Illustrator v27.2 Crashing with Wacom tablets

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm having serious problems with Illustrator 27.2. The application is very unstable. I can't work for more than a few minutes before the application window just disappears. I'm not trying to do anything too demanding either. This evening I've been trying to start a new document, place a TIFF image, lock it down on a layer and then trace new paths over it. I can hardly get anywhere before the application crashes.

I'm running Illustrator 27.2 on a Alienware X17 R1 with Win 10 Pro. The video card drivers are up to date (NVidia RTX 3070). I've even updated the system BIOS. The crashes are still happening.

[Monika Gause]

I suppose you already did the default stuff like resetting the preferences?

The video driver is not a gaming driver?

Color management is set up correctly - (it happened in the past that it was set to Emulate Illustrator 6 after updating)

[Bobby Henderson]

I tried resetting preferences and all the other usual stuff. It just seems this 27.2 build is just not any good at all on my computer system. If a "27.2.1" release isn't coming soon I think I'll be forced to completely uninstall this version of Illustrator and revert to an earlier version.

[Bobby Henderson]

I tried switching back and forth between NVidia's latest "studio" and "gaming" drivers for the mobile RTX 3070 graphics accelerator. It doesn't appear to make any difference. The Illustrator 27.2 application window goes "poof" (disappears) after only a few mintues. The crashes even happen with a blank page and only a couple of type objects.

Illustrator 27.2 runs a bit better on my work desktop PC (a Dell XPS 8940); it has hardware fairly similar to my Alienware X17 (RTX 3070, 64GB of RAM, 11th Gen Core i7 CPU, 1TB NVMe SSD). The crashes don't happen quite as often.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Bobby Henderson, @tikyta,

We are sorry to hear about the crash. Would you mind installing an older version of Illustrator (https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/downloaded-older-app.html) and checking if it helps? Also, kindly share the crash report by following the steps shared in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/crash-next-steps.html). While submitting the report, kindly use the same email account used here in the community so we can locate it quickly.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Bobby Henderson]

One thing I can mention is I have the 27.3 beta installed on my Alienware X17. I'm not seeing the crashes while using that build of Illustrator.

[Simmer1]

Hi

Sorry to hear your having touble 

Please follow solutions in this help article that provides simple and popular troubleshooting steps for these issues.

If the solutions in the article do not help, we suggest trying a couple of other solutions described below. If you are not comfortable performing these yourself or need expert assistance, contact us using this link for our technical experts to assist you.

[tikyta]

Hey! @Simmer1 @Monika Gause 

Same issue here.. I can´t work with illustrator now, it is impossible.

This problem came with the last two updates and with the 27.2 version it is worst.

I already tried this steps to solved  https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/fix-crash-on-launch-issues.html and doesn´t work.

Please we need a solution ASAP.
I have to work in a project.

[tikyta]

I will add a clue. After every crash my settings preferences was reseted.

[tikyta]

Hi @Bobby Henderson  do you found some solution?

I´m completely desperate. Today support acceded remotely to my computer and they can´t solved the issue.

It is impossible work for more than 10 minutes.

Thanks in advance.

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't have a solution related to the general release 27.2 build. You can try running the 27.3 beta or install an earlier version of Illustrator. I don't understand why the 27.2 build runs so badly on my notebook PC. I have somewhat similar hardware installed in my worksplace Dell XPS desktop PC. The application doens't seem to crash so often (and so quickly) on that system. Illustrator 27.2 won't run for more than a few minutes on my Alienware notebook before the application window disappears.

[tikyta]

yes, I tried to found the prerelease version but is not available yet in adobeprerelease.com.

I found in another thread with this same issue that some users facing this issue when using his wacom. So I rollback the driver of my wacom to a previous version and for now is working fine. But I´m still testing.

I readed that someone contact with wacom support and they said that is an Adobe Issue.

I don´t know if this is your case. Are you using wacom too?

[Bobby Henderson]

In the Adobe Creative Cloud application you should see "Beta Apps" listed in the left column directly above the "Prerelease" category. Ten different Beta applications are available to download/install and test drive.

Regarding Wacom tablets, I do have an Intuous M connected to my notebook. It works alright. However I can't use any pressure sensitive functions with it -all thanks to the scourge of Windows Ink. I have to enable Windows Ink for the tablet to have any pressure sensitivity. But then that introduces a lot of rage-fueling nonsense via the Windows Ink "workspace." If I use the pen to click into any text object or text entry field a stupid handwriting text entry pop up jumps in the way (despite my notebook having a physical keyboard that can type text far faster than handwriting). Animated zoom in Illustrator gets killed thanks to a Windows Ink shortcut that overrrides it. If I want any pressure sensitive input with graphics creation I have to use my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to do that.

[tikyta · Accepted solution]

@Bobby Hendersonyou save me... looks that the driver wacom rollback fix the issue. More than 24hs using Illustrator and doesn´t close anymore.

About windows ink, yes I had to disable too, otherwise it is impossible work with wacom 😒

Thanks again!!!

[Bobby Henderson]

Bugs in Adobe Illustrator are usually short-lived. Problems with Wacom graphics tablets connected to Windows-based PCs appear to be a long term thing Wacom doesn't seem to want to fix. I cannot stress enough how stinking bad Windows Ink really is. It is awful. Microsoft should be ashamed of itself. The current status quo makes a Wacom graphics tablet a very poor quality purchase if it will be connected to a Windows desktop or notebook PC. If I was going to recommend a Wacom tablet to anyone I would only recommend it if they were going to connect it to a Mac-based computer. Right now Wacom and Windows totally sucks. It's awful.

[grega12749783]

I'm getting the same crash issues everyday since I installed v 27.2. First time I'm experiencing that, Illustrator was way more stable before. I'll probably install an older version. I have the latest Wacom driver available.

[Monika Gause]

 I have the latest Wacom driver available.

By @grega12749783

That driver is causing the issue.

[grega12749783]

Thank you for your answer Monika; I went back to the 27.1.1 version and don't have that crash anymore 😉

[Bobby Henderson]

I wouldn't be surprised if the crashes keep happening. I had to uninstall the current Wacom tablet driver and roll back to the one released in November.
https://www.wacom.com/en-us/support/product-support/drivers

[grega12749783]

indeed I had still crashes with previous Illustrator; solved the problem by installing a 6.3 wacom driver.