InDesign CS4 will not open. Crashes on startup - Lion 10.7.2

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InDesign CS4 will not open. Crashes on startup - Lion 10.7.2

I just migrated all of my files from our old Quad Core G5 PPC to a new Quad Core Intel Xeon Mac Pro. I'm running Lion 10.7.2 with 16GB of RAM and plenty of hard disk space. Illustrator CS4 opens and runs fine. However, when I tried to run InDesign for the first time (and all subsequent times - about 10 now), it brings up the initial Adobe startup window, lists what is loading (plugins registering), etc., and part way into that process it crashes consistently.

Many of the files our organization needs to complete its year end reporting, donor updates, and board of directors collateral is trapped in ID and cannot be completed until this problem is rectified.

Anyone? Ideas?

AP

Processor 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Memory 16 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM

Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB

Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 18, 2012 8:24 AM

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Answer 1

CT

Level 7

24,239 points

Jan 18, 2012 8:29 AM in response to Aarron Pina

Indesign Help and Support

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Answer 2

Aarron Pina Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2012 5:59 PM in response to CT

Thanks, CT - nothing useful on the Adobe boards.

Some folks over there are having problems with CS3 and 5, others are having printing trouble with ID CS4, but no one has mentioned CS4 crashing on open. Further, of all the known issue apps listed, InDesign is not on the list.

Still stuck...

AP

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Answer 3

Jan 18, 2012 6:12 PM in response to Aarron Pina

I had this problem back in the InDesign CS4 days. In my experience that version was troublesome.

Eventually I fixed it by completely uninstalling InDesign. This is not so easy as there's bits and pieces everywhere. You might find the Adobe Uninstaller which will get all the bits in the different folders. When you're done empty your trash and restart your Mac, then re-install.

Good luck. FWIW I've had a very stable experience with ID CS5.5.

When InDesign is running well on your Mac it's a really nice experience.

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Answer 4

labarker

Level 1

23 points

May 13, 2012 7:21 PM in response to Aarron Pina

I also had this problem--InDesign and Illustrator crashed while still starting up. Someone elsewhere suggested font problems. So I found the last fonts I'd installed (oe of whih was Frankenstein) and got rid of them before uninstalling and reinstalling InDesign and Illustrator (Photoshop was giving no problems). After verifying that both applications would launch, I then installed the fonts that came with the software. So far no problems, but I have learned my lesson and will never download any more fonts from the Internet. (Heavens, Laraine, it isn't as though you don't already have more than enough fonts! ) I still have the ones that came with my unlamanted PowerComputing clone and I purchased FontPackPro Master Collection Fonts when it was on special.

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Answer 5

PaulKemp

Level 1

135 points

May 13, 2012 7:27 PM in response to Aarron Pina

Could you create a new user account and see if it happens there?

Also, a post of your crash report *might* prove useful.

Information about creating a new user can be found here (but instead of clicking Accounts, you click Users & Groups):

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8235.html

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Answer 6

Jun 3, 2012 10:06 PM in response to PaulKemp

I have this issue also. InDesign [CS4] begins to start up, the "initializing..." label appears, then it immediately quits. Started after I had to revert back to 10.7.3 from 10.7.4 due to frequent and incessant kernel panics in 7.4. I tried uninstalling all CS4 apps (using the CS4 uninstall tool), then ran Adobe Cleaner Tool, then did a clean install of CS4 (Design Premium), including a fresh input of the serial number. All other CS4 apps open normally.

Interestingly, upon your suggestion, I created a new user account, then tried to open InDesign there. It opened normally, so at least I can use it in the "Test Account" I created. Any suggestions on how to get it to work in my account?

iMac [early 2009], 8 GB RAM, 2.66 GHz, 1.5T hard drive (third party).

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