Acrobat 9 Crash Problem

I just installed 9 Pro this evening, and am having the same problem. I had Acrobat 7 Pro, but removed it manually before installing 9.

The crash shows a fatal error with the authplay.dll file, which is related to the Flash integration in the portfolio function.

Other Acrobat Flash-related functions, such as adding an audio file to the page, work, however.

I am also running XPSP3.

I do have an old version of Macromedia Flash 5 on the computer, but it doesn't even use this DLL.

**UPDATE**

Removing old Flash 5, and repairing Acrobat 9 Pro application did NOT fix problem. Will escalate to Adobe support for advice.

My new installation of Acrobat 9 was working fine (no Adobe Reader installed) until I installed the latest security update. Now when I open Acrobat it automatically opens the last 3 files and then crashes. I tried an installation repair to no avail. If I uninstall and then reinstall what about the lastest security update?? Leave it out??

Does it really crash or only close after about 10 seconds?
In the first case there will be a error message I think. What does it say?
In the second case, the installation failed the authentification process after opening the app.
This happens with an wrong licence key for example.

Otherwise it can be helpful to delete or rename the Adobe folder under c:\documents and setting\your username\app data\adobe\
Sometimes a corrupt file in this folder can cause a crash.

You also can try to lanch the app with another user account.
If it works fine then, then it seems to be the case above.

I too have just installed acrobat 9 pro after acrobat 8 pro. Acrobat will throw up an error message with authplay.dll when I try to use the portfolio function. Acrobat will then close when the error message is closed. I am running window XP sp3. I have uninstalled then reinstalled acrobat 9 Pro but the same thing happens. I tried not installing any updates but the problem remains.
One odd thing though is if I open a PDF file in acrobat by double clicking the pdf file the portfolio function works!. If I close the pdf file without closing acrobat then the portfolio function still works.

This same version is running on other computers under a licence agreement an none of them have this problem.

Anybody got any ideas?

Have you removed Acrobat 8? Have you tried the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility before installing Acrobat 9?

Hi lkassuba,

No I have not tried that yet. I will try that a little later on today and will post the results.

Thanks

running the windows installer clean up utility did not help. Checked the registry for any old entries but could not find any.

I am running out of ideas as to what to try next. Maybe I will have to go back to acrobat 8 because I know that works ok.

I'm helping johnmurf with this. Acrobat 8 was uninstalled prior to installing 9. There are no entries for Acrobat in the windows installer cleanup util to run once we've uninstalled them using Add/Remove Programs. We've tried:

- Uninstalling 9 and re-installing and testing the Portfolio function at every version - 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 They all fail the same.
- Deleted any Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat folders between installs.
- Updated all Flash and Shockwave plugins to latest version.
- Deleted HLKM and HKCU\Software\Adobe reg keys.
- Used different user profiles.
- Deleted any Adobe folders in those user profiles.

All other computers with this installation of Acrobat 9 Pro work fine. The only other non-standard Adobe Product on johnmurf's computer is Photoshop 7..

Is there a log file generated when Acrobat is run or is it possible to generate one?

Still no solution to why Acrobat Pro 9 stops with and error message to authplay.dll when i try to use the portfolio function.

Adobe support can not give me an answer apart from trying different things that I have already told them I have done.

Now they say mine version is not registered and unless I register it they will not provide any further support. A vacant threat really, as they not provided any support at all, probably cause they do not have a solution or do not care to find one.

As the portfolio function is one of the main functions I want the program is useless. If I can not find a solution very soon I will have no option than to uninstall Acrobat pro 9 and reinstall pro 8 and then ask for my licence fee back.

Adobe was a respected company with good products once but now there products are only just average and their treatment of customers is bad.

so does anyone have a solution or workaround to my problem?

The PDF Portfolios use special layouts sometimes referred to as navigators. These .NAV files are a container format that holds the SWF, can also reference other files video clips, images, and sound files to provide a rich multi-media experience. They utilize the built in Flash player in Acrobat 9 and this Flash player uses the authplay.dll component you mention. This dll file is typically located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0]\Acrobat\authplay.dll. Do you have this file? To avoid security vulnerabilities some folks renamed this file before the Acrobat security update was released. Have you check your system for viruses?

