Crash on startup Mac OS X

Question

Purchased CS6 last year, installed on a (white) MacBook running Mountain Lion. All parts worked *except* Illustrator, which crashed on startup, no information.
Installed same on (borrowed from Mom, slightly older aluminum) MacBook, Illustrator worked fine. A 2-machine solution isn't in the cards for this student!
Upgraded both machines to Mavericks in the meantime, same result. I've sent crash reports to Adobe, but no response. Both machines are identical in configuration, but the white MacBook is a 2.4GHz Core2 Duo, while the aluminum one is 2.0GHz.
How can I start getting this problem diagnosed?

Answer 1

Here's the crash log; I see the 'terminating with uncaught exception of type dvacore::filesupport::dir_create_exception: $$$/dvacore/filesupport/DirCreate=The directory '@0' could not be created. Please check the parent directory protection or permission rights.' line... what directory is contained in '@0'?
I am the owner of all directories under ~/Library/Preferences.
Process:         Adobe Illustrator [24833]
Path:            /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS6/Adobe Illustrator.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Illustrator
Identifier:      com.adobe.illustrator
Version:         691 (16.0.4)
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:  launchd [190]
Responsible:     Adobe Illustrator [24833]
User ID:         504
Date/Time:       2014-09-07 16:43:07.003 -0400
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.9.4 (13E28)
Report Version:  11
Anonymous UUID:  B6F9C6CD-295F-6A75-5FAE-F53EC7DA051F
Sleep/Wake UUID: 36E0F668-FE37-4563-A208-6BC73E8638D1
Crashed Thread:  0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type:  EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Application Specific Information:
terminating with uncaught exception of type dvacore::filesupport::dir_create_exception: $$$/dvacore/filesupport/DirCreate=The directory '@0' could not be created. Please check the parent directory protection or permission rights.
abort() called
Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88076866 __pthread_kill + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff8668535c pthread_kill + 92
2   libsystem_c.dylib              0x00007fff8cf52b1a abort + 125
3   libc++abi.dylib                0x00007fff8e5daf31 abort_message + 257
4   libc++abi.dylib                0x00007fff8e60093a default_terminate_handler() + 240
5   libobjc.A.dylib                0x00007fff8c638322 _objc_terminate() + 124
6   libc++abi.dylib                0x00007fff8e5fe1d1 std::__terminate(void (*)()) + 8
7   libc++abi.dylib                0x00007fff8e5fde7b __cxa_rethrow + 109
8   com.adobe.illustrator          0x0000000100848b70 0x100000000 + 8686448
9   com.adobe.illustrator          0x0000000100704284 0x100000000 + 7357060
10  com.adobe.illustrator          0x00000001006f4cfc 0x100000000 + 7294204
11  com.adobe.illustrator          0x0000000100163528 0x100000000 + 1455400
Thread 1:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88077662 kevent64 + 10
1   libdispatch.dylib              0x00007fff87478421 _dispatch_mgr_invoke + 239
2   libdispatch.dylib              0x00007fff87478136 _dispatch_mgr_thread + 52
Thread 2:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88076e6a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86685f08 _pthread_wqthread + 330
2   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86688fb9 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 3:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88076e6a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86685f08 _pthread_wqthread + 330
2   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86688fb9 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 4:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88076e6a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86685f08 _pthread_wqthread + 330
2   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86688fb9 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 5:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff88076716 __psynch_cvwait + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86686c3b _pthread_cond_wait + 727
2   com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x00007fff82bd1800 TSWaitOnCondition + 108
3   com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x00007fff82bd19ff TSWaitOnConditionTimedRelative + 172
4   com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x00007fff82ba2145 MPWaitOnQueue + 192
5   com.adobe.ACE                  0x0000000102a2e2c9 0x1029f5000 + 234185
6   com.adobe.ACE                  0x0000000102a2d5da 0x1029f5000 + 230874
7   com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x00007fff82ba26c3 PrivateMPEntryPoint + 58
8   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86684899 _pthread_body + 138
9   libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff8668472a _pthread_start + 137
10  libsystem_pthread.dylib        0x00007fff86688fc9 thread_start + 13
Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
  rax: 0x0000000000000000  rbx: 0x00007fff71b8e310  rcx: 0x00007fff5fbff528  rdx: 0x0000000000000000
  rdi: 0x0000000000000707  rsi: 0x0000000000000006  rbp: 0x00007fff5fbff550  rsp: 0x00007fff5fbff528
   r8: 0x00007fff8df312ec   r9: 0x00007fff8cf7a8d0  r10: 0x0000000008000000  r11: 0x0000000000000206
