Quark Forums

I have used QuarkXpress from the first day and have supported it through thick and thin, so I have fought most of the battles required to keep it running. I have seen the company treat customers with disdain and still supported it as the best tool for professional publishing.

I'm getting tired - I have gotten fairly proficient with InDesign and don't like it but I'm so tired of having issues with a program that is much more mature than the competition but can't seem to get it together.

My current problem has been discussed here but I haven't found a solution that will work for me. Maybe I missed something.

I purchased a new imac 27" i5 quad core today and ran Apple's Migration Assistant. The machine runs fine and EVERY application that I moved from my G4 (10.4.11) launched and runs fine (emphasis on Adobe's CS3) except QuarkXpress.

THE PROBLEM Quark (8.1) crashes on launch - I upgraded to 8.12 and deleted preference files again and again. It still crashes on launch. I reinstalled 8.02 - it crashes. Upgraded it to 8.12 again - it crashes too. I don't see how the test drive will work as the crash occurs within second of launch.

So what the deal - Adobe's generation-old Suite of applications can deal with Apple's progress but I'm waisting my time getting this one program to launch. The lord only knows what will be involved with switching the activation once I get this worked out.

THE QUESTION: Is there anything new on this front - PLESE don't suggest to reinstall the system software on a brand new computer - I'm too tired.

It's not QuarkXPress. It's Snow Leopard. The issue has been most prevalent on MBPs, but apparently it is not limited to them. This is a known issue and Quark is working on it.

See here.

The exact cause at the moment is not known. However, the problem is with activation. Right now any new install on a Mac running Snow Leopard and then activated fails. The workaround is to NOT activate. Given that you have simply migrated this may be a problem as your copy has been activated for some time.

The first user reporting this had purchased a new MBP. For whatever reason his issue with the activation was from bad RAM. This user had also migrated his data and his problems were not limited to version 8.x only. He also had crash issues with v7.x Sending the MBP back to Apple and getting one with good RAM fixed this for him. Others have not met with the success he did. There is a three page thread on this in the General forum and a second thread there on this and two threads here in the Installation forums.

The best piece of advice I can give is to follow the instructions in the post linked to above. Sorry I can't report a fix or any better news, but hopefully Quark will have this fixed soon. Good luck. 

I followed the link suggested and submitted the information requested at that link to a Quark rep and have received no feedback or even an acknowledgment of receipt.

I wonder how widespread this issue is? If it is related to both the Quad core iMacs and Snow Leopard it seem that it will continue to spread as these machines are delivered.

It's not much, but here is a comment by one of the engineers last night...

The problem is a mathematic issue in the activation code, triggered by unexpected values in a device signature on some machines. A fix, I believe, is in the works.

Hopefully they will get this out soon. 

Just to say I also have this problem but with v7.1. Running on a MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) bought only 2 weeks ago. Everything else works fine apart from Quark which I tried to install yesterday. Installation runs fine but Quark won't open. Deleting all Quark preferences files / folders then allows Quark to open but it won't activate as it says the activation code is corrupt and I cannot save any work files or output. I'm due back at work on 4th Jan so really hope Quark can find a fix quickly. If it doesn't I will have to start using InDesign. There's some software out there that will convert Quark 7 and 8 files into InDesign CS4 format so I may purchase that instead of upgrading Quark now.

The OP of the base thread that started this also had issues with QXP 7.x. All I can say right now is DON'T activate. Both 7.x and 8.x are fully functional for 30 days and Quark can give you a new validation code to extend this if you get close to your expiration time. So, even though it won't be activated you can still work for at least 30 days. They should have a fix soon. 

The same problem on a late Dec. 2009, Mac Pro Quad 3.32, both 7 and 8. Will try the re-instal using the 30 day demo route, good idea. thanks

 I am having the same issue on a new corei7 mac that we have just taken delivery on. Has anyone any ideas when this will be sort out?

GOT THIS MESSAGE TODAY VIA EMAIL:

Thank you for all the information.

With all your help, we have been able to find the root cause of the crash. We are working on a fix now and it should be available soon.

Please be patient and we assure you that we are as eager as you to get this resolved.

I hope that you are able to use QuarkXPress, within the 30 say trial period, without an issue. In case the trial period has expired, please reply to this mail and we will help you get a working copy.

Thank you for your patience, once again.

Regards, 
Sarbjit Singh Engineer II - Quality Assurance

Hi, hankgood,

yes, please also see here: http://forums.quark.com/t/22450.aspx

We found the culprit and are testing the fix currently.

Regards
Matthias

When can we expect the fix to become available  - is there a time estimate?
Currently we are out of business since our previous hardware is dead and QXP
fails on the newly installed :-( 
By the way: "Don't activate" does not "solve" our problem, since QXP then
crashes at random - perhaps due to frequent activation checks...

Regards

    Frank

Hi Frank,

As requested on the other thread, please mail specific steps after which you experience the crash. They are not related to the activation issue.

You may post the crash log on this thread and I will help you further based on the information we get.

Hi, all,

I am locking this thread as there seem to be two threads happening in parallel where some people post on both and others only on one.

You can continue this thread here: http://forums.quark.com/t/22416.aspx?PageIndex=2#91154

Thanks
Matthias