Illustrator CS5 + Mac El Capitan = Crashing!

[rickmartin_art]

I am having an issue ever since installing El Capitan. When using Adobe Illustrator CS5, any time I attempt to use the Eyedropper tool, the program will crash as soon as I click on the object I'm trying to copy the color of.

I have noticed that I am able to use the eyedropper successfully ONLY when copying the color of a SOLID color object. If I attempt to copy the color of an object with a gradient-fill, or copy a color from an embedded image/photo, the crash is immediate.

The issue is happening on both my Macbook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) and my iMac (24-inch, Early 2008).

PLEASE help. I am very reliant on using Adobe Illustrator for my job.

Any advice will help, or if you are experiencing the same (or similar) issue let me know so I can avoid anything that will cause the crash!

[vajras42977385]

InDesign CS5.5 was crashing on startup under El Capitain, until I turned off auto-hiding the menu bar and dock, and now it works fine!

Unlikely, but true... maybe this could be affecting Illustrator for you?

[ohjenny]

Thanks-I don't have that activated.

[Matteo333]

The only thing that works fine is to buy Adobe CC.

Like you I work everyday with Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign -no more but I have to buy the full suite as you know- and I can't stop my job because my pencil is broken.
Are you waiting for a fix? Nor Adobe or Apple fix this, 2 month and nothing happen. They did this on purpose, and even if they didn't it on purpose, now they wait like a hunter wait for prey.

[Mykill_G]

"The only thing that works fine is to buy Adobe CC"

I DO have CC. I've had it for a year, and I will continue to have it.

BUT.....

For my SPECIFIC job, I NEED the Live Trace feature of CS5. Image Trace in CC DOES NOT give the accurate results of black pen on white paper ink drawings that CS5 Live Trace did. Thats what's so frustrating. I ALREADY PAY $54 A MONTH TO ADOBE. I just want a fix for a previous version that is NECESSARY for my job. Again, I'm pretty sure this is on Apple, since a TON of stuff was broken on El Capitan (like almost ALL of my music recording software and plug-ins), but just hoping all this b!tching and complaining will get some results... but I doubt it.

[Mykill_G]

Well, I can confirm... this HAS NOT been fixed in the 10.11.2 update.

Thankfully, I can still save to the default location... BUT, a few times now, I get busy working and forget that I can't pick my save location like you can with, well, virtually EVERY PROGRAM ON EVERY OPERATING SYSTEM EVER MADE, and I click the drop down menu to change the save location.... then I remember... and I know that as soon as I release the mouse, the app will crash and I will lose everything done since the last save. So I try to save after EVERYTHING I do, no matter how small, and save to the default location, then move it to another location... but this is a WORKAROUND, not a SOLUTION.

I know this is on Apple, not Adobe, but COME ON GUYS... some people here, including me, don't use Adobe applications ONLY to make better selfies and "Photoshop" hats onto cats... we use it to pay our bills, buy our food and provide for our families... and it worked until El Capitan. Adobe will NEVER release a fix for CS5, so it MUST be Apple; and after paying over 3 grand for the machine you are SO proud of, this is unacceptable.

[bici]

So I updated to El Capitan. _Every_ application i have works. Even Word app from many moons ago.

ONLY Indesign and Illustrator on Quit issues this error:

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Photoshop quits elegantly as normal.

It is obvious it is not the OS that is the Problem 

[Mykill_G]

"It is obvious it is not the OS that is the Problem "

...except that the exact same installer for AI CS5.1 was used on my other iMac with Snow Leopard and Yosemite, and there is no issue in either of those 2 ...

There has been no update to the CS5.1 code, so there is some line(s) of code in El Capitan that does not work with the many-years-old code in Illustrator CS5.1

[bici]

in my opinion the solution is betwixt the two: Adobe and Apple. Time to co-operate big guys

[John T Smith]

CS5 is END OF LIFE and is no longer being updated to work with new operating systems (Mac or Windows)

Same for CS6

[bici]

Ok.  but I will never use the cloudy thingy. 

In the meantime there is no reason that this issue can't be simply fixed.  But if not....

I  have the option to use Yosemite on my other  mac-mini for at least 5-6 years. CS5 works perfect on it.

[Mykill_G]

"CS5 is END OF LIFE and is no longer being updated to work with new operating systems (Mac or Windows)"

EXACTLY. Adobe will never release a patch for this, and in all honesty, it's not really their problem anyway.

"in my opinion the solution is betwixt the two: Adobe and Apple. Time to co-operate big guys"

It is NOT up to Adobe. As just stated, CS5 has reached EOL. The same installer installed a working program on Snow Leopard and Yosemite, but it doesn't function properly on El Capitan. That is an Apple issue since CS5 is at EOL status. Believe me, I have sent emails and forum posts to Adobe, and they DO NOT CARE that I need AI CS5 to perform a certain function of my job, even though I also pay for CC. El Capitan broke a lot of my software and Apple needs to step up and correct the code.

