Why does Prism (versions 3 and earlier for Windows) sometimes crash when I try to open a file, create a new file, or save a file?

Whenever you create a new file or open an existing one, Prism communicates with the printer driver to get information about page size and margins. A bug in a few printer drivers causes Prism to crash at this point. Prism can also crash if your default printer is a network printer that is not available.

The exact wording of the error message depends on which version of Windows you use and perhaps on which printer driver you use. The message may include one or more of the following phrases:

• Illegal Operation
• page fault in kernel32.dll
• instruction at 0x77fcb397 referenced memory at 0x7e9d0d5b
• unable to open the file
• memory could not be written
• prism.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You need to restart. An error log has been generated.

If you use Prism 3.00 to 3.02, please update (free) to version 3.03 or upgrade.

• If you updated to version 3.03, go to "Tools.. File & Printer Options". Make sure the box labeled "Do not save (or read) printer properties in pzm files" is checked. Learn more about this option.
• If you upgraded, see these instructions for Prism 4.

If you still encounter error messages on startup, please switch to a different printer driver. You can try any printer driver as a test to see if this solves the issue. Of course, you'll need to find a printer driver compatible with your printer before you can actually print. The problem seems to occur only with certain versions of the printer driver, so try to update yours. Try installing the printer driver from your Windows CD rather than from the CD that came with the printer. In some cases, switching to a printer driver provided by Microsoft with Windows, instead of drivers provided by printer manufacturers, has solved the problem.

If you use Windows 2000, it may also help to update to the latest service pack.

We don't understand this, but here is a work-around that has worked for several people using Prism 3.03 and Windows 2000. If they selected either to open a file or make a new file from the Welcome dialog, Prism 3.03 crashed. But this work around prevented it. Cancel from the Welcome dialog, then use the "File... Open" command and cancel from it. THEN use "File... Open" or "File... New" (or the toolbar buttons). No, it doesn't make sense, but this was the only way that two people were able to get Prism to run. We are trying to understand this problem further and find a proper fix.

Prism 3 cannot create new files or open a file (at least on Windows XP) if you log in with a name that uses two-byte fonts. This will be the case if you enter a name using Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese characters or any other language that uses two-byte fonts. Windows uses that name when creating a path for temporary files, but Prism gets confused when it tries to use a path that includes those characters. This is fixed in Prism 4. To use Prism 3, you need to log in using "ordinary" (American or European) characters.

If you still use Prism 2, use a printer driver without the bug. Some of our customers have switched to the HP4P driver, and tell us that it works fine with Prism and works fine with the newer HP printers. To install a new printer driver, choose "Start.. Settings.. Printers.. Add Printer". You'll probably need your Windows CD. You can also download drivers from www.microsoft.com. Note that you don't need to replace the printer, just the driver software.

After a crash, it's always helpful to remove the temporary files that are left around. You can read further details here.