Why does Prism (version 4 for Windows) sometimes crash when I try to open a file, create a new file, or save a file?

First, make sure you have updated to the latest release of Prism 4. We've worked hard to make Prism 4 compatible with all systems and printers, and the problems listed below are exceedingly unlikely to happen with Prism 4.02 or later.

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.

This problem is very rare with Prism 4, but it occurs with older versions of the HP2100 printer driver and perhaps some others. If you use that driver, update at www.hp.com. The same problem might also happen with other printer drivers, so try updating. Also choose "Edit...Preferences..." and select the "File & Printer" tab. Check the option "Do not save (or read) page size to (or from) .pzf file". Also note that Prism 4 does need to find some printer driver. If you are running a computer that is not connected to any printer, that's OK, but you have to choose a printer driver anyway to make Prism 4 happy. You don't need a printer itself, just install and choose a driver (any one will do).

If Prism 4.02 (or later) Windows still crashes on startup, please follow these steps to create a log file to help us diagnose the problem:

1. Right click on the Prism shortcut on the desktop or start menu, and select Properties.
2. Add " /L" (without the quotes) to the target so it looks something like this (with quotes around the path, but not around the /L):
   "C:\Program Files\GraphPad\Prism 4\prism.exe" /L
3. Close Properties. Launch Prism, and create a new data table (go past the Welcome dialog). Then exit Prism.
4. Email the file pz4log.log, which will be in the Prism folder, to support at graphpad dot com.

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