Adobe Photoshop CS4 Crashes Constantly/For No Apparent Reason

[Mlobo01]

long shot...

this may be a long shot but at least its a very benign fix, I have been reading on a different thread on how the Firewall may be affecting the performance of a particular app, try this: either register photoshop or Bridge under the Firewall listing of allowable connecting apps or turn off the Firewall to see if that is affecting Bridge and consequently Photoshop? or try -Allow all incoming connections- if the same then revert back to your original settings. I would also make a new account for testing and see if its the same behavior under that new account.

 

[Brucetafer]

Well, Im welcoming myself to this fun ride,

8 mac environment $21,000

Adobe Master Collection CS4 $2600 after california ripoff (tax) 10.25%

3 different *mac* technicians at 75-125 an hour $2200

Magazine prints in 9 days, No magazine, hundreds of lawsuits and my company shuts down...

called adobe, taken my macs to mac, they all crash and WILL NOT open a file larger than 100 megs AKA magazine.

my only hope, is a 12 inch dell 700M laptop that is 7 years old until this problem is solved. im out of spendable cash and lost half my credit line due to idiots id rather not pickon...

does anybody have any idea what the hell the problem is??? ive tried everything in the whole world to get this fixed, reformatted the comp and installed all the updates and only installed CS4, ive installed CS4 and no updates after a reformat, ive tried it all...

i do know that the Mac Pro will run it due to it fckin works at the mac store... <---- funny thats why i bought all of it in the first place...

PLEASE ANY THOUGHTS WOULD KICK ASS!!!!

 

[hzc71]

does anybody have any idea what the hell the problem is??? ive tried everything in the whole world to get this fixed, reformatted the comp and installed all the updates and only installed CS4, ive installed CS4 and no updates after a reformat, ive tried it all...

I remember someone mentioning a while back that it helped to remove duplicate fonts (via Font Book). At the time I had read this, I had coincidentally just done the same thing. I think it has helped but am not sure because I use PS CS4 so little now. But the last few times I've used it, it did not crash.

As alternatives, I've been using InkScape for vector art and GIMP for bitmap editing.

 

[kathmat]

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Crashes Constantly/For No Apparent Reason Reply to Thread

I have no duplicate fonts, nyet and zilch or anything else along those lines. But as Chris Cox (Adobe developer and engineer) explained during my recent webinar, Adobe are frequently at the mercy of all the other folk out there (such as my much loved Apple) with driver and all sorts of engineering conflicts that were way over my head.

Since these programmes are all based on math algorithms the task of trying to "co-exist" with all other products that are running at the same time, third party entities or other items which PS requires to operate is quite huge. (I couldn't do it...) so after much maligning of Photoshop CS4, and don't get me wrong, I still see smoke when CS4 "quits" when I hit save, and thus exterminates my carefully done work, I do understand that there are underlying reasons not always at the control of Adobe. It is kind of like a "Why can't we all get along" in the industry, and apparently they don't. What can I say.

PS - And get ready... because you know that CS5 is being developed as we speak. Another few grey hairs sprouting!

 

[Mlobo01]

Cs4

I understand the frustration of everyone especially brucetafer with all his expenses plus the slowdown, but sometimes while reading other posts to other issues maybe one gets an idea, in macrumors there is a post about people experiencing heat and performance issues while running music related files such as playing itunes etc:"It turns out that the most recent revisions of the Mac Pro—"Early 2009" as well as "Late 2009" models—exhibit very unusual behavior when playing any source of audio"(by Chris Foresman from Ars Technica) what if CS4 is causing something similar in all machines not just macpros? can anyone monitor their cpusage or temperature while opening these files or experience performance lags? can this be related to core video? the article mentions bad power management extensions, I have had issues where kext extensions are involved, such as dialog boxes containing messages saying that an "io,fw,kext was improperly installed" something must be off. The struggle to make Apple acknowledge the issue with the heat issue is in full swing, I believe we also need to have the same determination, it could be related.
the macrumors article is here:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/795966/

 

[Jack Dumphy]

finally solved...

at least one of my bunch of PS problems.

But first of all thanks for this thread from a new one here. I figured out almost every given hint, unfortunately with no result.
PS runs (almost fine) on my 13" Macbook Pro (5,5) and on a MacPro (3,1)
I've got the same problems om the MacPro with smart objects (Illustrator), but no issues with bitmap files. After draging the complete Plug-ins-folder on the desktop, Photoshop runs the same file without crashes. After creating a new, empty Plug-ins folder and returning plug-in step by step and open PS each time to test the file, It turned out that a "EPS Parser.plugin" apparently was the reason for the PS-crashes on my MacPro. Unfortunately I have no idea, where it came from and on the Macbook it wasn't in the Plug-ins folder anyway.

Please excuse my english, but perhaps some of you'll get the idea and check the plug-ins folder, too.

Jack

 

[lsd]

Thanks Jack!

Wow, Jack Dumphy, sounds like your situation is very similar to mine (the vector issues in PSD CS4, and that it is more stable on my Macbook Pro than my Mac Pro). Since messing with fonts and many reinstalls haven't helped one bit, I will try your suggestion with great hope! Not being able to use vector smart objects in PSD CS4 (due to crashes it causes) has been a big problem for me.

