Resolving crashes and sluggish behavior with Adobe GoLive 4.x and GoLive Cyberstudio 3.x
Frequent causes of crashes, freezes and hangs while using Adobe GoLive and GoLive Cyberstudio, are third-party conflicts, corrupt or badly fragmented prefs files, corrupt or badly fragmented aliases, corrupt or badly fragmented Virtual Memory partition, corrupt or badly fragmented temp files, corrupt or badly fragmented cache files, delays due to File Sharing, AppleTalk, TCP/IP, and more.
This article will assist you in basic troubleshooting, by helping you to rule out conflicts, and providing a high-caliber maintenance routine designed to streamline your System and allow GoLive to work as it is designed.
Adobe GoLive/ GoLive Cyberstudio is a RAM-hungry application. Many Type 2 and Type 3 errors are Memory-related.
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Also, you may occasionally see an icon that resembles a RAM chip in place of your document's normal contents, indicating an 'out-of-memory' situation. |
Be sure you have allocated enough Memory to it so that it can perform operations swiftly, and can handle your sites and pages as they grow larger. Even though the factory setting is a relatively low number, like most Mac applications, it will always run better the more you give it. We suggest a 'Preferred' setting of at least '25000' (25MB) for small sites, '50000' (50MB) for medium sites, up to 100000 (100MB) for large sites.
1) Quit GoLive 2) Locate the Adobe GoLive application icon inside the Adobe GoLive application folder 3) Select (highlight) the application icon 4) Do a 'Get Info' (Command-I) |
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5) Select 'Memory' from the popup menu 6) Increase the 'Preferred' setting to a higher number 7) Press 'Enter'; Launch GoLive to test your issues. |
If you do not have enough physical RAM to achieve these settings, you will have to use Virtual Memory, or you need to purchase more physical RAM. Of course, since GoLive and most browsers are more stable and use less Memory (see above image) with Virtual Memory 'on', using Virtual Memory isn't a terrible idea. However, you will suffer badly if you do not use dedicated volumes for VM targeting, or keep your disk immaculately optimised. See: Partitioning Your Hard Drives and Optimising versus Defragmentation for more details.
Section Two: Conflict Testing
First confirm that no extension conflicts exist when using GoLive on your System configuration. This test will take less than five minutes, and will be useful in future for exploring other conflicts.
1) Go to Extensions Manager, save your current set with a name you'll remember, then create a new set, called "GoLive minimum config".
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2) Turn 'off' all extensions, control panels, startup and shutdown items.
3) Turn 'on' the following (and only the following):
4) Restart.
*note one: Virtual Memory will now be 'off'. If you do not have enough physical RAM to run GoLive and your Mac OS, you will need to temporarily decrease GoLive memory allocation to the 'Minimum Setting' to perform this test. If you still do not have enough physical RAM at this point, you need more RAM, period.
*note two: Upon relaunch, QT4 users will receive "Can't launch..." and "Can't do..." messages because OpenTransport is disabled. Dismiss these warnings and continue.
*note three: RAM Disk users will receive "...unable to recognize this disk..." messages. Confirm that it is the RAM Disk, and initialize, dismiss the successive warning, and continue.
5) Launch GoLive. Try to duplicate your performance or crash issues.
6) If GoLive works as expected, restore your extensions and controls in groups (start with Mac OS 8.x Base, restart, etc.), until you discover the potential conflict.
If your issues persist, proceed to Section Three.
**NOTE: Failure to perform these steps in the correct order as instructed may lead to catastrophic data loss. Print these instructions and follow them carefully. You have been warned.**
These steps may seem excessive, but this shotgun method is the best I can do without being physically with your machine. Please don't skip any steps just 'cause you think you can <w>. This section may take from ten to twenty minutes, depending on your System configuration and condition, more if you have been neglectful.
1) Back up your critical data. Boot from System CD or Emergency disk (e.g., Disk Warrior).
2) Run Disk First Aid v.8.5.5 (or DiskWarrior™ 1.1) on all mounted volumes). Note any problems and repair as needed. (DW preferred)
3) Quit all running applications. Use Trash*Desktop 1.2.1 to delete (not just rebuild) your Desktop DB and DF files on all mounted volumes. Restart immediately.
*note: If you need to maintain the comments you installed in 'Get Info' windows, use the proper Apple Desktop Rebuild method, not just 'Restart--Command-Option'. Use of a simple 'Command-Option' rebuild is incorrect and may magnify your problems. If you can live without your saved comments, the delete method is preferred here. (see: Desktop Rebuilding for more details)
4) Restart from System CD or Emergency disk (e.g., Disk Warrior). Allow DTs to rebuild.
5) Open your primary Startup Volume: System Folder: Preferences Folder: Navigation Services Folder:
Inside, you will find two files, 'Navigation Services Prefs1', and 'Navigation Services Prefs2'. Delete (or move to Desktop) both of these files.
You will also see a folder called 'Recent items'. Open this folder, select all items, and delete them.
*note: do not delete the folder 'Recent Items', or the 'Navigation Services' folder.
6) In the Primary Startup Volume: System Folder: Preferences Folder:
Delete (or move to Desktop) the following:
Apple Menu Items prefs (or BeHeirarchic), General Controls prefs, Finder prefs, Mac OS prefs, System prefs, File Exchange prefs.
