From commZ I'm going to guess you are on a Mac, so you probably have a crash report. Please post it on Pastebin.com, then put a link to it here. Sometimes we can spot where the problem lies.
I doubt replacing the prefs is going to solve the problem, but here's how to do it: Replace Your Preferences
I think it's more likely that a trip through .idml will be beneficial. See Remove minor corruption by exporting
