Photoshop CS3 freezes on edit > preferences > performance

RH
Posted By
Rory_Hill
Mar 15, 2008
Views
538
Replies
15
Status
Closed
I have been having performance problems with photoshop CS3, where all types of activities become slower and slower. I tried to open the edit > preferences > performance dialog and this causes photoshop to freeze and eventually become "not responding" every time.

Is this a known issue? I have not been able to find any reference in my searches. I have updated the latest patch to CS3.

Here is my system info:

Adobe Photoshop Version: 10.0.1
Computer: DellXPS710
Video: Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS and Nvidia GeForce 7900GS Operating System: (Vista home premium)
System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:15, Stepping:7 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2 Physical processor count: 4
Processor speed: 2394 MHz
Built-in memory: 2813 MB
Free memory: 1515 MB
Memory available to Photoshop: 1659 MB
Memory used by Photoshop: 55 %
Image cache levels: 6
Application folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\ Temporary file path: C:\Users\Rory\AppData\Local\Temp\
Photoshop scratch has async I/O enabled
Scratch volume(s):
K:\, 465.8G, 452.8G free

What I have tried so far:

– Uninstall, run CS3clean script at level 1, reinstall CS3 – I have only one printer installed, no network printers – Turn McAffee off (I think – it seems complicated to turn off) – Confirmed I have the latest nVidia drivers
– Turned file indexing off on the scratch drive
– Run in safe start mode – THIS WORKED. As you can see in the specs I moved the scratch drive while in safe start mode, but this did not help.

Therefore I appear to have a conflict somewhere. All my other software, including Lightroom and Bridge are working fine.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be most grateful.

Rory
Related Tags
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CY
curt_young
Mar 17, 2008
This is a common problem with Bridge, a file gets corrupted. One has to hold down Ctrl as soon as icon clicked to start Bridge. A menu will come up with 3 options. Reset preferences seems to fix it. Probably same solution for CS3.
RH
Rory_Hill
Mar 17, 2008
Thanks for the help Curt. Holding Ctrl down does not do anything when starting photoshop on my machine. I tried resetting bridge just in case – no difference.

Although I did not document it in my first post, I did delete the preferences file which resets the preferences in photoshop apparently. This did not help.

Also, in msconfig, I have turned off all startup items and system services, to no avail. Photoshop still freezes when I try Edit > Preferences > Performance.

I am going to test my memory next.

Also, I would like to see if the nvidia drivers are causing the problem, but I do not know how to turn them off and use a generic video driver. If anyone can help of this please advise.

Rory
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Mar 17, 2008
Try holding down Ctrl+Alt+Shift, instead — immediately after double clicking the Bridge icon.
JJ
John_Joslin
Mar 17, 2008
Try holding down Ctrl+Alt+Shift…

Does that work for you Michael? I tried it 100 times for Bridge before I realised that it was necessary to hold down Ctrl (only!) until the dialog came up. Like many things in Bridge it took quite a while.
RH
Rory_Hill
Mar 17, 2008
Try holding down Ctrl+Alt+Shift, instead — immediately after double clicking the Bridge icon.

Thanks for the tip Michael. Perhaps I was not clear. I have no problems with Bridge, and was able to reset it, using the Ctrl trick, but this did not solve my PHOTOSHOP problem.
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Mar 18, 2008
I’ve actually never had to trash the Bridge preferences. I didn’t know about Ctrl-only, and assumed the preference reset was the same as in Photoshop.
JJ
John_Joslin
Mar 18, 2008
I never had to either but I like to try things I’m recommending to others. It’s so easy to get the dialog with other Adobe applications, I wondered why I was having such a problem with Bridge until I picked that tip up in the Bridge forum.
RH
Rory_Hill
Mar 19, 2008
Update – I have isolated the problem. I am running three monitors on two nvidia cards. When I run only one monitor (disable the other two) then photoshop runs fine. When I enable a second monitor then photoshop fails. There is a conflict between the nvidia multi-monitor support and photoshop. I do not see this porblem with any other software.
DM
dave_milbut
Mar 19, 2008
There is a conflict between the nvidia multi-monitor support and photoshop

nview? nope, works ok w/2 monitors. try resetting the photoshop preferences per the faq first.
RH
Rory_Hill
Mar 20, 2008
nview? nope, works ok w/2 monitors. try resetting the photoshop preferences per the faq first

Hi Dave – thanks for the tip.

As I mentioned in what I have tried so far, I did reset the photoshop preferences and this did not work.

I have nview setup for three monitors, two 20" viewsonics in portrait mode and a 30" dell in portrait mode. I can pick any nview mode and I still get the photoshop issue.

If I set the nview display mode to "Only use one display" and I go to display settings in vista and disable the second and third monitor then photoshop works properly.
DM
dave_milbut
Mar 20, 2008
As I mentioned in what I have tried so far, I did reset the photoshop preferences and this did not work.

you didn’t mention that. reread your post. maybe i’m missing it.

here’s how to reset them: <http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.ef4a07f/1>

Run in safe start mode – THIS WORKED. As you can see in the specs I moved the scratch drive while in safe start mode, but this did not help. Therefore I appear to have a conflict somewhere. All my other software, including Lightroom and Bridge are working fine.

while a pain the the butt, you might want to consider disabling everything in msconfig (start> run> msconfig) and then work up from there, re-enabling and rebooting until you recreate the problem. like i said, it’s a pain, but you should be able to isolate the conflict.
RH
Rory_Hill
Mar 21, 2008
As I mentioned in what I have tried so far, I did reset the photoshop
preferences and this did not work.

you didn’t mention that. reread your post. maybe i’m missing it.

Hi Dave

Try reading post #2 and #8 ;^) As you can see, I have already tried all your suggestions, and isolated the problem to either nview or the nvidia driver. But I very much appreciate your time and help.

When I have time this weekend I will try to search for other nvidia / photoshop conflicts.
DM
dave_milbut
Mar 21, 2008
what card and what driver version? and what nview version? i’ll check mine later and report back. i might be a version or two back from the latest.
RA
Richard_Abbott
Apr 15, 2008
I have this problem (CS3 freezes when attempting to edit performance preferences) with a single ASUS 3850 (ATI) graphics board. I am running VISTA 32bit OS and latest video driver.
LV
Largo_V
May 15, 2008
I have exactly the same problem with :
– Vista 32
– XPS 710
– 2 graphic cards (8800 GTX & 6800 GS)
– 3 screens

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