Topic: 3.0.19 now failing completely on Win 7

[Brian S]

Mike,
I'm afraid CM is now totally useless on my Win 7 64 PC, whilst I've put up with being unable to use pins, stored curves etc for weeks now, CM now fails to work at all.
Today I tried to use CM on a CMYK image (using Lab curves) in CS4 32 bit, and pow - crash land.  Now opening CM crashes with 'invalid argument' regardless of what file I open, and it does the same in both 32 bit and 64 bit CS4.

Tried re booting to no avail

I rely  on CM in my work, but can no longer risk losing valuable work or having to save every 5 mins due to crashes caused by CM.

Would appreciate any suggestions.

[curvemeister]

Brian, I'm sorry things have come to this point. 

I have been working on a new beta version, version 3.2.0.  It addresses some stability issues, including pin file and acv problems.  I can't promise that it will address the crashes you are seeing on your system.
http://curvemeister.com/downloads/cm3_beta/64bit.htm

I had thought the pin file issue was addressed with version 3.0.19, and can only assume that you notified me otherwise, perhaps via email, since your last post on Feb 19.  I also posted to the beta group, not realizing that you were not yet a member. 

To help with problems like this, where I lost track of a particular problem, I've added a ticket system.  I will create a ticket so that we can both keep closer tabs on where this problem is.

Once again, you've been more than patient, and my apologies for the frustration!

Mike

[Brian S]

Thanks Mike,

I'll try uninstalling both 32 & 64 and re-install and advise. 
Other than the pin/acv probs it had been fairly stable, however I hadn't worked on a CMYK file for a while.

It seemed to go nasty when I opened CM-32 and changed to Lab curves, from then on CM would crash every time, even when  I switched to CM/CS4 64. Somehow the CMYK/Lab thing damaged something that affects both versions.

[Greg Groess]

Was the original file in CMYK mode when you opened CM in CS4 32-bit? 
I'm going to try to make this happen as well.  I have found 3.2.0 64 bit to be pretty stable less some of the pinning issues I have sent to Mike as bugs.

[Brian S]

Greg,

Yes the file had been previously saved in CMYK.  There had been no colourspace change in the session, I just changed to Lab curves in CM then kept getting an "Encountered an Improper argument' error, which crashed CM and then PS.

It now crashes regardless on any type of file.

[Brian S]

Uninstalled both 32 and 64 bit versions, rebooted and re-installed just 32 bit CM, still crashes with the same problem.

Could there be a corrupted 'last curve'  hanging around somewhere?

[curvemeister]

Hi Brian,

I've done some checking, and the "Encountered an Improper argument" has been mentioned in connection with running 64 bit programs on certain systems. It has not been reported, unfortunately, with 32 bit systems, so this may be a new or a different problem.

The behavior is doubly puzzling because, as far as I know, the 64 and 32 bit versions of Curvemeister share no files or resource entries - even the pin files are stored separately as I believe you or someone else has remarked.

For now, I would suggest that you re-install the 32 bit version 3.0.12, which is located here:
http://curvemeister.com/downloads/curvemeister3_product_FJK/Curvemeister_3-3.0.15.exe

In the meantime, I am working on getting crash reports working correctly in 64 bit mode, and will hopefully have either a fix, or a way to track the problem down more completely, in the next few days.

I've copied this information over to your ticket so that I can keep the information in one place as a reference.

(Brian - I've sent you an additional message via the ticket system - please let me know either here or via email if you receive it)

[Alex314]

I've done some checking, and the "Encountered an Improper argument" has been mentioned in connection with running 64 bit programs on certain systems. It has not been reported, unfortunately, with 32 bit systems, so this may be a new or a different problem.

If I am recollecting correctly I got the same error message lately using 3-3.0.15b and 3-3.2.0 on my 32 bit XP pro system. I think I can reproduce this. See my ticket #607677.

[Brian S]

Mike,

firstly I got the ticket email, but clicking on the link failed to open the ticket, plus manually going to the ticket system failed as well, (entered email address and ticket #) got a server error.

Anyhoo...

uninstalled CM 32 again and cleared all refs to CM in the registry (quite a few left behind!) except for the license key entry.

Installed 32 bit 3.0.15 and started CS4, - CM now up and running , haven't tried the CMYK -Lab thing yet - not game to!
But, as expected, when I tried to use one of my pin files - a 'failed to open' occurred. Plus when I created a new pin file and a pin for it- as before it worked whilst I had CM open, but then when I returned to CM in the same session CS4 crashed, and would then crash every time I tried to use CM. However if I add a pin to the 'Nature' set installed by CM,  it works ok - huh??.

I realize I'm using an old version, but much the same happened in 3.0.19, however I make this point as I feel some of the issues must be connected - I have the belief that the following are important things to note:

1/ The install process fails to allocate any owner or security parameters to the CM folders and files - and as we know Win 7 can be touchy in this regard

2/ Adding a pin file or using an old one fails and/or crashes CM/CS4 - even though the pin file is clearly correctly constructed

3/ A new pin file and pin can be used initially (in that CM session) but then CM crashes when you return

4/ Similar crashes are found trying to open curve files

I'm of the opinion that there is a security related conflict happening here - after all a pin file is a simple text file - how can a file created by CM itself crash CM once you leave the current CM 'session' and return to CM in the same PS session?? Is it because the data was in memory the first time - and on return the file needed to be reloaded?

I'm no expert and barely understand the questions , but this last point IMO seems rather important.

At least I can get back to work (very carefully) albeit in a semi manual mode with CM

[curvemeister]

Sorry about the ticket system not working.  I believe this is due to me creating the ticket manually, and then assigning it to your email.

Back to the original bug though, that was fixed in version 3.2.0.  It involved Curvemeister using a multi-byte character set.  I have a feeling that one of your pin files was written out in multi-byte format, and this is causing Curvemeister to choke when it tries to access the pins.  This bug, as I recall, affected both the 32 and 64 bit versions.  I'[m hoping this might explain the problems that Curvemeister is causing for you.

If you could send me the pin file in question I can verify this.  Otherewise I can create one for myself, though this could be done by installing the original version that caused the problems (3.0.19) and creating or modifying a pin file.