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Jcostantino · #1 (**permalink**) 12-16-2004, 06:37 AM

We have Preps 4.2 running in Classic mode on OS 10.2 and recently have run into HUGE problems getting reliable output - I'll list them here in order of appearance:

1. (started a few months ago) Various buttons will be greyed out, settings will default back, marks won't be able to be placed, etc. Restarting will fix that but my guy who handles the CTP stuff can get around it with a restart or two.

2. (started the 3rd week of November) Documents will print through our color laser from the artist machines with no issues but when they get proofed from Preps, text on the same line is starting to run together and overlap. Usually, making a PDF fixes this. Sometimes the artist will have to retype the entire line and resend the seps.

3. (Started Tuesday) greyscale TIFFs on a non-black plate aren't printing. We had one job which was changed from 4 color to 2 color and one of the logos refused to print. The Preps preview showed the red plate as cyan and the non-printing logo as red.

We discovered yesterday that if we dragged the raw postscript right onto the (harlequin) RIP, all of the problems with graphics and text vanish. That showed us 100% that our problem is with Preps. Another interesting bit is that jobs that were saved from Preps prior to the third week of November but weren't sent to be plated are fine. Something broke down around Thanksgiving weekend and has gradually gotten worse as time progressed. We started out having only issues with CMYK jobs but it's progressed to 2 and 3 color work as well.

If anyone needs additional information, please feel free to ask and I will provide it. We are supposed to be seeing someone from our software distributor today but they are dragging their feet on it and pointing fingers everywhere else but at the software. We are also seriously considering moving to TruFlow and scrapping all of this cobbled together software.

Jcostantino · #2 (**permalink**) 12-16-2004, 07:09 AM

One thing I forgot to mention is that a PDF will fix some problems as opposed to sending straight PS to preps. That isn't fixing the graphic problems though.

ajr · #3 (**permalink**) 12-17-2004, 04:00 AM

Have you tried re-installing preps? It sounds like the software is corrupted. I've run preps for over 6 years and I've had no major problems.

T · #4 (**permalink**) 12-23-2004, 11:15 AM

Did you install 4.2.3? There is a newer version (fix)

rhctp · #5 (**permalink**) 01-02-2005, 06:20 AM

I would upgrade to Preps 5 if you are running Plus it is less than $1000, and it fixes alot of the problems from 4.2. I have been running 5 for 4 months with out a problem.