My new Mac Pro (early 2008) running the latest Mac OS X 10.5.2 consistently freezes whenever I display an image in Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1) in Full Screen Mode and then try to drag the image around using the Move tool. I’ve got the factory-installed NVIDIA 8800 video card running a no-name 17" monitor and a Dell 20" 2005FPW monitor.
Everything but the cursor will freeze — all apps and the Finder — for at least 30 to 45 seconds and often permanently. This only happens on the 20" monitor. And nothing else seems to be going wrong on my machine — no other symptoms in Photoshop or anywhere else.
This happens even though I’ve tested using a completely fresh system installation with a fresh Photoshop installation on a new, internal HD in this brand new machine. It happens with any image. It happens with the original Apple RAM only, and with 3rd party RAM only. I’ve run DiskWarrior, Disk First Aid, repaired permissions, etc.
I’m completely at a loss — I don’t know what’s causing this.
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Thanks for the reply — I didn’t have this problem either with my G5 before I upgraded to the Intel Mac Pro. In fact, I’ve been using Photoshop’s Full Screen mode on my Macs for years and I’m frustrated that I now can’t use it…
Oh, and I doubt a System update will fix this problem — I’ve spoken to Apple and they point out that I don’t have any freezes or problems at all with similar actions in iPhoto, Aperture, etc. The only freeze I’m getting is in Photoshop. It does sound like a Photoshop issue to me.
I checked for the problem again today and I see now that the "freeze" ends after about 40 seconds. I can then freeze everything again by repeating the action…
Adobe has acknowledged CS3 incompatibilities with OS 10.5.2, blames Apple, and states that 10.5.3 is the earliest possible resolution. Whether or not your issue relates to that I do not know. 10.5.3 beta versions are out but unless you are a registered developer I don’t know how you would get 10.5.3 to test; and in any event production work on beta software is inappropriate.
My 2006 MP is still on 10.4.11 but your 2008 box requires 10.5.x. I would build a new separate OS/apps drive, reinstall apps and OS with all updates and see what happens, but first:
This only happens on the 20" monitor.
makes the graphics card and/or that specific display heavily suspect. But Aperture works the GPU hard while PSCS3 very little. Give Aperture a hard test.
Allen — you might be onto something: my freeze doesn’t occur if I boot in Safe Boot mode, which means that one of the invisible kernel extensions appears to be incompatible with either Photoshop or my monitor. This could be something Apple is working on.
I did, by the way, try your experiment — reformatted an internal HD, installed a fresh OS from my original Mac Pro discs, installed a fresh Photoshop from the original factory disc, ran all updates on the OS and Photoshop, and did nothing else — no other software or anything. Still froze under those circumstances. Still worked fine in Safe Boot mode.
Anyway, thanks for the thoughts on 10.5.3. I have my fingers crossed.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried that. Created a new user and rebooted, going straight into that user — same problem…
Apple says that if it only happens in Photoshop, it must be an Adobe problem. Adobe says that if it doesn’t happen after a Safe Boot, then it must be something in the kernel extensions and I should talk to Apple…
There’s only one item in any of those three folders: a Retrospect file that allows my backup software to start up on a schedule and run backups. Removing it didn’t help. Other than that, those folders are all empty…
See if trashing System/Extensions/Extensions.kextcache and System/Extensions/Extensions.mkext fixes it.
And try an Archive & Install of OSX; followed by updating with the most recent COMBO Updater (from a copy that you have previously downloaded to your desktop).
Thanks, Ann — these are just the kind of suggestions I’ve been looking for. I’ll go through them this afternoon and report back.
If it’s any clue, I did swap the video cables at the Mac end to see if I could isolate the issue, and the bug still happened on the same monitor. This tells me first that the issue isn’t connected to one port of the video card and second that the issue is triggered by a specific monitor (or resolution, perhaps).
I wish I had another monitor in the house to swap out, but I don’t.
