SERIOUS ADOBE ACROBAT PROFESSIONAL 8 ERROR

[_Phil_Stewart_]

Hi

I am using (or TRYING to use!) Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.
But every time it loads up I receive the following pop-up message:

"A serious error has been detected and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional cannot continue. Please re-install the application and try again."

I click OK, and then another message appears:
"Acrobat.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "0x05bf1243" referenced memory at "0x12284e88". The memory could not be "written".
Click on OK to terminate the program"

I have tried uninstalling and re-installing but the error comes back!
What can I do?? Can ANYONE help?!!

[_Karthikeyan_Rajamani_]

Hello Nick,

Yes, I mean run the FNPLicensingService from the Services Control Panel, you can get this by using services.msc from the run dialog.

[_Nick_Ardwark_]

I ran services.msc from the run dialog. I found "FLEXnet Licensing Service". It had started manually. Under properties, the path to executable was "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe". It had been set to start manually. The auto shutdown still happens. I did not go to regedit.

Later on today I will uninstall Actobat Pro and Reader, and just load Acrobat Pro off the CD with updates turned off. I thought I had done this before with little success but I will try again. I will report back to the forum.

[_Nick_Ardwark_]

Unfortunately Sue Ellen's success did not repeat itself for me.

I am on Windows XP ... so that's one difference.

I tried a few things ... so sorry for the long winded email.

1. Removed Acrobat 8 Pro
2. Rebooted
3. Removed Acrobat Reader 8.1.0
4. Rebooted
5. Checked under Add/Remove Programs to ensure both removed. The only Adobe products I had on my computer were Adobe Flash Player 9 ActiveX, Adobe Photoshop CS2 (V9.0) and Adobe Photoshop Album SE (V3.2).
6. Checked under Program Files. Under Adobe, I had a folder called Reader 8.0. It had some files/folders but Reader did not appear in Start>All Programs nor Add/Remove Programs. (Seems odd).
7. Rebooted
8. Installed Acrobat 8 Pro from CD. (I did not allow any updates, although I was never asked anyway.)
9. Rebooted

I had no luck.

I tried the above but in Step 8 I installed Reader 8 (v8.1.0) off the Adobe website. Rebooted and then installed Acrobat 8 Pro.

I think Acrobat 8 can co-exist with Reader 8 as when I was installing it the second time (with Reader already installed), the Acrobat install program informed me that it detected another program and whether I wanted to use Reader or Acrobat as my default PDF view program. To see if that was a variable I repeated the whole process and selected a different option each time. Again no luck.

Given my main use for Acrobat is to convert Word and PowerPoint documents into pdf format, I thought I'd see if there was enough of Acrobat working to allow me to do the conversion from Word. I could not find the pdf icon on Word 2007 so I went through the Print function and tried to print it to "Adobe PDF". I got the following message "Adobe PDF creation cannot continue because Acrobat is not activated. Check Retry after activating Acrobat to continue printing. Check Cancel to quit pdf creation."

One thing I noticed when I opened Acrobat Pro is that I could stop the 10 sec shutdown if I move my mouse (quickly) over the pull down menu options. So I went to Help>Activation but both Activate and Deactivate are greyed out.

I don't know if any of this helps Adobe. It probably confirms the findings of everyone.

[_Karthikeyan_Rajamani_]

Hello Nick,

I had the same problem, that's why I went into Services Control Panel and tried the procedure I had given above.

I'll install Acrobat in my XP system and post a reply ASAP.

[_Karthikeyan_Rajamani_]

Hello Nick

I tried Acrobat 8 in XP, I installed Acrobat 8 and then updated it, as you said both the entries under Activation menu are grayed out.

But It seems when I create a PDF file, it did perfectly and the Activate entry remained grayed out and the Deactivate entry is available.

Try creating the document by right clicking on the source file and selecting Create PDF

Hope it will work

[_Miluska_Pari_]

Hi everybody, I have the same problem. First it was working fine, then I updated my Windows Media 10 to 11, the nightmare began..I went back to WM 10 and everthing was fine again. But a few days ago I had to intall VS 2005 and SQL 2005 and the problem came back, I tried desinstalling them but nothing happens. Please help!!

PS: Sorry, my English is not good enough

[_Nick_Ardwark_]

Hello Raj,

I first tried without updating. I tried to create pdf from inside Acrobat and from Windows (ie right clicked the file and then selected create pdf). In both cases I got the following message "Adobe PDF creation cannot continue because Acrobat is not activated. Check Retry after activating Acrobat to continue printing. Check Cancel to quit pdf creation." By the way, Acrobat eventually shut down.

After updating, it got worst. I tried to create pdf from inside Acrobat. I got an error message A serious error has been detected and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional cannot continue. Please reinstall the application and try again. After I clicked ok, I got the memory error again ... 0x04d01243 referencing 0x12284e88.

I think Ive tried everything put forward by the forum with absolutely no success. Could Adobe give us an update on their progress?

