Illustrator CS 5 Print Problem

Question

CS5 (suite) Windows XP SP3, drivers etc up to date.
Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, MS Office apps all print fine.
Illustrator, Any attempt to change printer settings causes Illustrator to lock up solid, CAD required. (Can change printers, but not settings, occurs with all 3 printers (HP Laser, 2 x Epson Inkjets)
Screen shows video corruption (overwriting of the dialog window). CAD response shows "Waiting for input", the last action was an input (click on button to save change, next action may be input in next box (options) or click on "Print". Since nothing is visible, input can't be provided.
I had no problem with IL CS4 (or 3  or...) on this system.
Adobe Tech Support has not been able to resolve this after approx 10 hrs work on the phone and my own testing.
Delete prefs, uninstall/reinstall IL, reinstall printer driver (same, current) etc don't resolve this. Adobe now says "we can't resolve this".
Any further ideas?
Thanks,
Richard James

Answer 1

Wade,
>Says who.
Logic, see below.
>I  have an Epson scanner that I usually attach to my Mac via Firewire  cable, Firewire 400. It sometimes functions and sometimes does not,even  when it does it requires repeated attempts though I can get a perfectly  good scan from it. Under OS 10.5x and 10.4x it work fine via firewire  with an occasional difficulty.
In my case (put alll these together to see the whole picture):
a) its Windows not Mac
b) it's etehrnet and USB, not firewire
c) its 3 devices not one.
d) its two hardware subsystems
In addition:
1) multiple programs print fine, Illustrator does not
2) Illustrator installed (from the same files) on another rmachine on the network prints to all 3 printers across the network (thus using the same devices and cables)
3) It fails when selecting PDF as output, which should not be accessing any physical printers.
And lastly:
it fails in multi-level dialog boxes (different for each printer, different drivers) before getting back to the primary printer dialog box (which is the same for all printers, which is before any information should be generated to send to the printer.
Just to prove it::
i) I disconencted all printers, still fails
ii) I conencted one printer at a time, original cables, still fails
iii) I conencted one printer at a time using differnt cables, it still fails.
You suggest "a hardware error" or "corruption"
I suppose it is possible, but unlikely, that some other piece of hardware is about to fail and  interacts only with Illustratior when printing (Note, the "ONLY" is critical). Do you have any suggestions?
"Corruption" is also possible (more likely IMO)
I) we can probably rule out the install files as it is installed and works from the same files on another machine
II) we can possibly rule out a corrupt install as its been installed 3 times with the same problem on this machine and once on another (that works). The installs did not generate any error mesages and other features work.
III) we can rule out preferences (they have been removed) unless for some reason the "printer preferences" are being corrupted (by what?) during the installation.
IV) it could be a corrupt or incorrect registry entry generated during install, that is NOT being removed by the uninstall utility. Adobe could not tell me what, if anything (this seems more likely IMO). Can you?
V) I downloaded and installed MS's "Process Monitor" utility, this shows no system errors during attempts to print.
Richard