Problem with Photoshop 7.0 application

I've been running Photoshop v. 7.0 problem free on my PC until recently. Up until early last week. Now I am getting a "not enough RAM to load program" message and cannot run Photoshop. I tried reinstalling the program several times (on one of the two hard drives), but no luck.

I even tried to close other running processes/programs via msconfig and closed most of the stuff running, and deleted other programs -- no luck again. My PC is a P3 450, 128 MB RAM, running Windows 98, and two hard drives. One is 20 GB, 14 GB full, and second drive is 30 GB and is 5 GB used . System resources are 60% free. I tried installing PS on either drive with no luck. I know the Photoshop disk/program is okay because I installed it on a laptop machine and it runs good. No changes were made to my PC to cause Photoshop problems.Except installed MSN Messanger, but PS worked once I did it. Oh yeah, and defragged too (use Norton) NO CHANGE. I also have an old version 5 Photoshop on my machine, and it loads no problem.

Stella,

I can think of two things:
1. Your scratch volume is full
Reboot, search for .tmp files and delete them.

2. PS prefs file is corrupt.
Reset the prefs. Instruction in the FAQ (top of this forum).

Both issues are not addressed by a reinstall of PS.
The scratch volume should be released (e.g. the .tmp file deleted) during a normal shut-down of PS, but when you have to force a reboot PS hasn't a chance to do this.

Good luck
Rob

First of all 128 megs is really not very much. Before we try anything else, trash your prefs. See the details in the FAQs.

Bob

128 megs is really not very much

I agree. But that should slow things down, not halt them IMHO. I had PS7 on a PII w 128 Meg of RAM without a problem, Just excessive paging and all... Rob

Which is why, like you, I advised trashing prefs.

Bob

System resources are 60% free.

Red flag! Some background tasks have snuck in. Perhaps something with "Norton" on the label, or spyware or a worm.

Right after booting, my Windows98SE machine has about 92% free. Try for 80%, anyway.

I hope Stella's machine hasn't been blown up.
Rob

Thanks for your advice.

I think your guess about the scratch volume is correct. I went into Windows temp files and deleted some obvious junk (not sure if it's safe to delete the entire folder contents). Is that what you meant? But that did not help.

There's a help article on this (Adobe) site which talks about the problem I am having -- "Memory of Scratch Disk error When opening an Image in Photoshop" < http://www.adobe.co.uk/support/toptech/photoshop/311963/main .html>

But my problem is not with opening an image in PS, but opening PS, thus cannot even use their troubleshooting tips. I cannot even keep PS open to access the toolbar due to the error message. Like I said, everything else works fine on my machine except for PS. Frustrating! If can't solve this mystery, guess it's back to using Paint Shop Pro :)
I can think of two things:
1. Your scratch volume is full
Reboot, search for .tmp files and delete them.

2. PS prefs file is corrupt.
Reset the prefs. Instruction in the FAQ (top of this forum).

Both issues are not addressed by a reinstall of PS.
The scratch volume should be released (e.g. the .tmp file deleted) during a normal shut-down of PS, but when you have to force a reboot PS hasn't a chance to do this.

Good luck
Rob

Stella,

Did you try trashing your prefs?

Bob

Hi Bob,

Could you be more specific about "trashing prefs" Not sure how it's done.

Thanks.

See the FAQs.

Bob

Bookmark the following link:
<http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/6712.htm>

Robert, you are amazing!!!!!! Thanks a million! I deleted the Photoshop preferences as you suggested and it worked!

Thanks to everyone for their help as well.