[bici]

I decided to install CS5 on my spare mac-mini that runs El Capitan

I opened and quit Indesign without any issues. I then tried photoshop. same thing. all fine. Then i tried Illustrator it quit with errors.

I reopened the other 2 applications and they too quit with errors.

I rebooted the machine. I opened Indesign and quit:  no problems. I opened and quit photoshop : no problems. Then i opened Illustrator.when i quit I had the errors.

I retried opening  the other two apps and they too  this time quit with errors.

I rebooted machine again. opened and quit Indesign 4 times without issues. Then I tried Photoshop. It quit with errors. then i tried indesign. it too quit with errors.

How can an app function just fine, but once one of the other two is opened all three then have errors.

are the plist files getting corrupted?

To add to the mystery nn my main machine Photoshop NEVER quits with errors.

[Mykill_G]

very odd indeed. I just want people smarter than me to fix it. I got a new iMac with the idea that after I got everything transferred, I could sell my old one to help recoup some of the money. I was counting on the money. Now, I gotta hang on to the old one because of the AI CS5 issue. Don't get me wrong, it will be nice having two 27" iMacs side-by-side, but I made plans for the money I was going to get ... Lesson learned I guess; Don't count your chickens before they're hatched and such

[bici]

If your HD drive is large enough, partition it and on the second partition run C55 under OS Yosemite. Then you can sell your second iMac .

I am thinking there is some issue with file permissions or some preference setting that is borking up the works.

[Mykill_G]

"partition it and on the second partition run C55 under OS Yosemite. Then you can sell your second iMac"

That's a negative, captain!

The iMac is late 2015 and CAME with El Capitan, which means I can't install ANYTHING BEFORE El Capitan.

Believe me, this was a HUGE issue.

Before buying, I called Apple and talked to a sales rep to MAKE SURE I could partition the drive & install Yosemite (for more recent apps) AND Snow Leopard, because I still have a few apps that need Rosetta to run. I was "put on hold" while she "checked to make sure" I could, and she came back and said, "Yes, I just talked to a tech and you absolutely can do that!". I told her it was a necessity for me to buy the computer, and without it, I could not make the purchase...

So, when it came in, I also had bought a copy of Snow Leopard, partitioned the drive... lo and behold, SL would not instal, and neither would Yosemite.

I called Apple again and raised hell until I was put through to a Senior Tech who told me, "No, you can't do that. You can not partition and directly instal any OS that is earlier than the one that came with the machine".

So I told him about what the sales rep said, he apologized (the guy seemed sincere, so I don't really have a beef with him) and offered me the option to return the machine "no questions asked". So the rep was either STRAIGHT UP LYING, or just had NO CLUE WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Either way, when she "checked with a tech" while I was on hold, THAT part was TOTAL BS.

I kept the new one because after using Photoshop and Illustrator on the new 5K screen and experiencing the performance of the upgraded video card & processor, I could not  return it... it looked and ran like a dream. The only work around I found was to instal Snow Leopard under Virtual Box, but it is small and pixelated on the Retina screen... but it WORKS (sort of). It was a nightmare getting it to run because you have to have certain settings EXACT or the instal will fail. On top of that, Virtual Box and Mac cant play nicely with Shared Folders OR USB, so I can't work on something in Snow Leopard and save it to a shared folder seen by El Capitan, neither can I directly save it to an external drive. I either have to save from Snow Leopard to a DVD/CD (via an external optical drive, thanks for that one too, Apple!), or upload it to a cloud storage service and then RE-DOWNLOAD it in El Capitan... even though it's on the same machine. Admittedly, I am a total Apple fan boy, but they royally f#@%ed me on this one.

So, NO, I CAN NOT partition the drive and run Yosemite (or anything else pre-El Capitan) since, again,  the old Live Trace function is totally superior to the new Image Trace on black & white line art, which is a near daily task for me as a designer at a screen print shop. This is a HUGE DEAL for me. This is how I buy food and pay rent.

Apple needs to find whatever bug is causing it to crash. Until then, I'll just have to keep my 2009 iMac with Snow Leopard - Yosemite capabilities.

[bici]

bummer

there seems to be some folks who have deployed earlier os versions on  new 2015  iMacs. not sure if you wish to try   this:

Can Yosemite be installed on late 2015 iMacs? - JAMF Nation

[Mykill_G]

"here seems to be some folks who have deployed earlier os versions on  new 2015  iMacs. not sure if you wish to try   this:

Can Yosemite be installed on late 2015 iMacs? - JAMF Nation‌ "

It seems the only way is to do the Network Image via Ethernet method, but only one guy said it would work. Honestly, that just seems like too much extra work for me. I've pretty much decided just to keep the old one. I may not get the money I was hoping for, but I will have a machine that can run Snow Leopard through Yosemite and run all the apps El Capitan can't

[bici]

"the old Live Trace function is totally superior to the new Image Trace on black & white line art"

Please explain more. i am curious about this

[Mykill_G]

" "the old Live Trace function is totally superior to the new Image Trace on black & white line art"

Please explain more. i am curious about this"

I don't want to hijack this thread or beat a dead horse, so I'll try to keep it quick.

