"Could not complete the requested operation" error

Question

I've searched and read several threads on this topic, but the behavior I'm seeing here seems different.
I'm using AI CS2, XP.
Try to start AI. It immediately shuts itself down, no error message.
I close Firefox.
Try to start AI. "Could not complete the requested operation." And shuts down.
I close MSIE.
Try to start AI. "Could not complete the requested operation." And shuts down.
Closed Acrobat.
Started AI and it worked for a while, but stalled later -- I could not select the Window button at the top or any other buttons. Performance became sluggish. Did not close AI ...
Closed InDesign.
After that, AI has been working fine. Even though I reopened MSIE.
Could the problem be something in my memory/swap file/whatever settings?
I had the same problem on my old PC, but I thought it was a memory issue since I only had 1.5 GB of RAM (I had adequate, although not excessive, hard drive space). But this is a new computer with 3GB of RAM, a zippy processor, and I have tons and tons of empty hard drive space.
If not memory, could it have something to do with files that are in use when any of those other apps (Firefox, etc.) are running? (Not that I'd know how to do anything about it.)
AI is the only app that behaves this way. Normally I can run ID, PS, Firefox, MSIE, Word, Quark, Acrobat and Eudora at the same time with no noticeable performance problems. And I do this on a daily basis.
I've tried deleting the prefs file, but the problem keeps happening, so I don't think it's prefs. And I see from my reading that a corrupt font might be the culprit, but how often does anyone get a corrupt on PC?? I think I've had a corrupt font once in all the years I've been doing DTP on PC.
Anyway, all my fonts seem to work just fine, so I don't know how I'd know if one was corrupt.
I'm open to suggestions. I hate having to shut down a bunch of apps just to run AI.
TIA,
Marlene

Answer 1

Hi Len,
How are ya?
Nope, I didn't reuse RAM (or anything else) from the old PC. Everything is brand new. I wanted to keep the old PC completely intact (as a backup).
I hadn't patched AI or ID, so I did that. Then I opened a bunch of apps and tried to start AI, but got the "Could not complete the requested operation" message again.
Had to shut down an app (Nero, FWIW) to get AI to start. At the time, about half of my RAM was in use, my PF usage was 1.29 GB, and CPU usage was very low (like 3%).
AI is running now. But I'd still like it to run whenever I want, with no squawking about requested operations.
And yes, I had the same problem on the old PC. One big advantage of the old PC is that I still have old versions of everything (AI, PS, ID) installed, so when AI 12 refused to start, I'd just use the previous version.
But I didn't install any old versions of Adobe software on the new PC, just CS2.
OT: Should I also update PS? Apparently I haven't done that either.
Fontessa