Actually, just browsed my folders on both computers, and I see the EPS parser plug-in is dated the same in my CS3 and CS4 PSD plug-in folders, so I (we?) must have somehow mistakenly copied that file when updating to CS4. I see I don't have that file on my perfectly working CS4 on my laptop, so all evidence is that this file is causing my problem too. Thanks so much for figuring this out! No wonder it wasn't a common issue reported in this forum... I still don't know why all my CS4 apps crash upon quit on my Mac Pro, but at least I can live with those crashes.


Oh, and your English is perfect, I never would have guessed it wasn't your first language.

 

[ccp]

I updated to CS4 on the PC and got so frustrated with all the problems I was having with file size and s l o w n e s s I totally switched back to Mac. Yep. Invested in a Mac Pro and a MacBook Pro. Great. Went through all the same hassles reported here, trying to switch out my license to one for Mac, 20 files, 20 different people telling me 20 different things. I try not to be impatient with it all, has to be difficult to deal with us when English is a 2nd language, but I had to WORK, you know?!

So great. I finally get the software and I am so in love with Mac, everything is going great . Then all of a sudden, every time I try to save, I get the "Adobe Illustrator has unexpectedly quit" (no kidding) blah blah "sigbus" blah blah kernel yada yada error message - pages of stuff.

On day 3 of this I finally got smart and only tried opening a document and changing just one letter. save? crash.

Bad enough nobody bothered to tell us we couldn't "print to" a pdf file any more. I have spent hours and hours looking through Apple and Adobe, googled my error messages, found a lot of forums, found you... but in the end, my deadlines are still where they are and I cannot produce. And this is the year I resolved not to complain at all, not even in my mind. What a test!

I update religiously. It was something in an update, this failing, i'm sure. All these other fixes - tried em, no go.

I will be very eager to see if anyone has a solution. Otherwise I'm just so (can I say screwed?)

 

[mofunk]

Any updates from those who had problems?

I bought a MBP Unibody 08 version and just got CS4 Design Premium. I'm going to install this weekend along with Snow Leopard that I got when I purchased my refurb MBP. I don't expect any problems because I've downloaded a few trial versions and they did not crash on me. So far the only the app that has crash was Safari and Pages which I found very odd due to the fact that there is barely anything on my Mac.

Hmmm maybe I won't install Snow Leopard? I guess if it doesn't work I can always go back to Leopard. lol

 

[DJ DarkShadow]

I HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM!

I also got problems with my Creative Suite CS4
Everytime i started PS up and when i clicked on the Font T Tool it stopped working. As some of the members suggested i went to the Font map in my system and i have deleted all the other installed fonts that i had. I just left the windows fonts behind. After that, it all just worked perfect!
Now i can use my Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effect and other Adobe apps...

I hope this is some usefull information for all you frustraded guys. I was also very frustrated from all the problems.

Much Luck,

DarkShadow

 

[Halcyon]

I would hardly consider that an acceptable solution DJ Darkshadow.

Adobe's CS suite (specially Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) is used mainly by designers and having to limit yourself to only those fonts in Windows will limit your work in such a way that it's totally unacceptable.

Case scenario: Sorry client, I can't layout your brochure's text in the xxx font you requested because it's not Windows based...

 

[hzc71]

I would hardly consider that an acceptable solution DJ Darkshadow.

Adobe's CS suite (specially Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) is used mainly by designers and having to limit yourself to only those fonts in Windows will limit your work in such a way that it's totally unacceptable.

Case scenario: Sorry client, I can't layout your brochure's text in the xxx font you requested because it's not Windows based...

I think you only need to remove (or disable) duplicate fonts. Even Office for Mac installs a bunch of fonts, many of which already exist in OS X. I removed all MS fonts (again, you probably really only need to remove duplicates) and am very careful now about font installation.

So does this really solve the problem? Well, I've also resigned myself to use Adobe products as seldom as possible. When I do use Photoshop CS4... it doesn't seem to crash as much as it used to. In fact, I don't remember the last time it crashed, but again, I use it so seldom now.

 

[lucduck]

Problems with using layers

I haven't noticed any post on this problem, but after using CS4 Photoshop for a few minutes, I find that I can't use my layers palette - any command in it - including new layers, drop shadows, merge, flatten, etc. I've even tried opening old files to see if its any different and they its the same with them. All the commands are grayed out. I contacted Adobe and was told to reinstall PS. That didn't do anything to correct the problem.

I just switched to Mac and am really upset with all the CS4 problems. I had about 6 crashes in the hour I tried to use PS. I will have to go back to working on my PC. Not to mention that I can't work without layers and some of my tools work only sometimes.

I did notice that when I TWEETED about another PS problem, I got immediate results with a phone call from Adobe. So maybe if we all tweeted about all the problems we are having, it might get some attention.

 

[lucduck]

I would hardly consider that an acceptable solution DJ Darkshadow.

Adobe's CS suite (specially Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) is used mainly by designers and having to limit yourself to only those fonts in Windows will limit your work in such a way that it's totally unacceptable.