Can you post the exact error message you receive?

Is there anything in the System or Application log files?

To view the System and Application Log:

1. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, and double-click Administrative Tools.
2. Double-click Event Viewer, select System or Application Log in the Event Viewer window, and note the following:
* A white x in a red circle indicates that a service or driver is stopped (i.e., it didn't start or load).
* A black exclamation point in a yellow triangle warns of a possible future problem, such as low disk space.

Note: You can ignore warnings that indicate a new printer driver was installed.
3. For more information about an entry, right-click it, choose Properties from the pop-up menu, and read the Description section. If you can't determine which events are related to the problem, then re-create the System or Application Log:
1. Open Event Viewer, right-click the System or Application Log, and choose Clear All Events from the pop-up menu. To save the current System or Application Log, click Yes when Windows returns the message "Do you want to save 'System Log' before clearing it?"
2. Close Event Viewer, and try to re-create the problem.
3. After the problem recurs, open Event Viewer and view the System or Application Log.
4. Note the description, source, and EventID, and search for a solution to the error on the Microsoft website at http://support.microsoft.com , or contact Microsoft or the hardware vendor for assistance.

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0]\Acrobat\authplay.dll. Do you have this file? To avoid security vulnerabilities some folks renamed this file before the Acrobat security update was released. Have you check your system for viruses"

Yes I have the authplay.dll files in the right directory. The file has not been renamed. Itried renaming it and Acrobat wont start as it says the file is missing. Tried different version of the file with the same result.
The system has been checked for viruses.

The program has be reinstalled about four times now and the problem remains.
Have cleaned out the registry between reinstalls but that doesn't help either
Have tried the uninstaller utility, still has the same problem.

The odd thing is if I open a PDF by double clicking it and then close the PDF file and leave acrobat running the portfolio function works, but only once. If I start Acrobat and then open a PDF and then close the pdf the portfolio function wont work

I have not check the event logs, but I will when I go back to work on Monday and I will post a copy of the error message.

Thanks for your help with this.

I have gone through the event logs and only under application is there an entry. The details of the entry that appears in the log is the same one that Acrobat displays when it dies.

The entry is:
Faulting application acrobat.exe, version 9.1.0.163, Faulting module authplay.dll, version 9.0.246.0, Fault address 0x001e2a45

I am also extremely frustrated with portfolio. It could be immensely useful, but it keeps crashing. It seems totally unstable and unresponsive. Why doesnt someone at adobe sort the issue out?????

Everytime I try to add file details, it either stalls or I get an error saying the programme is not responding.

to Dobiuser, I have not been able to solve this problem no has Adobe
Adobe will no longer respond to me emails or support requests.

Basically they have no idea and they do not care because they have already got their money.

I have dumped ver. 9 and gone back to Acrobat 8

It almost sounds as if you're experiencing the crash issues noted in the following [url=http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.php]security bulletins[/url]. Have you tried updating your copy of Acrobat?

Do you have other Flash apps on your system (i.e., CS4, AIR, etc.)?

I'm experiencing the exact same problem. PDF portfolio opens up and displays all the contents but when clicking on another file to view, it crashes. Any resolution to this? I've got 10 machines doing this in our office. Its crippling us.

Thanks,

Tom Baurley
thomas [dot] baurley [at] us [dot] army [dot] mil

I was experiencing Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 crashes very often after saving new .pdf files with Acrobat Pro 8. I upgraded to Pro 9 and the exact same problems continued. Recently I had the option of using a free Norton Security Suite after changing ISP from DSL to Cable. I was using Advanced System Optimizer by SysTweak as my Security Suite. I completely uninstalled the Systweak program and installed the Norton program. Adobe Acrobat Pro Version 9.4.1 has not crashed even once since removing the SysTweak suite, after several weeks of creating lots of .pdf files from scanner and printing to .pdf. I explained the situation to SysTweak but they had no comments.

My pronlems were instantly resolved when I upgraded to MS Vista. I am now running on Windows 7 - 64 bit with no acrobat problems.

XP user. Have same problems.