well. Just because you haven't experienced the problem does not mean it is not a valid issue affecting others i know within the sign industry who take the same care with their machines. I appreciate the suggestions from all and am gonna work on my setting also (which could be a problem). Yet i can assure that we run a very stable operation on some very stable machines - and i am not worried this is the problem. Again, thanks to all with valid suggestions!!

[l_elliott1]

OK, when i went to change my setting everything is exactly as specified by "learned the hard way". All setting were already at suggested levels and have not been modified since installation. Any other ideas??
Thanks

[cdsgraphic]

...before claiming to be the ultimate computer guru.

haha... don't get your panties in a bunch!

I am very good with computers and yes I did spend a few years as a PC technician for a large local corporation at one time, but never claimed to be "the ultimate computer guru".

My statements were more of an overall observation of average users.

I just think it's funny when a person (not you directly) has a problem with some software (in this case coreldraw) and automatically assumes that the program is no good, when in reality, they are probably the minority with the problem. There are probably thousands of corel users on this board alone and yet, folks with major problems are few.

If you keep a "clean" workstation... that's good, you may have just ruled out one possible problem.

Now, narrow it down even further... Do you have any strange problems with other software on the same machine? Are all current OS patches up to date? Are you running any odd virus scanners, firewalls, spyware detectors, etc.? When did the problem start happening and what software was installed before the problem started? Did you try corel's knowledge base or any corel forums about your problem?

I know I'm not answering any of your questions, but there's not always a cookie cutter answer...

[l_elliott1]

alright, so the setting are correct as far as undo levels and bitmaps and backups. I have uninstalled - reinstalled and updated the entire program. then guess what, within the first 2 minutes same results. file just disappeared into thin air. i'm running illustrator, pagemaker, photoshop cs2 and other programs with no problem. ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS?????????? I'm desperate!!!

[Shovelhead]

COREL patches and updates??!!

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3%2FDownloads%2FSupportDow nloads&pname=CorelDRAW+Graphics+Suite+12

[SoCalN8V]

Draw a rectangle, then using the selection tool, drag one of the corners to produce a rounded rectangle, convert to curves. While still selected, use the selection tool to click on one of the nodes of the rounded rectangle .... POOF! ...into thin air! Every time. This is the only "issue" I have ever had with any version of CDR since version 1 ...well, at least that I didn't cause myself! :)

my bad :)...see, that's what happens when you make a post from your Mac while trying to describe something on the PC from memory :) It wasn't 'Convert To Curves' it was 'Convert Outline To Object'. Still doing it, but it's no big deal as I don't do this very often and I can have it work properly by merely unselecting it first, then go back and do it and it works fine.


Hey, you're not crazy. I just followed your steps above using X3 and it just did the same thing - POOF! As you said, we can work around it by deselecting it first but there's gotta be some glitch in the software somewhere. I also checked my settings and they are all okay. I can also recreate the results over and over again.

[Techman]

Yes it just did it Corel X3 for me.

Drew a rectangle.
use the "Shape Tool" to round the corners. (Arrow with a line button below the pick tool)
Convert Outline to Object.
touch a node with the "Shape Tool" as though you wanted to change the roundness
And POOF instant MAgic. Its gone...

[Bobby H]

VER 12 is a very stable version and I personally only heard about one other person having any problems with it.. And then it was a settign they needed to change..

I wouldn't happen to be that person, would I? If so, the "solution" of changing various settings (such as undo levels) did nothing to help. Just through simple nudging I have been able to get that awful Corel A.R.M. box pop up on several different machines.

Basically, I disagree with the repeated claims of others that CorelDRAW 12 is a totally stable, bug free program. The fact I can get those bugs to repeat themselves on other machines with very different configurations is pretty telling there is a problem with the program itself and not really the fault of the user or the user's machine.

Maintenance patches on CorelDRAW 12 didn't help either. The only thing that did was upgrading to CorelDRAW X3. It has its own set of glitches (such as taking a noticeably longer amount of time to import .CDT templates). I'll have to try out the shape tool crash test.

[Shovelhead]

I can't get your result with the rectangle test.

[2NinerNiner2]

Shovel - you mustn't be wearing orange socks and green underwear! :) LOL! ...I just got my newly purchased & installed X3 to do the same thing! :) As mentioned, not a big deal as one can bypass this by merely deselecting first. Just a thought though: how many here that can replicate this are running AMD 64s ? That's what I have in my box. Notice you have a P4. But I still am glad I have X3 though ... the auto trace alone is worth the upgrade to me ...just finished a project for a client that would have take a lot longer to clean up with the previous version.

[signage]

I can not get my version 12 to it! Works fine for me.

[Shovelhead]

font drop-down hangs up..........
I don't use it much but.....how about the improved drop shadow??
can manipulate it....nice............

[Techman]

This happens on all my machines.

However, It is such a rare useage of toosl that I will not likely have a problem.
Overall. the tracer in X3 is great, that along with a few other nice parts make it well worth the upgrade.

In fact. I deleted Corel 12 ... and soon plan to delete corel 9..

[player]

I would check for spyware...

Probably not the cause but I have had goofy things happen on my pc and find out I had a bunch of trackers running...

[signage]

I have had strange things happen with HP computers. One of them was with their own brand of camera wouldn't work on the system but worked on every other computer the system was replaced and still never worked!

[Bobby H]

There's one thing about CorelDRAW X3 I really like which threw me quite a bit at first: the different way how control points are indicated on objects when you have the shape tool active. Nodes that are close together have "callouts" pointing to them rather than stacking numerous points on top of each other. I didn't know what to think of it at first, but in using this new approach it does make things a bit easier for cleaning up stray points from artwork.

I tried the rounded rectangle thing for trying to crash CorelX3 and it didn't happen on my notebook. However, I believe it may be a legit bug since it is happening on other unrelated, differently configured machines (as indicated in previous posts).

[Pro Signs & Graphix]

Since being a Corel user from early on - I can honestly say that it DOES have glitches here and there. The best solution we have ever found is to load/install Corel BEFORE everything else. We do this anytime a software package acts up. Eventually you end up with a specific order of installation.

Unforunately, although often denied, the more software on a machine, the greater the possibility of crashes. The blame, IMO, is 50/50 - between the manufacturers and Microsoft - AND is one of the strongest traits of Macs, as claimed by their owners.