FM 7.0 suddenly began extremely slow startup loading "core"

[GaryMZimmerman]

Hi,

We're running FM 7.0p578 on Windows XP SP3, in a networked environment.  Writers have FM installed on their workstations, working on files that are on a network file server.

About a month ago, several of us began to notice intermittent, extremely slow startups.  What used to take about 10 seconds, sometimes now hesitates and takes upwards of one or two minutes, maybe even more.  The apparent hang is during loading of "core", as shown on the splash screen indicator that shows component names as they load.

We have the TimeSavers and TableCleaner plug ins installed.

I've tried changing the default printer to Adobe PDF, but that didn't help.  FM checking of Adobe Online is turned off ("never"), so it's not that.  I don't believe anything was changed on the file server, but I can't be sure about that. But if anyone has seen such a hang in the past, maybe your experience can help us.

Thanks very much.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

So it's happening before you actually start opening any FM files, right? Does it seem to get stuck at one particular spot? Is there any message appearing on screen at that point? Some users of higher versions have reported problems that involved a corrupt Linguistics file that when they renamed it, freed them up.

[GaryMZimmerman]

Hi Jeff,

It does always seem to get stuck at the same spot in the load sequence,

but all I can really tell is that it is when "core" is loading. No

other files have been opened, and there's not even a FrameMaker window

open yet - just the splash screen hanging there with a 3/4 finished

progress bar.

One thing that is strange is that it is an intermittent problem. About

half the time or a little more it happens, and the wait is minutes for

the load to continue. Other times, it is just a brief pause, and

nothing unreasonable. I've tried to note any pattern, but so far I have

not.

-- garyZ

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What happens if you enable the Console window to be present and then try starting up again? Does that give you any clue as to what's going on in the background?

[GaryMZimmerman]

This is all the console window shows after FM is open:

FrameScript--Version 3.1R3 ElmSoft

FrameScript--Registered to Associate Registration Number

03-3-5X-7317-OVGF-3

FrameScript--Starting on FrameMaker+SGML Version 7.0

FrameScript--Start Folder C:\Program

Files\Adobe\FrameMaker7.0\FrameScript\

FrameScriptUsing Client NameFSL

FindChangeSpecial Version 2.1b1 loaded.

Finds/changes formats in a book or document.

For more information contact Carmen Publishing at

rick@frameexpert.com http://www.frameexpert.com

SetPrint plugin from Sundorne Communications www.sundorne.com

Setting printer to "Adobe PDF"...success

TableCleaner 1.7 Version loaded.

Tools for cleaning up and formatting tables.

For more information, choose Help > TableCleaner Help or contact

Carmen Publishing at rick@frameexpert.com

http://www.frameexpert.com <http://www.frameexpert.com/>

Nothing new there, nothing we've changed.

When I just restarted FM to generate that console output, it started up

quickly, but after the "hangs" the output in the console is the same.

I just tried opening and closing FM a bunch of times. Sometimes just

opening FM without a file, and other times double-clicking on a book

file on our network. Every time it was rocket fast. Guess enough of

its goodies are in the system's cache, so I probably need to work a bit

on other things, then try again before I get the hang.

-- garyZ

[Art_Campbell1]

I'd bet on interference from your AV program(s); possibly slow network reaction if you're loading a common file (like a dictionary) that's on a network device.

Try toggling your AV program off to see what happens.

Also, do it just after a reboot without other applications running, to eleminate the possibility of interference.

[GaryMZimmerman]

That's a good thought, Art, thanks. Unfortunately, we have corporate AV

system (TrendMicro OfficeScan), that is installed on all of our

workstations, but we can't turn it off or pause it, or even check the

logs (I just tried).

And since I wouldn't want to defeat the program until I had a truly

repeatable case of the slow startup. It's still fairly capricious, as

far as I can discern at this point.

I might ask our corporate systems personnel, but it's an offshore

corporate "help" desk, and in my experience the level of sophistication

has been along the lines of "let's reformat your hard drive and see if

that fixes it".

The next time the hang happens, I'll see if I can get the OfficeScan

console to open to see if anything shows up when I mouse over the icon

in the notification area of the task bar. I didn't even think of that,

so thanks very much. If I find out anything, I'll reply to the list

again.

Thanks!

-- garyZ