Scal 5 cracks

[SuperSix]

I am experiencing an issue in Scal 5 since last September: as soon as I try to open the print+cut windows, the software cracks without any other info. Last year I solved it by using SCAL4; it surprisingly worked just fine.

Anyway I want to use the last version of the software, and therefore I followed the advise Michelle gave me last year: today I updated the OS (I run now MacOS Catalina 10.15.4). I also downloaded the most recent version of SCAL5 (5.030). Well, nothing at all changed. It still cracks. In more, the situation now is even worse! With Catalina, SCAL4 is not working anymore! So I cannot just turn to the older version to make things work.

My machine is at the moment useless, I have a work to do, Brandon from Craft Edge is confortably not answering to any of my many emails. I am starting to be anxious.



How can I solve this issue? Any tip? I already tried to uninstall and reinstall, even if I think I wasn't able to uninstall all the hidden files in my computer.

I hope to get some answers, thanks for that.
S.

[MeFlick]

First, I, afraid I don’t know what you mean by the term “the software cracks�. You also noted that it “cracks� when you were attempting to do a “print and cut� previously before upgrading, but SCAL 4 would work but since you have upgraded to Catalina, “it still cracks� and SCAL 4 isn’t working. In order to even start to give some suggestions, I would need more detailed information on what you mean by “cracks�, and also if the problem is still when trying to do a print and cut, or if either or SCAL5 or SCAL4, is not starting at all.

That said, it appears the problem is with your computer and the SCAL software, so unfortunately, Brandon and the SCAL support are really the best place to get help with the issue. I am not sure why you are not hearing back from them. Are you emailing Brandon directly? Using their support email? Logged a trouble ticket? Exactly how are you trying to get help from them? Perhaps it’s not getting through.

Finally, I will have to check about SCAL, BUT I do know that with the upgrade to the Catalina OS, the ability to use 32 bit programs on a Mac computer went away and you would not want to update if you had a legacy 32 bit program that had not been upgraded to 64 bit that you still wanted/needed to run. For example, another cutter program that some of us used previously, MTC, was never upgraded to a 64 bit program. (It hasn’t been updated in years and is essentially an abandoned program.) As a result, if you update to Catalina on the Mac, you definitely lose your ability to use MTC. I don’t know if SCAL 4 was/is based on 32 bit or not, if it is, that would be the problem there. You might check Craftedge’s support pages and/or forum to see if anything is noted there regarding SCAL 4 being 32 bit and thus not working with Catalina update on Mac platform.

However, I am aware of others using SCAL 5 on their Macs so I don’t think Catalina update would be causing an issue with it and believe it would be the 64 bit update that was needed by programs.

So, your best bet for help is still SCAL support but if you can give more information on the specifics of what you are doing, what is happening and what you mean by “cracks� someone may be able to try and help troubleshoot a little bit more.

[SuperSix]

Hi MeFlick,
thanks for your reply.

First: it cracks, meaning that as soon as you push the print and cut button from the cutter window, the software shut down istantly, it puffs away leaving just a message that an unaspected software closure occured. This happen all the time I press the button, no matter what else I am doing. That's what I mean with crack, apologies for my low language skills, english is not my mother tongue... I think I meant crash.

Scal 4 is not supported anymore in Catalina, not sure if it is because of the 32/64 bit issue but it was clearly stated the first time I ran the new OS.
Scal 5 works fine, just this problem appears when I push the button. Note: it is the same problem I had with the older version of the OS.

I got in contact with Brandon in September when I noticed that Scal 4 worked better (I downloaded the trial version). Michelle asked him if it was possible to get a serial for it, and he sent an email with it. It was the only time I heard from him. Lately, I wrote him at the support email, I know that Sherri wrote him to another email address forwarding my message. I also wrote on the forum of craft edge today. In the last week I wrote him about 4-5 emails but the issue is there from September. What is a trouble ticket? how can I issue one?

I know that's a software problem but I am trying every possible way to solve it.
Thanks for your support!

[MeFlick]

First, no worries on the language skills. If english is not your native tongue, you did very well with it. I assumed you probably meant "Crash" but wanted to make sure that is in fact what you meant. So much can be lost in translation I always try to make sure that we are all on the same page and are comparing/discussing the sale thing. So as I understand it, SCAL 5 works fine for you, EXCEPT when you are trying to do a "Print and Cut" and when you are trying to do a "print and cut" and push the print and cut button in the cut window the software crashes and shuts down unexpectedly - is that correct?

I haven't had a chance to research it yet, as I had to go out after I posted earlier - but I am pretty sure the SCAL 4 - Catalina issue of not working is due to SCAL 4 being a 32 bit program.