A post I made with full description and art examples:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1962428

A post another guy made with lots of examples:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/4821948#4821948

To quickly recap, in CS6 Adobe re-designed the Live Trace feature and renamed it Image Trace. It was awful at first, but fixed by CC. Still, it was still a totally re-designed panel that worked and functioned differently. In most cases, the new Image Trace works better than the old Live Trace, especially on full color photographic images.

BUT, for simple line art, as in hand drawn art with a black pen/marker on white paper, the old Live Trace is WAAAY more accurate. The new Image Trace has fewer controls, and no matter how you tweak them, it just does not "hug" the lines/corners/contours the same way Live Trace did. Live Trace, with enough practice and tweaking, can give you an almost EXACT match on line art; Image Trace gives you a close approximation. But in some cases, you don't need CLOSE, you need EXACT. I'm sure some people have found a use, but as a guy who makes his living designing for screen print, I have NEVER, NOT ONCE, came across a job where I needed to convert a full color HD photograph into a 50,000 path vector. I do, however, need to trace line art every week. I need simple, accurate, solid color.

I wish Adobe would either make a plug-in/extension to get the old functionality, or just release the code to let a 3rd party develop one. Again, I use this feature to pay rent and buy food, and EVERY forum post or email I have sent to Adobe has been ignored. So, I NEED AI CS5 to work, and since Adobe will not ( and has no reason to) update CS5 for El Capitan, then Apple needs to fix the bug, because it worked just fine from Snow Leopard all the way through Yosemite.

[bici]

CS5 may indeed be at the END of LIFE. In the meantime it is all well with me after i applied this fix:

Re: Illustrator CS5 crashing on exit

this fix talks about:  Go to the folder: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager and rename it CS5.5ServiceManager.bak

Well i tried that and it did't fix anything. But then i tried the same renaming at this path: Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManage and ....success. The crash on exit is now gone. for both InDesign and Illustrator.

There  is a library in USER and one at the System level. rename both.

Reminds also of this scenario: A few OS X upgrades ago my HP Scanner stopped functioning. HP disavowed any support for it. It was working fine  and there was no reason why an OS upgrade should make a "camera" stop working. I tried finding updated drivers for the HP model to no avail. And then by searching I did find a newer driver (although not for my model ... but close )  and also another upgrade for this so called incompatible driver. lo and behold...it has worked ever since. even when i upgraded to Yosemite and then to El Capitan.

Moral of the story. be stubborn and don't give up... and don't let the Datards get you down !

[Mykill_G]

"

~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager and rename it CS5.5ServiceManager.bak

Well i tried that and it did't fix anything. But then i tried the same renaming at this path: Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManage and ....success. The crash on exit is now gone. for both InDesign and Illustrator."

You are talking about renaming the FOLDER?

so

/Users/myusername/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager (where CS5.5ServiceManager is a FOLDER)

is renamed so that the path would be

/Users/myusername/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager.bak

correct?

[bici]

yes. in both USER/Library  and the Library

thus:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5ServiceManager.bak

and same in the ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5ServiceManager.bak

this last example the ~ stands for USER ....

you will notice that in the ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/ directory once you rename the CS5ServiceManager dir to

CS5ServiceManager.bak

the next  time you start CS5 another dir  called CS5ServiceManage gets created but it remains empty./

so in the  ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/ directory yo send up with TWO folders called CS5ServiceManager and CS5ServiceManager.bak

[bici]

Bonus:   i notice that all three - InDesign Illustrator and Photoshop  -  now startup much faster!

its a New Lease on Life

[Mykill_G]

Well…I tried your suggestion bici… it doesn’t crash when I close, but it still crashes when I try to change the save location… damnit

Also when I started AI, it DID NOT create the 2nd directory in the User location

I really don’t care if it crashes on close as I’m exiting the program anyway, I just want to be able to choose where I save files. Then again, at least I CAN save files then move them…

This is so frustrating

[bici]

I just tried it and i can save to where ever i chose.

The eye dropper is now causing  illustrator to crash. where it didn't before. funny enough i can use the eyedropper as long as the image is outside of the Drawing Frame... i.e. if the image is off to the side.

After all these hacks one can only conclude that these issues  rest in Adobe's court to fix -  even if these CSX are so called end of life.

Running Updater fails to finish. the internet is rife with complaints about this.

In the meantime I am going to wipe out my mac-mini, install Yosemite and use CS5 there when i absolutely need to.

PS on both my desktop and on my machine there are TWO ADOBE directories and CS5ServiceManger folders in each one