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_Brandon_Miletta_
Participant
March 22, 2009
Question

"Sniffer_GPU.exe" Has stopped working... AE crashes on start

  • March 22, 2009
  • 11 replies
  • 33043 views
Hey guys, finally got around installing the AE CS4 trial to test this baby out but... keep getting this problem.

As soon as I click on the after effects icon windows gives me this error about "sniffer_gpu.exe", and AE crashes away into oblivion. So I am assuming this is an openGL thing. I have tried renaming the sniffer_gpu.exe to see if AE will just skip it but then AE just doesn't even really get into the splash screen and hangs.

I am on Vista x64 and I have an ATI video card with the latest drivers (pretty high end, the name escapes me but its an X2 so it has basically two video cards pre-sli'ed). I see that there have been a few people with this problem but no one ever had a fix.

Thanks!
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    11 replies

    R
    raazv
    Participant
    April 16, 2014

    Right click on Computer, Properties, Device Manager. Disable your video card. Open After Effects, ignore the Sniffer_GPU.exe (click x, ok , cancel, whatever you get the point). After AE will be opened, you can reenable your video card.

      V
      VeeMan1234
      Participant
      November 24, 2011

      Hopefully the OP found the problem to the issue but I was having the same issue sniffer_gpu.exe stopped working and then After Effects crashed. In my case the problem was that I had disabled some of the Adobe services through "msconfig". I re-enabled those services and voila! After Effects started working again. Hopefull that helped some of you

      W
      wiselywise
      Participant
      September 16, 2011

      Hi, I have a similar issue, though I started it in the PS forum because that's the first software I opened but it extends to AE also. Anyways, if anyone knows what's going on with the OpenGL issue on the AMD 6950 video card on CS5.5, please let me know.

      Here is my thread: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/902265?tstart=0

      Thanks.

      Todd_Kopriva
      Todd_Kopriva
      Inspiring
      September 16, 2011

      See "Troubleshoot OpenGL problems".

      J
      janericster
      Participating Frequently
      September 3, 2011

      I'm having similar issues. AE CS5 crashed all the time when I used sliders to resize items so I had to disable OpenGL in preferences.

      Now AE stops crashing (but obviously screen draws slower) and I get the Sniffer_GPU.exe error on start up every time. The "Enable OpenGL" is also now grayed out as a result.

      I am using nVidia Quadro 2000M on a ThinkPad with the latest drivers installed v8.17.12.8026  (dated 8/3/11). Nothing so far has fixed this. Would love to have OpenGL enabled and work without crashing.

      L
      lopflop
      Participant
      July 24, 2011

      If you have ATI card, simply update you drivers using this (http://www2.ati.com/drivers/auto/amddriverdownloader.exe) AMD program and make it works! (It worked at me)

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      _Brandon_Miletta_Author
      Participant
      March 25, 2009
      Eck, I have tried all kinds of things with drivers and such guys.. I am getting pretty discouraged right now, anyone have any suggestions?? I can't find a solution anywhere.
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      _Brandon_Miletta_Author
      Participant
      March 23, 2009
      Okay thanks, I will check over there and see what I can do with the Catalyst software, maybe try and go without it or something. I will post here if/when I find a fix so if anyone runs into this they can know what I did.
      Mylenium
      Mylenium
      Legend
      March 23, 2009
      Well, I could not see anything that would explain the crashes, but that must not mean anything. Apparently the GLViewer itself recognizes all features correctly, but the Adobe tools may not. however, I seem to remember some people having trouble with 4870 cards on the Photoshop forum. From what I gather, some special thing with Catalyst Desktop, so maybe look over there. Sorry not to be of more help...

      Mylenium
      _
      _Brandon_Miletta_Author
      Participant
      March 22, 2009
      Thanks Mylenium, here is a link to the two dump reports you asked for:

      http://www.brandonmiletta.dreamhosters.com/files/reports.zip

      Also, Thomas. Lol yeah kind of a scary name but I knew it was nothing bad.
      A
      Anonymous
      March 22, 2009
      b sniffer_gpu.exe

      pretty scary name for a service in the task manager, don't ya think? ;)
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