Case scenario: Sorry client, I can't layout your brochure's text in the xxx font you requested because it's not Windows based...

I agree 100%. I had far more crashes yesterday after I installed some fonts. I have no duplicate fonts. However, I installed these fonts for a reason - I need them in my work. We need to be able to install and use fonts and not being able to is totally unacceptable.

 

[agneezie]

CS4 crash

Same frustrations! I'm very close to ripping my hair out. I had CS3 but it kept crashing so I deleted it and decided to try a trial version of CS4 while I get the money to buy it and the same keeps happening! I can't even use it. It says "Photoshop has closed unexpectedly" before it even opens.
I have a Powerbook G4 that runs on 0SX 10.4.11 with 1.5GB of ram I'm at my wits end as well.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Same frustrations! I'm very close to ripping my hair out. I had CS3 but it kept crashing so I deleted it and decided to try a trial version of CS4 while I get the money to buy it and the same keeps happening! I can't even use it. It says "Photoshop has closed unexpectedly" before it even opens.
I have a Powerbook G4 that runs on 0SX 10.4.11 with 1.5GB of ram I'm at my wits end as well.

Are you sure you're not running a trial version of CS5 (which does not support non-Intel processors)?

 

[agneezie]

Cs4

Hi,
No it's CS4 my version of 0S cannot run CS5. This happened with my version of CS3 as well. It quit upon startup everytime. I'm beginning to think it's my computer or the crappy version of CS3 corrupted my computer. Now I don't know how to get it back to normal.

 

[lucduck]

CS4 problems differ with different processors.

I have 2 imacs - one with a i5 core and one with an i7. I cannot use Photoshop on the i7 and only have minor glitches with the i5 mac.

I installed a bunch of fonts on the i5 and have had no problems with working with them and no PS crashes. I have the latest version of Snow Leopard on both macs.

Has anyone tried CS5 yet to see if all the problems are still there.

 

[lucduck]

Anyone tried CS5?

If CS 5 would fix all my Photoshop/Illustrator problems, I would upgrade. Has anyone upgraded and, if so, are the problems still there?

 

[Dana Beck]

Try using "Save As" instead of "Save"

I remember reading that a few folks solved their PS CS4 crash issue by saving their doc with the "Save As" command rather than simply "Save."

 

[lsd]

If CS 5 would fix all my Photoshop/Illustrator problems, I would upgrade. Has anyone upgraded and, if so, are the problems still there?

Ya know, you can download CS5 for free for a 30 day trial. I did... And had even more problems than with CS4. Doesn't mean you will on your machine, so try and report back!

 

[psychonautik]

i had the same problem using photoshop cs4 on my ibook. font-cache deleted, some fonts deleted -> problem solved (seemed like cs4 wasn't able to handle that much fonts). on my iMac photoshop cs4 crashes sometimes when selecting a font. today i installed cs5 (trial) to figure out if problem still exists and YES. indesign keeps crashing when i try to choose a font out of the dropdown list. my system: OSX 10.6.3 / iMac (2,4 Core 2 Duo)

 

[lucduck]

CS and fonts

i had the same problem using photoshop cs4 on my ibook. font-cache deleted, some fonts deleted -> problem solved (seemed like cs4 wasn't able to handle that much fonts). on my iMac photoshop cs4 crashes sometimes when selecting a font. today i installed cs5 (trial) to figure out if problem still exists and YES. indesign keeps crashing when i try to choose a font out of the dropdown list. my system: OSX 10.6.3 / iMac (2,4 Core 2 Duo)

I haven't had any font problems with my iMac duo core, just the quad core. I took my fonts off the quad core and it seems to be working better. I added one back and so far ok, and will continue adding them back one at a time. I'm scared to upgrade to 5 at the moment - don't want to mess with a good think now that I've got it working.

 

[psychonautik]

i am scared of updating too. as i said, i only installed the trial of indesign cs5 - i really like it and it works well, altough there's nothing that justifies the price to update from cs4 to cs5. i am going to leave everything as it is, maybe waiting for the first updates. the font problem exists since cs3!!! it can't be so difficult to fix it! and it doesn't matter what causes the problem (opengl, corrupted fonts, system-font-cache, ...) a suite like cs4/5 should be able to handle it and don't crash when you open the dropdown-list. it's ridiculous.

btw: my workaround is typing the name of the font instead of clicking the dropdown-arrow. i can pass the list using up and down arrows, too. no problem here, but....

 

[Harlequinzel]

Hey guys, Windows user here, stumbled upon this forum whilst paging through Google results with rage.

I'm having the same problems as all of you. Shocked to know that this is happening to so many other people. It's almost on petition level, isn't it?

To be honest, I'm wondering if I should just downgrade to CS2/CS3 altogether. 4 and 5 seem to be up to their eyeballs in bugs. Not worth the ridiculous price tag that they've tacked onto it. I'm surprised they aren't out of business with the amount of errors that CS4 is riddled with.

I hope to God that people who've spent thousands of dollars on Adobe at least get a refund for their malfunctioning software, and goodness knows how many people have already lost money if they use their programs for their businesses.

Incomprehensible, really.