I am not sure why Brandon is not responding better to your issue since the problem seems to be with SCAL its self. Unfortunately, the SCAL User forum does not get a lot of traffic and not sure that Craftedge support ever goes there but perhaps someone will see and answer there. In the interim, I will do some research myself and see if I can find out anything that might be helpful to you. As I noted, SCAL is used by many users of different cutters with Mac computers and I know they also use it for Print and Cuts so I don't think this is a full SCAL issue or there would be lots of people with the problem so I think the issue is something to do with SCAL and your computer. I don't know if we can find anything to help you or not and will hope that Brandon can give you some help soon. If I find anything new, I will post back here. Good luck.

[MeFlick]

Found this post on the SCAL forum where the Admin stayed that SCAL 4 will not function with Catalina OS on Mac because, as I suspected, it was a 32 bit program and that SCAL 5 is 64 bit so anyone looking to upgrade to Catalina OS on their Mac computers will lose SCAL 4 functionality and must upgrade ($) to SCAL 5.

http://forum.surecutsalot.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=46986

"Starting with MacOS 10.15 (Catalina), Apple is not allowing 32 bit programs to run.

Sure Cuts A Lot 5 and eCAL 3 are the first 64 bit versions available that can run on MacOS 10.15."

Looks like they don't have a "trouble ticket" system per se - they do have a "Technical Support Form" for submitting requests for help with issues. It can be found here:
http://www.craftedge.com/support/support_form.php or they say you can email them:


"Technical Support
If you have a question or problem that is not covered in our FAQ section, you may contact us by using the customer support web page, or sending an email to support@craftedge.com. To best help you, please send as much information about your computer and the problem you are experiencing."- Not sure what email you have been emailing - if not this one - might be worth emailing this support email.

[MeFlick]

Some more thoughts and questions - how old is your Mac computer? Is it an older one? (You can check by going to the apple menu, "About this Mac" - you will get a popup that will tell you what OS Version you are running and tell you the type of Mac and the year it was manufactured. Look there and tell me a couple of things - tell me specifically what version of macOS Catalina it says it is running, then tell me what year it was built/manufactured.

Second note - what version of SCAL 5 are yo running? Do the same thing with SCAL 5, open it up and check under the Help menu (I Think) for where it will show you what version you actually have installed. THEN do not trust the "check for updates" in SCAL - it will often tell you you are up to date when you are in fact NOT. I would recommend that you go to the SCAL update downloads and download the update provided there and update your SCAL and THEN see what version it tells you you are running and let us know what version that is.

The reasons I am asking for you to do this is I am trying to find out a couple of things - first what specific version of Catalina you are actually running and what specific version of SCAL 5 you are actually running. That information can be important when trying to troubleshoot an issue so make note of both and let us know. Then, I want to know how old your Mac computer is because the older it is, the more it can have issues with new OS updates and such. Sometimes, the new OS on Mac and PCs can make it obsolete for updating unfortunately. For example, I have an older Mac laptop, it is a 2009 one - which is "ancient" as far as computers go. Then I have a Mac desktop that is a 2015 - much newer, but still about 5 years old now. I have not yet updated any to Catalina - I don't think the old laptop one can be updated. So, knowing more about your specific computer like its age, processor, and specific version of OS (like Catalina 10.154 not just say Catalina) can help troubleshoot.

[MeFlick]

I have seen and read enough about some fairly significant issues with Catalina so you may find it best for now to roll back your OS update to before Catalina if at all possible. The Catalina updates came out last Fall i think, like Sept./Oct. 2019 which sounds like perhaps when you started having this issue with your computer. By rolling it back to before Catalina - you would at least have access to using SCAL 4 for now. If you are interested in doing that, I would recommend that you google "roll back from Catalina" or something along those lines and you will get a lot of information and articles, some with step by step directions on how to do. Before doing so, make sure you fully understand and comprehend WHAT, if any, Impact it will have on your computer and programs.

Here is one article I found about people having system crashes and such with large data with Catalina. Since it is crashing on trying to do "print and cuts" this could be part of the issue. https://www.techradar.com/news/macos-10 ... ate-issues

and this one here as well: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/06/ma ... ng-issues/

this article may also provide you with some helpful knowledge or information:
https://www.fireebok.com/resource/-how- ... alina.html

I will continue to see what, if anything else, I can find that might provide some insight. In the interim, let us know the information regarding specific software versions of Catalina and SCAL 5 and the year and type of your Mac. (I have seen one note that seems to indicate that Catalina in particular is causing crashes on MacBook Pros in particular, years 2013-15.) I would definitely look to roll back from Catalina from now so you can continue to work until someone can provide you with specific help to fix your issue(s). It definitely sounds like its a combination of factors unique to your setup - which unfortunately is not uncommon - especially when dealing with a major OS upgrade. Unfortunately, these used to not be much of a concern for Mac users like they were for PC but as of late - sad to say - they seem to be more common.

[Gigi]

SuperSix

I spoke with Sherri this morning and she said she and Michelle have both been working with you extensively. She would appreciate it if you did not go from place to place to ask the same questions as that causes extra work for everyone at a time when she is closed and running the business by herself due to the lockdown.