With the amount of time I have wasted, I think I would have been better off buying an alternate package!! I resorted to a cluge last night (printed a word document and then scanned it to get a pdf format), but the quality of the output was poor. It wasn't critical as it was an invoice to a customer but soon I will need to get Acrobat working or else I'll need to buy another product.

[_Daren_Johnson_]

Nick - if you read my previous post you will find your solution. I am happy to announce that I have not had any issues since my last post.

[_Sue_Ellen_White_]

Hello All:

When I was in the long and tedious process of attemping to solve this problem -- which I did most likely through dumb luck, I decided to call the CEO of Adobe to let the guy at the top know about the problems we're having. (It seems like the same error comes up for a number of reasons as we've differing operating systems and some have had success while most have not.)

So, I called Bruce Chizen (sounds like "risen") at (206) 675-7000 and got the message machine of his assistant, Steve Hartman (a woman's voicemail). Two days ago, I got a call from a tech-support supervisor, Keith, who said that in such cases where there are program glitches, customers are welcome to call tech support, Adobe Acrobat® 206-675-6304, at no charge for the call.

Here is what the small print on that web page says: "Complimentary support is available Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific time). Complimentary support applies to issues related to installation and product defects for the current versions of Adobe products. Registration is required."

I'd encourage anyone to call either tech support or Mr. Chizen to let him know what a number of his customers are experiencing. Hope this helps get the problem solved so that the rest of us can benefit from a solution.

Sue Ellen

BTW: Miluska Pari, your English is excellent.

[_Daren_Johnson_]

Sue - I placed a call and left a message in the same box. You have to enter 1 to spell by name. You can enter "hartman" (4278626) to get to Steve Hartman's voice mail box. I let them know that as a corporate Adobe user for almost 10 years, I am disappointed that nobody seems to be looking into this issue. I also let them know that unfortunately I have been forced to implement the use of alternate programs so my staff can get back to work. I would love to use Acrobat as it is a nice product (when it works). I ended the message with my phone number and a suggestion to call me back if they are interested in what thousands of their customers are experiencing.

[_Jim_Brumbaugh_]

One thing I would recommend to everyone experiencing this problem and they have Windows Defender on their system, turn off Windows Defender.

Go into services from Control panel--Administrator tools--services.
Once in services look for Windows Defender and set it to manual and stop it.
Then find the entry for Flexnet and set it to automatic and start it.

Close all the Windows and start Adobe Acrobat. The activation window will come up and so far the program is working fine for me.

I am using both Windows XP and Windows Vista Ultimate and a trial version of Acrobat 8.0 updated to 8.1.

J

[_Daren_Johnson_]

Jim - Unfortunately that did not solve the errors on any of my systems. The issue is the same.

[_Mark_Levinsohn_]

Unbelievable > I spent an hour on the line with Adobe here in The Netherlands. Whilst they were trying there best, [complements to the Adobe Support techinician Richard Nesse who really did his utmost and was most profesional] unfortuantely without luck.

I've tried each and every remedy listed on this board, without luck. I have a Clean Windows Vista install so question to you lot; Are any of you running Norton Ghost and/or Norton Antivirus, Windows Devender, on your systems and/or have a RAID card installed [ I do - Promise 4300].

Mark Levinsohn
The Netherlands

[_Sue_Ellen_White_]

Hello Mark:

I no longer use any Norton products as I found them to be buggy and with very annoying renewal notification issues.

Before I did the sucessful reinstall (message #65) I turned off my Internet access, temporarily disabled the firewall and also Windows Live One Care, which is what I use.

I do have Vista.

Best of luck; did Adobe tech support have any clue about what is going on; have they elevated your call or are they going to call you back with a solution?

Sue Ellen

[_Jim_Brumbaugh_]

Interesting problem to say the least. Sorry Darren I thought it would work as it worked for me. I am working with a basic Vista load, the only things on it are the drivers and Adobe right now and everything is working fine...

Could be a driver conflict, I am thinking it is program or resource related. Sorry I could not help..

J

[_Alfredo_Luque_]

I got the exact same message as all of you after updating to 8.1! But not at first... The first time I ran Acrobat after install it gave me the activation window... but after activation it just hung and I had to terminate the process. Going in to adobe after exactly 20 seconds (every single time) it gives me the serious error message, native or in Firefox. I thought, naturally, that this is one of adobe's vista unfriendly hiccups so decided to give it a try on xp. What do you know... same message. The thing is I can actually view the file normally for those 20 seconds so it can't be part of the actual viewer that is failing, instead it is part of the activation system... I'm almost positive as this is how adobe design their software. Thus, the "One-care" solution is irrelevant. As to the Flexnet method it yields no success. So far, the only way is to reinstall and boycott the update. Why are licensed customers always the ones who end up the losers with the crazy activation systems?? Next thing you know adobe will move onto hardware dongles, and then I tell you CS3 is the last I will go.

On a different note, is anyone able to distill pdf's? I have been able to from office but not from acrobat itself (whilst I still had 8.1).

[_Eric_Dagenais_]

About the "Serious Error detected" problem at Acrobat 8 startup on Windows Vista, I found out that running 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\acrobat.exe' AS ADMINISTRATOR causes Acrobat to offer the Activation window. Once validation of the licence is done I was able to start Adobe Acrobat using the shortcut in the Start Menu normally.

