The following describes known limitations related to painting in Mudbox 2009.
Subdividing model causes Mudbox to exit without warning
Mudbox exits without warning when models with invalid polygon configurations are subdivided. Mudbox does not report the existence of invalid polygons to the user and exits without saving the file.
Workaround: Import the model to a 3D modeling application that can troubleshoot and repair problematic polygons and then export the model to Mudbox again. For example, in Autodesk Maya, the utility is called Mesh > Cleanup. It can check models, report particular invalid polygons, and in many cases fix them.