7) In the Primary Startup Volume: System Folder: Apple Menu Items: Recent Items:
Delete all items found in 'Recent Documents', 'Recent Applications', 'Recent Servers'.
Open the 'Favorites' folder, and delete (or move to a new folder on the Desktop) all the items contained within.
*note: do not delete the 'Favorites' folder!
8) In the Primary Startup Volume: System Folder: Preferences Folder: Explorer Cache Folder:
Delete the 'cache.waf' file. (only present if Internet Explorer has ever been launched)
9) In the Primary Startup Volume: System Folder: Preferences Folder: Netscape Users Folder:
Delete the 'cache.log' and all cache files. (repeat for each user profile). (only present if Netscape Navigator or Communicator has been launched)
10), Locate your Adobe GoLive 4.0 folder: GoLive Cache folder:
Delete all the 'cache' files from the cache folder.
*note: do not delete the cache folder itself. Repeat for GoLive Cyberstudio 3.x, if still on disk).
11) Delete any errant 'print-spool' files from your printer spooler folder of choice.
12) OS 9 users need to take the extra step to clear the Temporary Items Folder. See: OS 9 Temporary Items Bug for more information.
13) Empty the Trash.
14) Use a quality disk utility (not TechToolPro!), such as DiskExpressPro or MacToolsPro (HFS Std. format) or at least a defrag utility (HFS+ format) like PlusOptimizer (not TechToolPro!) to test the need for defrag/optimisation on all volumes, correct issues as needed. (Use Norton Speed Disk at your own risk!). See: Optimising versus Defragmentation for more information.
15) Use Drive Setup 1.7.3 or higher (1.8.1 is current) to update your disk(s) driver(s). (Launch DS, select the target disk, select 'Update Driver' from the 'Special Menu', Restart).
*note: if you are not using Apple drivers, use the appropriate and up-to-date driver provided by your utility of choice.
16) Restart from Primary Startup Volume again, with 'GoLive Minimum Config' selected in 'Extensions Manager' (as in Section Two).
17) Launch GoLive, and retest your issues. They should now be resolved. Restore your original extensions set, and confirm again.
Frequently, because of the poor way in which the engineers who created GoLive Cyberstudio designed the Preferences-control implementation, the preferences file for GoLive can become corrupted. This is because GoLive works with "live" preferences, i.e., GoLive keeps its preferences file open during a GoLive session, rather than loading preferences at application launch or as needed. If GoLive crashes, or is force-quit by choice, or another application causes GoLive to crash without a proper Quit command, you seemingly run odds of about 50-50 that the preferences file for GoLive (as well as others mentioned in Section Two) will become damaged.
A damaged prefs file will cause all kinds of headaches, from mysterious Type 2 and Type 11 crashes, to crashes when accessing Preview in Browser, FTP connections, crashes when adding multimedia files, and more. Basically, if you still have crashes after performing both Section One , Section Two and Section Three in their entirety, the next logical step is to assume a corruption within GoLive, and the prefs file is the first place to look.
1) Quit GoLive
2) Open the Startup Volume: System Folder: Preferences Folder:
3) Locate and Delete (or move to Desktop) 'Cyberstudio Prefs'
This can be extremely frustrating, as power-GoLive users know, because you may have setup some very complicated preference options other than the default settings. If you previously took the time to backup that precious prefs file, deleting the currently suspect file is no big deal. Otherwise, once deleted:
4) Launch GoLive
5) Open Preferences (Command-Y)
6) Reset all Preferences as desired; close Preferences
7) Quit GoLive to Save changes
[Sidebar]: Some of you are probably baffled as to why the preferences for Adobe GoLive are called 'Cyberstudio Prefs'; believe me, even those of us that know why are baffled, too. However, the explanation lies in the fact that Adobe purchased this product from a company called GoLive, and the product itself used to be called Cyberstudio, hence, 'Cyberstudio Prefs'. Why Adobe didn't take the simple step of converting the file name when users upgraded to GoLive v 4, or especially upon a new installation of GoLive v 4 is beyond me. It would have been a very simple process to copy the existing file (if present) and rename it 'GoLive Prefs', but I guess they had their hands full putting their logos on the new box and charging us for an upgrade many of us suspect we would have been offered, if not for free, for much less than Adobe charged us. [/Sidebar]
Section Five: Resolving Major Corruptions
While it is very rare, some core parts or modules within the GoLive application folder itself may become damaged. If you have followed Sections One through Three to the letter, and you are still suffering from problems, you may wish to try a reinstallation of the GoLive application. Be sure you save your current installation, as it may contain custom elements you have created in the objects Palette, the Web Database, the Actions folder, etc.
If a reinstallation of GoLive solves your problems, you may be able to reimport these custom elements (one at a time) to see if they are salvageable.
If a reinstallation of GoLive does not solve your problems, you can revert to the original (if desired) so as to retain any custom objects or modifications.
In the event a reinstallation of GoLive does not resolve your problems, you likely have additional System damage not addressed by Section Two. See the main Repair and Troubleshooting index for more information.
You can minimize the likelihood of issues resolved by this article by exercising proper maintenance and preventative care.
If your issues are not resolved, and you are certain you have followed each of these steps fully, contact me with details of what you did, didn't do, what failed, etc. for more assistance.
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Article created on; 26 June 1998
Article last revised on: 4 January 2000
Author: Frederico
Editor: WebClub '99, '00
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