View Full Version : Need help with Photoshop randomly freezing.
Lilie 03-13-2005, 05:46 AM I am not sure if i have to post this here or somewhere else but since it only happens in this program, i guess this ''application specific'' forum is the right place.
So here is the problem:
I recently installed Photoshop 7 on another computer. Everything went fine until i opened it for the first time after the install. I got the following message (though i am not sure if it has anything to do with the problem, but better give too much info than not enough):
''You currently have Adobe Photoshop's primary scratch and Window' primary paging file on the same volume, which can result in reduced performance. It is recommended that you set Adobe Photoshop's primary scrath volume to be on a different volume, preferably on a different physical drive.''
After hitting OK, it finished loading normally and then i could start working, no big deal.
I then noticed after many tries and errors that every time i'd use the brush or pen tool, the computer would randomly freeze (be it after 1 minute or 10) and the only solution would be the lovely ''reset'' button of the computer. I could use the lasso, or the dodge tool, anything else actually, but the brush/pen tool would not work.
I then opened Painter 7, which was installed just before, and started messing around in it to see if if would happen too but nothing.
So i uninstalled PS7 and installed PS6 instead and the same problem still occur. :/
I tried reinstalling in safe mode, deleting some files as mentionned in Adobe's troubleshooting document i found on their site but still do not work. It is getting quite frustrating since all worked fine on the other computer.
Anyone have an idea of what could cause the problem and how to solve it? As mentionned earlier, i am not sure if the message i got when opening PS7 for the first time after installing it has anything to do with this... I'm not getting it after installing PS6, i don't recall getting it actually. And the computer have all the requirements to run the program, drivers updated etc.
Any help would and will be greatly appreciated. :)
I definatly have no luck with computers... Being forced to reinstall all my programs on another computer to do my work because the motherboard of mine died some days ago and it simply doesn't work. :sad: *sigh*
(Sorry about the bad english in some places.. ;))
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Tommi
03-13-2005, 10:49 AM
What are your system's specs (operating system, CPU, RAM, hard drive(s), video card etc.)?
likely to be bad video drivers or bad ram...PS is highly stable and usually problems like this are symptomatic of something not quite right in your system rather than the app. Just because nothing else forces it to crash doesn't mean its down to PS per se.
Have you tried a hardware test?
theGuest
03-13-2005, 12:20 PM
Have you tried deleting your PS Prefs and letting PS create them from scratch?
The Prefs file can be notorious for causing a wide variety of issues.
Can't hurt. :bounce:
Lilie
03-13-2005, 06:01 PM
System specs (sorry, forgot to mention them): WinXP, Intel Celeron 2.4 Ghz, 480 mb of ram, video card is S3 graphics ProSavageDDR i believe. As for the hard drive, i'm not sure where i can see what it is. Like i mentioned in my first post, it is not my computer so i'm not really sure.
Halo: Didn't try a hardware test since i do not know how to do it. ;) But your theory about the problem being caused by bad ram or video driver is possible. I remember that this computer had some other troubles some months ago, freezing no matter what program we were in, or even if there was nothing opened. But then my boyfriend tested some stuff with it, took out the ram, inspected it and then put it back in and no more random general freezes. Kind of strange but i did not go any further then because the comp seemed to be fixed and it was not the one i was mainly using for my work. Don't know why it didn't come to my mind earlier that it might be that kind of problem again. :shrug:
theGuest: I did erase those files but it didn't really help, unfortunatly.
Thanks to you 3 for answering quickly. ;)
yes, unfortunately PS seems to find the problems with hardware more so than any other application i've ever used...
Lilie
03-14-2005, 04:08 AM
I guess i will have no choice but do some hardware test when my boyfriend gets back home (because i do not know how to do it myself ;p) and hope it will be easily fixed. Having already another computer that needs a new motherboard, don't think i can afford to buy new ram or anything for this computer i am usually not using much. Ah well, thank you for your input. :) It is very appreciated.
Have a good night. :bounce: I'll post again after the tests are done to keep you updated. ;)
theGuest
03-14-2005, 06:40 AM
Just to add to this further...
Another culprit for random freezes is bad sectors on your hard disk.
If you have fDisk or some other HDD inspection utility, perhaps a scan is in order, to at least rule this out as a possible cause.