This is not a machine failure but a software issue, as Melanie stated, and we encourage you to continue to reach out to Brandon. She has as well. Thank you.

[SuperSix]

First, no worries on the language skills. If english is not your native tongue, you did very well with it. I assumed you probably meant "Crash" but wanted to make sure that is in fact what you meant. So much can be lost in translation I always try to make sure that we are all on the same page and are comparing/discussing the sale thing. So as I understand it, SCAL 5 works fine for you, EXCEPT when you are trying to do a "Print and Cut" and when you are trying to do a "print and cut" and push the print and cut button in the cut window the software crashes and shuts down unexpectedly - is that correct?


Yes, I comfirm that's what is happening.

I had an answers from Craft Edge this morning. I was asked to switch the software language to English but, unfortunately, it didn't solve the issue.

About the specification of my computer and software, here they are:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)
4 GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
MacOS Catalina 10.15.4
SCAL 5 (5.030)

I was also not very doubtful to do the update, I am aware that it may cause more problems than advantages. Therefore I doublechecked all the infos I could find, and I was reassured by them, since my computer is still new enough to run Catalina. In more I had a very old version of the os (MacOS Sierra 10.12.6), and I thought it was time to renew the software. In any case, the problem with SCAL 5, the very same problem I am experiencing now, was present there as well. Therefore Michelle, in an email, suggested to try the upgrade. Apparently that wasn't the origin of the problem.
Anyway, now I have the most recent os and the most recent software, updated a week ago.
Rolling back to a previous version is not an easy thing to do, so I wait before doing it.
I go have a look to the links you posted.

Thanks for your engagement!
Silvio

[SuperSix]

SuperSix

I spoke with Sherri this morning and she said she and Michelle have both been working with you extensively. She would appreciate it if you did not go from place to place to ask the same questions as that causes extra work for everyone at a time when she is closed and running the business by herself due to the lockdown.

This is not a machine failure but a software issue, as Melanie stated, and we encourage you to continue to reach out to Brandon. She has as well. Thank you.

Buongiorno Gigi,

I'm glad you are in contact with Sherri and that you are trying to solve the issue together.
I confirm that Michelle and Sherri have answered to my emails, but, despite this might look only as a good news, it is also a bad sign since it means that I am experiencing many problems with my machine. I know what you think, that I haven't followed all the lesson, or that I didn't wait until I was ready to pass to the operative phase. That's not true: I did my best to read all the parts of the manuals useful to do what I have to do. I skept the design in Scal because I prefer to use more precise andprofessional tools to do that.
Unfortunately my machine and my software are not acting as they are supposed to. Therefore I need to write, ask, and hope for a solution. I already wrote so many emails that I cannot even count them. And the problems are not solved (well few of them luckily yes).
I used the forum of Craftedge to see if there was someone there able to answer. I used this one because there are people that may have had the same problem. I have waited, and now I have some time and energy to try to solve it, I won't just wait, I will ask everybody for help; now, because in a week I could also not have the time to do so. My warranty is about to expire, and after 14 months my machine is still not doing what I ask it to do, and what I paid (much money) it to gain.

So, sorry if I made you work double, but I start to be incazzato, not only worry.

Have a nice day,
Silvio

[Gigi]

Silvio -

This is not a machine issue. The machine is functioning. This is an issue between the software and the computer. A few others, that we know of, have had issues with Mac and Catalina and to our knowledge, all have been resolved. I do not understand why yours have not. Please keep working with Brandon as that is most likely the best resource at this point. Again, it is not the machine. We wish you the best and know it can be resolved.

[Gigi]

Silvio -

This was just posted elsewhere with someone having issues with Mac Catalina and SCAL5.

" I’m a Mac guy here, had the same situation at first as well with my SB 15�, it’s a communication issue via the usb, first if your Mac is older, you have a translation issue with the usb to the cutter, it’s not the OS!! if possible try another computer or if you have one a usb hub, plug that into your computer then plug the cutter into the hub. Yes this sounds strange but it worked for me. Went thru SEVERAL emails between people to figure it out, they thought it was my setup, it was not, I found this out from my experience from other cutters. I just updated from my 10 yo MacBook Pro and it works better with a newer connection. Also, please check with craft edge to see if you have the latest driver, that will help. Hope this helps ✌�......I had to purchase a thunderbolt hub with USB connections, its a Belkin, it wasn't cheap but it still worked and after downloading the SCAL software, the cutter works fine. I'm not running the pro version of SCAL."

I combined two of his posts but perhaps this will help. The problem was different (the problem we usually see with Mac Catalina is cutting and then a grinding noise about halfway through the cut... or missing drivers).

I don't know if this will help but felt it was worth sharing. The new usb hub was the answer to his issues between the two.