Random issue with AI CS3..any thoughts?

I've been noticing a weird behavior in AI CS3. Say I open a new doc and specify the dimensions 500px by 500px and select the appropriate resolution for the project, my doc will open with crop area defined instead of an artboard. When I take a peek at the document setup it always reads 14400 x 14400 px even if the dimensions I define are not square. Basically each time I open a document I have to go back and fix the dimensions, etc. in the document setup window.

Anyone else noticing this? I did a quick search of the forum and didn't see any related posts. Thoughts, suggestions, harsh criticisms? Thanks!

wee

Thanks. I'm mostly just checking to see if others are experiencing the same thing. This must be a bug. It's not hard to go back and set up the document again--just a bit annoying--I think I'll live. Well thanks again!

I would be very curious to hear why this behavior is advantageous. When I create a new document I would like it to appear according to my specifications. Maybe it's me but it seems a bit counterintuitive to have AI automatically change it. If I wanted it to be 14400 x 14400 px I would specify it.

WHY???!!!

dramatic, I know