Photoshop Crashes on OS X ?!

[James_Wilsey@adobeforums.com]

I setup and maintain well over 100 macs at a design agency- the primary app is Photoshop and the files can be large. I have most of the users on OS 9 as we consistently have problems with Photoshop in OS X quitting out RANDOMLY (usually dissapearring without an error message) and frequently. Another issue is crashing while applying a transform, which happens regularly. I have searched forum boards and am surprised at how few people are reporting this problem.

The machines have plenty of RAM, scratch partitions etc, and are otherwise well behaved. I have trashed prefs/ fixed permissions zapped PRAM etc. but the problem continues. Adobe says to "reformat drives, reinstall system and reinstall Photoshop. Yeah Right. I was hoping CS would fix these problems, but it is just as bad (or worse).

I have checked the crash logs (I'll copy one up later today) and have been unable to find anything to help.

Are any other people seeing these problems? Anyone have any solutions?

Thanks- looking fwd to replies-

[g_ballard@adobeforums.com]

Witout more to go on — what you have ruled out, what — I would look for what the Macs have in common...here is my canned rant:

<http://www.gballard.net/psd/troubleshootpurgepsd.html>

[Navarro_Parker@adobeforums.com]

I had a problem like this -- it was linked to some third party utility I was using. It was very annoying, but I can't remember what it was.

Are you using any haxies? Norton? Are you running the latest Panther/Jag version? Is Classic running at the same time? Saving to a network volume? Running Photoshop from a local drive?

[James_Wilsey@adobeforums.com]

I've had this problem on every model of mac from G5 dual 2GHz, Dual mirror, Quicksilver etc. All machines are up-to-date w/ firmware, Adobe, and OS updates. No haxies or unreliable sw or drivers are installed. No other apps have problems on these machines- only Photoshop. My users are also reporting this problem on their home machines (that I did not set up) as well as other friends outside machines.

Not running Norton (ever). Have checked directories of drives w/ Disk Warrior. Classic is not running- work is all on local drives.

I've been scouring the web and found other people are reporting similar problems. One potential solution I am currently testing is deleting all adobefnt.lst files. I have heard that these also cause problems in OS 9....
<http://megatron.netsight.co.uk/pipermail/underscore/2004-January/026184.html>

After that I found a couple of more things to try via adobe support (?!)
<http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2bca2.htm>

I have had these crashes w/ newly installed machines- It's not really practical to reformat/reinstall the machine when it crashes once. It is difficult to diagnose/troubleshoot this problem as it happens randomly and rarely can the problem be reproduced in a repeatable fashion.

Thanks for the replies- looking fw to more-

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

Could it be a problem with your Users' fonts?
And did some of them perhaps "borrow" the company's fonts for their home computers?!

[Buko@adobeforums.com]

I have OSX(10.3.2) running on my G4 24/7 Photoshop CS also runs 24/7. as did PS7 before. never had it crash.

I think Ann might have the answer if all the fonts on all the machines are the same. what type of font management is being used??

[Mike McBride]

James,
I've been having the same problem with my MAC dual G5 with OSX, 2GB RAM and PS 7. Adobe recommended I delete my preferences file and reboot, creating a new one. The crashing stopped for a few weeks and slowly has been starting up again, one to two times each day and getting worse. I'm going to delete my Preferences file again and see if the crashes stop again.

I can't imagine what in the Prefs files is doing this and Adobe seems to be clueless on the problem.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

A few things you might want to check:
Have you cleaned out your AdobeFnt.lst files (of all flavours) recently?
Have you ruled out conflicts between System fonts and your other fonts?
Which Font Manager are you using?
What % RAM allocation have you set -- and how much RAM do you have in all?
Have you done the "Switch Time Zone" routine?
Have you "Repaired Permissions" or run "Cocktail"?
When you deleted your Photoshop Prefs., did you remember to delete "com.adobe.Photoshop.plist" too?

[Mike McBride]

Hi Ann,
What do you mean by "cleaned out" the AdobeFnt.lst?
I don't believe I'm using any font manager. Should I be?
I have RAM allocation set at 95% and have 2GB of RAM. Is this a good setting?
How do I "Repair Permissions" and what is "Cocktail?"

Thanks for your help,
Mike

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

Do a Search for "adobefnt" and delete all that you find -- except for "AdobeFnt.db".
(Don't worry, they will re-create themselves as needed.

Set your RAM allocation back to 65%.

Get a Font Manager -- my choice would be FontAgent Pro. -- and manage your fonts using it. Replace certain Apple System Fonts (such as Times, helvetica etc.,)with Type 1s or OTFs with the same name.

Use Disk Utility to "Repair Permissions". ALWAYS run this utility both before and after installing any software.

Cocktail is a Utility that you can buy from this Link which will help you to keep your System in good order.
<http://www.macosxcocktail.com/>

[Navarro_Parker@adobeforums.com]

Try running DeepSix, which was made specifically to remove Adontfnt files.

<http://www.ifthensoft.com/index2.html>

[Mike McBride]

Thanks Ann and Navarro, for taking the time to help and for giving detailed advice.

Mike

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

Hope it helped -- do let us know if you solve the problem.

[Mike McBride]

Ann,
While we're on the subject, I have "Cache Levels" set to what I think is the max - 8. Is this a problem, and what effect does raising or lowering the number have on PS's performance.

Also, I set "History States" to 200, so I can make big jumps back. However, at a certain point when I'm working on an image the History Palette goes black. Even though the History States are there and can be selected, they are not visibile in the History Palette. Is this normal?

Continued thanks,
Mike

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

I have my Cache Levels set to 8 too and have not run into trouble -- yet. But we have been advised to set it on 4.

Try reducing your History States to about 60.
You can always Save History Snapshots as you go and revert to, or paint from, those at any time.

[Mike McBride]

Ann,
Do you work for Adobe? You seem to know all about PS. Thanks for all your help.

BTW, do you know of a way to save the History Palette intact when saving a file, so it can be used to edit the same image later on?

Mike

[Buko@adobeforums.com]

do you know of a way to save the History Palette intact when saving a
file, so it can be used to edit the same image later on?




can't be done as far as I know

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

You can either record what you are doing as an Action;
or you might find the "History Log" helpful.

You can find more about it in Photoshop Help in the "Working with the Edit History Log" entry.

No, I don't work for Adobe -- but I am very flattered that you thought I did!

:~)

From Photoshop Help:
<<
To set Edit History Log options:
In Mac OS, choose Photoshop > Preferences > General.
In the History Log Options pane, choose one of the following options:
Metadata to store entries in the metadata of each image.
Text File to export the text into an external file. You'll be prompted to name the log file and choose the location on your computer where you want to store the file.
Both to store metadata in the file, and create a text file.
From the Edit Log items pop-up menu, choose one of the following options:
Sessions to include entries for each time Photoshop is launched or exited, and each time files are opened and closed (each image's file name is included).
Concise to include the text that appears in the history palette in addition to the Sessions information.
Detailed to include the text that appears in the actions palette in addition to the Concise information. Choose Detailed if you need to keep a complete history of what has been done to files.
None to turn off the log.

To save the Edit History Log:
In Mac OS, choose Photoshop > Preferences > General.
In the History Log Options pane, click the Choose button.
Choose the location where you want to save the log, and then click OK.

>

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

Ann's lying. She works for Adobe. She's responsible for the implementation of the dual scroll History palette that will ship with the next version of PS. She's also responsible for the brand new Currency Scan and Currency Open commands in the next version

[Graham_Phillips@adobeforums.com]

The ellipsis doesn't render on my browser...