551 Appendix D. Troubleshooting

No software is perfect, and chances are, sooner or later, something will disrupt your otherwise blissful experience with Nisus Writer. While the number of things that could go wrong (and the list of possible solutions) is quite large, there are some basic things anyone can check. When you encounter problems, here are some steps you can take to resolve them.

What Have You Got?

When someone calls Nisus Technical Support with a problem, certain questions are always asked first. If you ask yourself these questions (and understand why they’re important), you’ll increase your chances of solving the problem.

• 552 What version of Nisus Writer are you using? (If you’re not sure, select the Nisus Writer icon in the Finder and choose Get Info from the File menu.) Nisus Writer is continually updated as bugs and incompatibilities are found. It’s possible that the problem you’re having has already been fixed in a more recent version, and that you can simply obtain an update on-line or in the mail. Remember, a given release (like 4.1) can undergo several different revisions (like 4.1.3)—each is considered a different “version.” In general, you should always try to use the most recent version. Updates can usually be found at any of Nisus Software’s on-line locations. (See below under “Other Sources for Answers”.)
• What version of the MacOS are you using? (If you’re not sure, go to the Finder and choose About This Macintosh… from the Apple menu.) Some conflicts and problems occur only with certain versions of the MacOS. Again, it usually pays to have the most recent version of the System, plus any system updates that Apple has released recently.
• What is your setup? The model of computer you’re using and the amount of RAM it has (along with any other hardware or software add-ons you may be using) can make a big difference in diagnosing a problem. The most common configuration problem is too little RAM—for best results, you should have a total of at least 8 MB on a 680x0 machine or 16 MB on a Power Macintosh—and more is always better. Refer to Chapter 9 for more information on fine-tuning Nisus Writer’s memory usage.
• When did the problem start? If you can trace the beginning of your problem back to some specific activity, or perhaps a change you recently made to your system (like adding an extension or switching to a new video setting), this can help to isolate the culprit.
• Can you reproduce the problem? Problems that occur intermittently are very hard to track down. But if you can come up with an exact series of steps that always causes the problem to happen, then presumably the 553 technicians at Nisus will be able to follow the same steps to reproduce the problem there. Going to the effort of figuring this out may even suggest something you can do temporarily to work around the problem.

Dealing with Crashes

A “crash” is when any of the following things happens:

• Your pointer “freezes” and no amount of mouse action will make it move.
• Your pointer still moves, but even after waiting several minutes, no matter where you click, nothing happens. (Note that on slower machines or in low-memory situations, this may simply mean that Nisus Writer is still processing a command.)
• Nisus Writer unexpectedly quits (with or without an accompanying error message).
• A dialog box displaying a “bomb” appears, saying that a system error has occurred.

Crashes may or may not be caused by Nisus Writer…it may be that Nisus Writer just happened to be running when something else decided to go wrong. In any case, the first thing you should do if you experience a crash is to restart the computer—even if you are not forced to restart. (If you continue working on your computer, chances are it will crash again.) Often, merely restarting solves the problem. But if you continue to experience crashes, here are some things you can do:

• Restart with extensions off. Hold down the Shift key as you restart. (You can release it when you see the message “Welcome to Macintosh. Extensions off.”.) A large percentage of crashes can be traced to extension conflicts. If the problem goes away when you don’t have the extensions loaded, you know that one (or more) of them was the cause. You can then selective-554ly turn extensions on or off until you locate the problem. A control panel like Apple’s Extensions Manager or Conflict Catcher 3 can simplify this process.
• Rebuild your desktop file. Apple recommends that you do this once a month even if you don’t have any problems. But some system difficulties (like icons becoming “generic” or files not being able to find the applications they go with) can often be solved by rebuilding your desktop file. To do this, hold down the Command and Option keys when you restart, until you see a dialog box asking if you really want to rebuild the desktop.
• Reinstall Nisus Writer. If Nisus Writer is the only application that causes your computer to crash, and if you’re sure you have the latest version, it may be that the program has become damaged somehow and needs to be reinstalled.
• If all else fails, reinstall your System. Persistent crashes—particularly those that don’t appear to be tied to any individual application—may be caused by damaged System software. Try re-installing your System from the original CD-ROM or floppies.

