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A
Anonymous
October 1, 2010
Question

FrameMaker 9 UI "dies"

  • October 1, 2010
  • 5 replies
  • 4364 views

I have started having a problem that is difficult to describe. When I unlock my computer, after having locked it with FrameMaker displayed, it occasionally, and randomly, reappears with the UI displaying incorrectly. The menus and toolbars are simply a blank, gray area. Text fonts are not correct but look like they are rendered in some standard system font. Basically, nothing works. If I scroll up or down, a single line of text, or sometimes just a horizontal line, will be repeated over and over. In a way it looks like a refresh problem except that other apps, like Word and Outlook, continue to display correctly.

This just occurred when I walked away for a few minutes and then returned. The computer was not locked. This machine is obviously too smart to do this while I am watching.

If I stop FrameMaker and restart it, or if I reboot the computer, everything is fine, for a while.

The last time this happened, I also had RoboHelp running and a virtual machine running.

Does this sound like a memory issue? Or has anyone else heard of this behavior?

I am running FrameMaker 9 on a Windows 7 machine with 8GB of RAM.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    MrsVJW
    MrsVJW
    Inspiring
    January 10, 2011

    You are not alone.

    I may have had one or two crashes since we moved to Windows 7 (begining of November) but this has been a constant problem for me since the calender flipped to 2011.  So far in our group (two other 32-bit users and one 64-bit user) I am the only one having this problem, but I moved to Windows 7 1-2 weeks before the rest of the group.

    If I am lucky, Frame will be responsive enough that I can save my work and close the program, then re-open Frame and the file.  If I am unlucky, I can't get any response from Frame and I have to cross my fingers and hope I didn't lose any work.  If I catch it while it is "happening" sometimes my display will go goofy (fonts display incorrectly, odd results while scrolling through the window) but only in Frame - all other programs respond fine and behave normally.

    Our head IT guy and I have checked display/video card settings and have had no luck.  It's gotten to the point I may need to try a system rebuild to see if I can make the problems go away.

    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Brainiac
    January 10, 2011

    Did you try any of the tweaks suggested by this thread?

    MrsVJW
    MrsVJW
    Inspiring
    January 10, 2011

    Yup, I have tried all the suggestions in this thread and none of them have helped - I still have problems.  I've also tried to enable/disable Aero settings, our IT guy has looked at various system logs to see if they offered any clue or insight (they didn't).

    And this is not an "occasional" problem for me... it happens once an hour at least.  (Ctrl + S is my friend).

    D
    DavidAFoster
    Participating Frequently
    December 31, 2010

    Hi. I have been experiencing the same problem and wonder if there's a definitive solution or workaround. My particulars:

    • Windows 7  32bit
    • FM9 p255
    • Dell laptop with  4g of memory
    • Nvidia NVS 3100M driver

    This problem is massively frustrating (it happens apropos of nothing) and I would love to start the new year with some good news on this front.

    Thanks, and best wishes to all for a happy new year.

    David

    A
    Anonymous
    January 3, 2011

    David,

    Sorry, I don't have anything definite about this problem yet.

    One thing I have noticed is that two times this has happened to me the Framemaker Help has needed an update of Adobe Air. If both things happen together one more time, I am going to send Adobe a rocket.

    Palliative things I am trying are 1) reboot the machine on Wed (I usually leave it up all week). 2) Minimise Frame if I am going to open many other apps on the same monitor. But frankly I have no idea whether either of these procedures makes any difference at all.

    Good luck. Let me know if you discover anything definite.

    John

    D
    DavidAFoster
    Participating Frequently
    January 3, 2011

    Hi, John. Thanks for the reply. I've experienced "the Plague" (as I've

    come to call it) three times today already. I don't even have to be

    using FrameMaker actively to experience. Case in point: fired up FM9,

    opened a book file and two chapter files, went for a walk, came back,

    et voila!

    Some other tidbits:

    - I noted that I'm running Windows 7 32 bit; I meant, I'm running

    Windows 7 64 bit, FM9 as a 32 bit app

    - I started experiencing these problems after installing a Samsung

    SyncMaster P2450 monitor; I don't seem to recall this with the Dell

    monitor I was using

    - Sometimes the behavior is exactly as you describe; other times I

    can't even get FM9 to appear -- clicking the icon in the tool tray

    sends some minimized black rectangle shooting towards the upper left

    corner of the monitor, but nothing I do restores FM9 on the monitor.

    - FM9 memory use is a constant(ish) 128k

    I'll let you know if I learn anything....

    Thanks!

    David

    A
    Anonymous
    December 17, 2010

    This issue continues to plague me. I had thought that someone suggested that I could revert to the older style UI, without all the panels and whatnot, but don't see anything about it in this discussion or in Preferences dialog. Is there any way to simplify the UI so that it works the way it did before all these wonderful improvements?

    A
    Anonymous
    December 17, 2010

    John, it sounds like you're asking about creating a custom Workspace so that the pods are not activated; there are a couple of good sources of info about Workspaces and "de-podding" FM, here:

    Workspaces in FrameMaker 9

    Be sure to read all the way through this forum thread as the best info is at the end:

    Adobe Forums: Steps to "de-pod" workspaces in FM 9

    A
    Anonymous
    December 17, 2010

    Great, thanks Sheila. At this point I am trying everything I can think of, and this sounds plausible.

    Thanks for help,

    John

    A
    Art_Campbell1
    Inspiring
    October 2, 2010

    Does Ctrol-l, the Frame refresh command, do anything?

    Have you checked to make sure that you have the latest drivers for your video card by going to the vendor's web site (not microsoft's)?

    A
    Anonymous
    October 4, 2010

    Art, thanks for responding. I will try CTRL-L if this happens again. On the drivers, our IT dept. "manages" the machines, so I assume they have installed the latest drivers. I will check though.

    John

    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Brainiac
    October 2, 2010

    John,

    Do you have the latest version, which is 9.0p255 installed?

    I experience issues with the UI when the application is driven by FDK plug-ins or scripts, working so hard, the new UI can not be updated and the default Windows appearance becomes visible. Such power usage could also turn-off the display engine of previous versions of FrameMaker, but after the plug-in/script was finished, everything returns to normal.

    BTW, restarting FrameMaker should be enough, the only time I can recommend restarting Windows is after font issues, because otherwise some caches are not cleared.

    - Michael

    A
    Anonymous
    October 4, 2010

    Michael, thanks. Yes, I do have p255 installed, and I'm not running the FDK plug-ins or scripts.

    I'll update this thread if/when it happens again. In the meantime my working assumption is that I had too many apps open at once. I did reduce the memory available to the VM. Maybe that will help.

    John

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