  r12: 0x00007fff5fbff6b0  r13: 0x0000000000000000  r14: 0x0000000000000006  r15: 0x00007fff5fbff590
  rip: 0x00007fff88076866  rfl: 0x0000000000000206  cr2: 0x0000000108027f50
Logical CPU:     0
Error Code:      0x02000148
Trap Number:     133
External Modification Summary:
  Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
    task_for_pid: 1
    thread_create: 0
    thread_set_state: 0
  Calls made by this process:
    task_for_pid: 0
    thread_create: 0
    thread_set_state: 0
  Calls made by all processes on this machine:
    task_for_pid: 154644
    thread_create: 0
    thread_set_state: 0
VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=293.6M resident=121.5M(41%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=172.1M(59%)
Writable regions: Total=45.8M written=7004K(15%) resident=7676K(16%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=38.3M(84%)
REGION TYPE                      VIRTUAL
===========                      =======
CG shared images                    140K
Kernel Alloc Once                     8K
MALLOC                             30.4M
MALLOC (admin)                       32K
Memory Tag 242                       12K
STACK GUARD                        56.0M
Stack                              10.1M
VM_ALLOCATE                        1276K
__DATA                             26.8M
__IMAGE                             528K
__LINKEDIT                         89.6M
__TEXT                            204.0M
__UNICODE                           544K
mapped file                        25.9M
shared memory                         4K
===========                      =======
TOTAL                             445.3M
RAM: 8192MB
Machine: x86_64
Model: MacBook7,1
CPU * Core count: 2
CPU Frequency: 2400MHz
Bus Frequency: 1064MHz
Open GL Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce 320M OpenGL Engine
Open GL Version: 2.1 NVIDIA-8.24.15 310.90.9.05f01
Open GL Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Open GL Extensions: L_ARB_color_buffer_float, GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float, GL_ARB_depth_clamp, GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_draw_buffers, GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex, GL_ARB_draw_instanced, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow, GL_ARB_fragment_shader, GL_ARB_framebuffer_object, GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_ARB_half_float_pixel, GL_ARB_half_float_vertex, GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_instanced_arrays, GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_occlusion_query, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object, GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_provoking_vertex, GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map, GL_ARB_shader_objects, GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod, GL_ARB_shading_language_100, GL_ARB_shadow, GL_ARB_sync, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_texture_float, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_texture_rg, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra, GL_ARB_vertex_blend, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_vertex_shader, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_bindable_uniform, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_EXT_debug_label, GL_EXT_debug_marker, GL_EXT_depth_bounds_test, GL_EXT_draw_buffers2, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit, GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample, GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object, GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_EXT_geometry_shader4, GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters, GL_EXT_gpu_shader4, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil, GL_EXT_packed_float, GL_EXT_provoking_vertex, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_texture_array, GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1, GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_EXT_texture_integer, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode, GL_EXT_timer_query, GL_EXT_transform_feedback, GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra, GL_APPLE_aux_depth_stencil, GL_APPLE_client_storage, GL_APPLE_element_array, GL_APPLE_fence, GL_APPLE_float_pixels, GL_APPLE_flush_buffer_range, GL_APPLE_flush_render, GL_APPLE_object_purgeable, GL_APPLE_packed_pixels, GL_APPLE_pixel_buffer, GL_APPLE_rgb_422, GL_APPLE_row_bytes, GL_APPLE_specular_vector, GL_APPLE_texture_range, GL_APPLE_transform_hint, GL_APPLE_vertex_array_object, GL_APPLE_vertex_array_range, GL_APPLE_vertex_point_size, GL_APPLE_vertex_program_evaluators, GL_APPLE_ycbcr_422, GL_ATI_separate_stencil, GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_ATI_texture_float, GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_NV_depth_clamp, GL_NV_fog_distance, GL_NV_fragment_program_option, GL_NV_fragment_program2, GL_NV_light_max_exponent, GL_NV_multisample_filter_hint, GL_NV_point_sprite, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_NV_texture_barrier, GL_NV_vertex_program2_option, GL_NV_vertex_program3, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_lod
Headlights Logs:
No data
Reproduction Steps: Describe what you were doing when the application crashed.
Email: [email protected]
Adobe Product Version: 16.0.4
Adobe Product Build: 691
User GUID: 86615A1E-6422-4202-90D9-1AB80E070D56
Crash GUID: 578032DA-9DE7-40FC-9C6A-A02B40B6C10D