Rulebook making Adobe Reader 8.2 and 9.3 shut down

[jomataur]

I just bought and downloaded the FC rulebook and all the Call To Arms supplements today, from DriveThruRPG.

The supplements are wonderful.

However, the Rulebook is (apparently) causing two versions of Adobe Reader (8.2 and 9.3) to shut down a few seconds after the .pdf opens. 

BTW, this was also happening with the preview version of the rulebook.

Help?

[MilitiaJim]

Foxit PDF Reader.  It's free and works, and you can save form fillable PDFs.

[Crafty_Pat]

What versions of Windows and Acrobat are you using?

[jomataur]

I'm using Windows Vista and the file acted the same way with two, Two, TWO versions of Acrobat:  8.2 and (after I downloaded the latest version)  9.3.


I uninstalled Acrobat and got Foxit.  The file works just fine with Foxit. 

[Krensky]

Did you uninstall the old version and delete it's files before installing the new/

[Crafty_Pat]

Do us a favor and see what Event Viewer says about the crash. Here's how you can reach it...

Start/Control Panel/System and Maintenance/Administrative Tools/Event Viewer

You want the event log in the left pane.

Post the info in the related log and we'll see what we can figure out.

Also, just to double-check, how did you install those two versions of Acrobat (i.e. clean install or incremental upgrade) and were two or more versions of Acrobat ever live on your system at once (at any point since your last hard wipe of the hard drive)?

[jomataur]

Pat,

The versions were incremental upgrades.  I don't know whether 2+ versions of Acrobat were ever on this platform, as it's the wife's old laptop (passed down recently when she upgraded).

Anyway, here are two event log text shots, the first for Acrobat v8.x and the second for v 9.x:

ACROBAT VERSION 8 - - -

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          5/11/2010 3:59:55 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Meig-PC
Description:
Faulting application AcroRd32.exe, version 8.2.2.217, time stamp 0x4bb631f8, faulting module MakeAccessible.api, version 8.2.2.217, time stamp 0x4bb61c1a, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0002f3f8, process id 0x9b4, application start time 0x01caf15bf0237d00.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2010-05-11T22:59:55.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>62909</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Meig-PC</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>AcroRd32.exe</Data>
    <Data>8.2.2.217</Data>
    <Data>4bb631f8</Data>
    <Data>MakeAccessible.api</Data>
    <Data>8.2.2.217</Data>
    <Data>4bb61c1a</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>0002f3f8</Data>
    <Data>9b4</Data>
    <Data>01caf15bf0237d00</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>



ACROBAT VERSION 9 - - -

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          5/11/2010 4:25:02 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Meig-PC
Description:
Faulting application AcroRd32.exe, version 9.3.0.148, time stamp 0x4b309800, faulting module MakeAccessible.api, version 9.3.0.148, time stamp 0x4b307397, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0004cb76, process id 0xfcc, application start time 0x01caf160b69810f0.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2010-05-11T23:25:02.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>62929</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Meig-PC</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>AcroRd32.exe</Data>
    <Data>9.3.0.148</Data>
    <Data>4b309800</Data>
    <Data>MakeAccessible.api</Data>
    <Data>9.3.0.148</Data>
    <Data>4b307397</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>0004cb76</Data>
    <Data>fcc</Data>
    <Data>01caf160b69810f0</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>









































A

[Crafty_Pat]

Alrigthy. Do me a couple favors please...

1. Clean wipe every instance of Acrobat (full and/or Reader) from that machine and re-install one and only one. Then try opening the file and see if it works.

2. If it doesn't, please rename "MakeAccessible.api" to "MakeAccessible.ignoreapi" and try again.

Please post the results.

(The first request is my own, based on prior experience with Adobe programs, which are notoriously flaky when multiple versions and/or legacy bits in the registry are in play. The second is a fix I came across researching the issue.)

Thanks!

[TheAuldGrump]

For a while I had two different versions of Reader running happily on one machine - the old one was never removed when the new one installed. I guess that qualifies as 'flaky'. Then one day I updated the newer version and the older one went away.

Too bad, there were some old DRM protected PDFs that could not be read by the newer version. Not that I blame Adobe for getting rid of that godsawful DRM. The PDFs were from the days when DriveThruRPG had a weekly freebie - I never paid for any with the horrible DRM, though I did need to replace them when the DRM was tossed into a corner like a used Kleenex.

The Auld Grump, give me watermarking over DRM, every day.

[jomataur]

Pat,

Your fix worked without me having to make any changes to "MakeAccessible.api".  MANY thanks!   

[Crafty_Pat]

Pat,

Your fix worked without me having to make any changes to "MakeAccessible.api".  MANY thanks!   

Excellent! Thanks for letting me know.