I have been experiencing a repeating bug in both CorelDRAW and Corel Photopaint. The bug works as follows:
If the program has been running more than a few minutes, it will crash without any notification or error message when accessing the color selector dialog boxes. This happens in both Draw and in Photopaint. The app does not issue any form of warning (aside from freezing momentarily) and just exits, resulting in the loss of all work that has been done since your last save. I have tracked the problem down to a couple of DLL files which throw a .Net exception code. The same errors happen regardless of whether you are using CorelDRAW or Photopaint. The offending DLL's are CrlClr.dll (part of the color subsystem for the Corel suite) mfc140u.dll (part of .Net). The error code is almost always the same, regardless of the offending DLL: "0x c0000005" My primary system is a dual Xeon CPU (twin E5-2670's) with 128GB of ECC RAM, an SSD main drive and dual Quadro 2000's, running Windows 10 Pro (64bit, all updates current). The same problem happens on other machines I have tried the app on (several different machines from Core i7's to i5's with RAM ranging from 8GB up to 16GB, all running Win10 pro), so this is not an issue isolated to my personal hardware. The same exact silent crash happens on all of them, and the same DLL files and error codes are reported in Windows' logs.
This is a show-stopping error that has cost me hours of work and lost money as a result. The problem is repeatable and from what I have seen, it is common with other users in these forums.I contacted Corel tech support by their support chat and the person on the other end had the nerve to tell me that CorelDRAW 2019 is not compatible with Windows 10 Pro, even though it states quite plainly on their website that it is compatible and the fact that literally no professional or business machines run Win10 "home" edition. It was easy to tell that the person honestly had no idea what the problem actually could be and was simply trying to get rid of me. I then tried to talk to tech support on the phone. I was barely through my explanation (see above) before the lady told me that the problem needed to be elevated and that her supervisor would call me back shortly.
THAT WAS A WEEK AGO. I have yet to hear back from Corel on the matter.I have been using CorelDRAW since version 3. Literally for DECADES. I have NEVER seen such a bug that was so easily repeatable and show-stopping. This problem has persisted through THREE updates now. It seems like a relatively easy problem to track down and fix, and given the number of people it effects, I find it mind boggling that Corel has not done something about it yet.What is going on? Why can't you fix this major problem with your software, Corel? You are losing customers over this. You need to make it a priority over adding features or even smaller non-critical bug fixes.
I MIGHT, *MIGHT* have found a solution...I figured that maybe it was an issue with video card drivers (perhaps tied to how corel is using them to render colors and text), so I updated from the standard baked in OEM drivers for Win10 to the latest greatest Nvidia drivers for my Quadros. So far, I have not been able to recreate the blind crash. It's still early in my tests, but Corel seems snappier in general, especially when working with text.Wish me luck.
Please keep us posted.
Sharon
Quick question... is it possible to have TOO MUCH RAM for Corel? Most machines have far less than what this one does (128GB of ECC DRAM installed - most have a maximum of 64GB of NON-ECC DRAM). Could the error correction built into the RAM and memory controller on this machine be causing an issue since it detects things like apps trying to access areas they are not entitled to as an error? The machine was designed as a graphics workstation for high end 3D rendering and CAD (which is another of my job functions), and the board/RAM is basically server grade hardware. It seems unlikely since the app is 64bit and therefore theoretically capable of addressing at least 4TB of RAM, but I suppose if the programmer took shortcuts on memory management/garbage collection, it's possible that too much RAM could be an issue. I have observed the app using as much as 19GB+ of RAM in the past when working on detailed vehicle wraps and such.
Too bad you have to waste time trying to figure everything that could possibly be "wrong" with your system, then ultimately find out later that nothing wrong at all with your system. Just have to wait and see huh?
It's simple... prior verisions work JUST FINE on the same machines... always have... v2019 does NOT. (try it, and let us know!)
It's not your system, it's things done DIFFERENTLY in CorelDraw v2019. To be fair, it could also be something introduced by Microsoft Windows 10 and their continually updates... but CorelDraw 2019 supports Windows 10.
v2019 had DRASTIC changes compared to prior versions. It's NOT a finished solid piece of software. It's obvious these changes and new features are not ready.
Very anxious to see what Corel resolves for you as your case is similar to mine and others here.
I notice that when you run 2019 there is an extra process "Corel Interprocess Controller" that was not present in previous versions. I strongly suspect that may be either the source of the trouble or a failed attempt by Corel to fix the access violations that occur when you run multiple Corel apps concurrently.