Then I made sure to disable the automatic update system to cancel the 8.1 update.

From now on, no more problems with Acrobat 8 even in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

[_Nick_Ardwark_]

Eric,

How do you run it as an administrator? I only have one user on my desktop so when I start my computer, I do not need to log on as a user? I am on XP. (I have not touched my laptop with Vista.)

I've had to uninstall Pro (once again) so I'll give your method a go on my next install and see if my luck improves.

Thanks.

[_John_Jersey_]

I have been following this thread and have experienced the same results on two different systems - I am not getting the Activation prompt and I can't activate as the drop down is grey'd out.

Is there a solution yet?

[_Levanah_Tenen_]

I am also experiencing this problem. Like Josie Kirker (8:58am Jul 5, 07 PST (#59 of 93)) I purchased my copy of CS3 through Tech Soup (a San Francisco-based administrator of software donation programs by major corps, like Adobe, to small-to-medium nonprofit organizations). What I received appears to be the retail package, BTW, not a volume-license package: it came in a box, with three CD's in a plastic CD case (including one of video demos), and a small "workflow guide" manual that fits in the box.

I'm running WinXP Pro-SP2 on a P4 Inspiron 8200 with 1 gig of RAM. Also running Webroot Spysweeper, Zone Alarm, and Norton AV 2006, and am also running into this problem.

I no longer recall the exact sequence of install/update I first used but I do recall I had to turn off Spysweeper to install at all, and Acrobat only installed successfully the second time I reinstalled it. (The other programs in CS3 didn't have this problem.) I activated CS3 from within Illustrator (the first program I opened), and everything except Acrobat works as I would expect it to.

Before opening any programs, I looked for updates. Several updates did not install the first time I downloaded them (I wasn't keeping notes on this yet so I can't say which ones, sorry), so I rebooted and ran updates again. After several iterations I got a message box saying that I needed to re-install Acrobat, Extend Script Toolkit, and Adobe Color Common STI Update. I got out the CD and re-installed Acrobat (the only one of those three on the CD), and was told that the installation was successful.

But when I tried to open Acrobat I got the "memory could not be written" error message, found this forum on Google, and realized I should have kept notes.

Currently Acrobat will run for 15-30 seconds, then gets the "serious error" message and closes; a few moments later, after the program has closed, Windows posts the "memory cannot be 'written'" error box. While Acrobat is running, both "Activate" and "Unactivate" are greyed out. Also, if I select "About Acrobat" while it's still running, the program doesn't crash until after I close the information box.

I'm no techie, but I've been using computers for over 20 years and can follow instructions, am not fazed by DOS command lines, and if necessary (and told exactly what to do) can edit a registry line if that's how to fix this thing.

Jeff-from-Adobe, how are you doing with discovering what causes this problem? Is there a specific procedure I can perform that would give you information you need to diagnose it? I'm not willing to take shots in the dark, but I'm willing to try a few directed experiments and report back, if you tell me what to do and what to look for.

[_John_Jersey_]

Jeff - I have a volume license (5 seats) - Can I not use the Adobe 8.01 pro CD to install this?

I have tried and my results are mixed but not successful.

jj

[_Aandi_Inston_]

>Jeff - I have a volume license (5 seats) - Can I not use the Adobe 8.01 pro CD to install this?

I the past, the volume license software was different, and you could
not install with a retail CDROM. Check carefully what you have.

Aandi Inston

[_John_Jersey_]

Jeff,

Removing the FlexNet directory and files is an issue - when Acro is reinstalled, those directories and files do not repopulate.

jj

[_I_Watson_]

Jeff, Like so many others I am struggling to bet my Adobe Acrobat 8 upgrade to work. I though only have Standard not Pro but the error is the same. I have wracked up 3days on the phone with tech support and have tried all manner of 'fixes' to resolve the situation.
I have been "elevated" up the tech support tree and still have made no progress!
I am all up for assisting you in solving this issue. Unlike many adobe clients I can at a push spre the time to work through this issue with you. For me it is more a frustration issue rather than a buisness sowntime predicament.
My "elevated tech support's" last suggestion was to reformat my hard drive and start from scratch! Now that seems extreme!
I don't know which way would work best for you but I can surey work through any research / suggestions you may have. If we can garuntee a secure link I could feasibly even enable a remote access for you.

My system runs Vista home premium, Office Pro 2003, Norton Int Security 2007, Adobe Elements 5.0, Premiere 3.0, (attempting Acrobat 8.1)amongst others.

If it helps there should be a pretty comprehensive tech supprt log file of all the steps we have tried to date to resolve this issue. My case ID# is 172740903

Hopefully we can be of help to each other !

Ian

[_I_Watson_]

Oh and the instal is an upgrade purchased online from Adobe.com.
My previous version was 6.0 Standard
The same error occurs either if I use the serial number for my previous version or if Adobe customer service provides me with an unlock code so it is not an issue with my serial number.
Ian