You can also just use Windows "Scan Disk" utility. But set it to a 'thorough' scan. That will inspect the actual surface of the disk.
:bounce:
Tommi
03-14-2005, 10:42 AM
Maybe its an over-heating problem. If the computer you use contains a couple of hard drives too close to each other, they are likely to malfunction. The CPU or the graphics chip may get too hot as well. The fans might be defect or just too weak. If your computer is capable of it, you might want to check the CPU's temparature. Some BIOSes are capable of setting a reset/shutdown maximum temperature.
Another guess would be a too weak power supply...
theGuest
03-14-2005, 11:33 PM
Yeah good thoughts Tommi. Well worth looking into. :thumbsup:
In fact... i just lost a fairly new motherboard to a faulty Northbridge chip fan. It stopped spinning and overheated, which fried the #1 channel (system drive). Unfortunately it also took out my 512 ram chip too. Thank goodness it didn't take anything else out with it. But the possibility was there.
Actually... considering this just happened last week, i don't why _i_ didn't think to mention these things. In case anyone is wondering, it was a Gigabyte board.
Nice catch Tommi. :buttrock:
:bounce:
Lilie
03-15-2005, 02:19 AM
Hm.. This could be a possibility Tommi, i didn't check the fan nor the temperature of the computer but i wouldn't be surprised if it would be it.
On the other hand, i did some testing with the hardware (and may i add that having someone explaining to you how to do it on msn messenger can be a pain? D: ). I changed the virtual memory which was weirdly set, and did some other things to boost the performance and it seemed to help a little. Now PS doesn't crash after 5 second of scribbling/doodling with the brush tool but after 10 (what an improvement..). Also noticed that most of the time it crashes when i do quick strokes... Ram is fine too, i used 2 programs to test it and it was flawless. Definatly a performance problem.
Other thing (and i am kind of ashamed to have forgot about it) is that i did not update PS7 to 7.0.1. Though when i tried, the patch wouldn't install even if i would uninstall/reinstall the program; i still get the same error. Even if i try to do it in safe mode. Other thing i noticed is in the update description it says that this patch helps with the compatibility of PS 7 with Celerons (which is the type of computer). I'm pretty sure it could help to install it but i can't find a way to achieve it, strangely.
Ah tell me why my motherboard had to die on me... Seems to have a chain reaction of computer problems now with every PC i touch.. D:
3d_usr
03-15-2005, 12:34 PM
If hyperthreading is on in the BIOS, turn it off. I've seen many problems with WinXP and photoshop running on machines with hyperthreading on (we have 60 machines that all had similar problems)... turning hyperthreading off instantly fixed all problems.
Lilie
03-16-2005, 05:31 PM
Problem is solved. :) It seemed to be a lot of little things put together that made the problem happen (and all those test made me noticed how badly this computer was set.. maybe it wasn't a bad thing to have had that problem after all...) Everything works fine now and i can finally get back to my work.
Thanks to all of you for your input and help. :love: Much appreciated to have had response to this thread so quickly. :)
T-Stop
04-01-2005, 09:40 PM
Quote- ''You currently have Adobe Photoshop's primary scratch and Window' primary paging file on the same volume, which can result in reduced performance. It is recommended that you set Adobe Photoshop's primary scrath volume to be on a different volume, preferably on a different physical drive.''
Bad ram chips as someone suggested can cause this problem. Checking your ram and making sure you have sufficient system resources devoted to PS is primary, as it is a resource hog. However your problem occurs because of the error message you posted. If your Scratch disks are the same as your systems Boot Drive, PS will have a hard time creating and managing temp files and will quickly fill your boot drive up with it's temp files causing a freeze, PS crash or system crash. You need to buy another HD to use as a scratch disk. You probably want more ram as well. I will bet this problem will come back.
you can just sling the scratch on another partition, another HD isn't strictly necessary. In fact, you can run it quite happily off the same partition as the windows swap, but you need to have plenty* of room so the two virtual memory systems dont clash.
*read plenty as several GB to be safe.
T-Stop
04-01-2005, 10:56 PM
Me personally I would go buy another disk. But a partition would work fine if your strapped for cash. But like halo states make sure the partition is BIG.
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