Printing Problems

Most printing problems with Nisus Writer can be traced to the printer driver being used. In general, the Apple LaserWriter driver produces much better results than third-party drivers. If you have a third-party PostScript laser printer, see if it will work with the Apple driver instead. Another general rule is that printing in the background is less reliable than printing in the foreground. Try turning off background printing and see if things improve. And if you’re using a non-PostScript printer, you may want to invest in a copy of the latest version of Adobe Type Manager (ATM). Some of the fonts used by the Table Tool and certain WorldScript languages will not print smoothly on a QuickDraw printer without ATM.

There have been some problems with the LaserWriter 8.x driver that earlier versions did not have. Apple still includes the older (version 7) LaserWriter driver on its System Software CD’s—you may want to install that if you have problems with LaserWriter 8.

555 Language Key Problems

There are a number of problems that are unique to systems using the Language Key. Here are the two most common ones:

• WorldScript font names look like “garbage” on the font menu, and I can’t type in any non-Roman font.
  This happens when Nisus Writer cannot detect the presence of a Language Key on your ADB chain. Turn off your computer, then check to see that your key is plugged in and that it is not loose. If you have trouble getting a good connection, move the key to a different location on the ADB chain. It can be plugged directly into any ADB port, into your keyboard, or even between the keyboard and the mouse. If moving the key doesn’t work, check to see whether you can enter WorldScript properly in other applications (like SimpleText or even Stickies). If Nisus Writer is the only application that won’t let you use WorldScript, it’s likely that your Language Key is defective. Contact Nisus Software to find out whether a replacement key is needed, and if so, how to obtain one.
• I installed the Language Key Extensions, but the Keyboard menu didn’t appear on my menu bar.
  If the Keyboard menu doesn’t show up, it’s a sure sign that your Language Key Extensions were not installed properly. This menu appears whenever there is at least one non-primary script in your System file. The usual cause of incorrect installation is not following the installer’s instructions precisely. At the end of the installation process, there will be a folder named “IMPORTANT” on your desktop, and inside that, another folder named “Drag to System Folder & Restart.” This folder must be dropped onto your closed System Folder to work correctly—dragging it into your (open) System Folder window won’t work. After dragging it onto the System Folder, a message 556 will ask if you really want to put these items in the special places where they belong—answer OK. (Be sure that you first throw away any existing folder inside your System Folder named “Drag to System Folder & Restart”!)

If you switch to a new startup disk, you must reinstall the Language Kit or Language Key Extensions from the original disks. You can’t just drag the WorldScript-related files from one system into the other, because some resources are “invisibly” installed into your System file.

Other Sources for Answers

• On-Line Services
  Visit the Nisus forum on one of the major on-line services: America Online (keyword nisus), CompuServe (go macaven), or eWorld (shortcut nisus).

• The Internet
  If you have Internet access, visit Nisus Software’s technical support page (including a list of frequently asked questions) on the World Wide Web (http://www.nisus-soft.com/technical_support.html). Demos, updates, and other files can also be found at the Nisus ftp site (ftp://ftp.nisus-soft.com/pub/nisus/).

• The Nisus Mailing List
  An electronic mailing list for the discussion of Nisus Writer is available to anyone with E-mail access. Hundreds of Nisus Writer users—including quite a few Nisus employees (and myself, naturally) subscribe to this list. If you have a question about how to do something with Nisus Writer, chances are someone on the list will be able to answer it. To subscribe to the list, send a message (no subject needed) with the line subscribe nisus Your Name (fill in your own name) to listserv@dartmouth.edu. You’ll receive full details about posting messages to the list when you subscribe.

557 Contacting Technical Support

If you’ve tried everything in this appendix and still haven’t resolved your problem, it’s time to contact Nisus Technical Support. Before you do, take note of all the items under “What Have You Got?” above; they’ll want to know, and it will help to have that information handy.

There are a number of ways to reach the technical support department:

1. Send E-mail. On America Online and eWorld the address is NisusTech. On CompuServe, it’s 75300,1243, and on the Internet, it’s support@nisus-soft.com.
2. Send a fax to (619) 481-6154.
3. Call technical support at (619) 481-1477.
4. Send mail to Nisus Technical Support, P.O. Box 1300, Solana Beach, CA 92075.

Of all the methods of contacting Technical Support, E-mail is far and away the best. You’ll generally get the quickest response, it’s the easiest type of inquiry for the folks at Nisus to deal with, and best of all, the service is free!