Photoshop CS4 is a disaster

i ........but if you do not know what you are talking about, please do not speculate.

Um, correct.

First off, thanks to the Adobe engineers for paying attention. I'd like to affer an insight that may help them/us resolve the issue(s). Also, sorry for the arguabley long post!

As pointed out in another thread, networked printers can wreak havoc on performance (not to discout video card problems). It was implied that perhaps there was an issue with Photoshop code but I sort of disagree. In fact, the issue may involve more than just networked printers. Qualifier, I am using an HP C6180 so this may not apply to other manufacturers/models.

I recently reinstalled Win XP SP3 and other programs systematically for general troubleshooting purposes (a bunch of weird system errors and so forth that have begun since SP3). All worked well until I installed the printer drivers. I am hard pressed to say if this is a conflict because I tried various software combinations and came up with the same errors related to system files. Perhaps there is a hardware or driver issue (RAID controller conflict?) but it doesn't appear anywhere as such.

Obviously, if OS system files (.dll errors among others not addressed by Microsoft) are being affected then it is reasonable to assume that Photoshop and other programs become susceptible to problems. It appears that CS4 and new versions of other resource intensive software applications are particularly so.

Here's the killer thing: if I uninstall the printer/ drivers and even clean the registry of all HP entries, the error problems continue to appear until I reformat and start over with a new installation (without the HP drivers). Ditto for SP3. So, something related to the HP installation (and SP3) must be occuring in the MBR/Track 0 or perhpas some other hidden "closet" that is irreversible. This issue occurs only if I reinstall the Microsoft security packs/updates, as well. If I'm not mistaken, the MBR is also where the Adobe activiation code resides.

In conclusion, it appears that HP, at least, has not kept up with changes made with the various service packs and security updates (arguabley MS may be at fault). I also tried Vista and the problems were significantly worse including extreeeeemely(!) slow performance and so forth (despite upgrading to so-called Vista compatible printer and video drivers). The Microsoft upgrade advisor had said everything was hunk dory for an upgrade to Vista but after installation Vista said my Promise RAID controller and high end sound card were incompatible (may explain the performance issues). I also recently discovered Asus has posted my board (P4C 800E Deluxe) is incompatible (or unsupported) with Vista so it is no wonder Microsoft is taking so much well deserved heat in the press. But all of this leads me to conclude that apparent hardware/driver issues and conflicts that are obscure and deep rooted are becoming more critical as our favorite programs evolve. Unfortunately, the never ending security updates seem to be playing a central role, as well.

I am confident that Adobe engineers can figure a few things out for us but I suspect Microsoft is at the heart of the problem. They keep changing the playing field with service packs and security updates without assesing the impacts on the myriad of existing hardware and driver combinations. I'll save the Mac comments until I can afford one (issues for sure but far fewer).

Hope this helps!

There are a lot more good things in CS4 than OpenGL!

OK, some of the comments on this thread are getting inane.

The nVidia FX series has been out for what, five years. The card I am using was "top of the line" (i.e. $3,000) three years ago. The Open GL spec has not changed during the beta test phase of CS4

I apologize for being rude, but if you do not know what you are talking about, please do not speculate.

Hugh

> Solve the video problems with an ancient card!

Or you could just go back to the Big Chief tablet and be done with it.

Yeah, then the card people changed the rules....

I don't need the 3D stuff, and in some ways, CS3 is better. How can anyone prefer the tiny windows for Layers? I haven't looked for a way to make them bigger, and so far, the graph in Curves is the crude less accurate one. Combine the two and the appearance to a user inexperienced is "these don't matter much".

But there are some real advantages. Auto Tone is one.

Keep in mind that when CS4 was being developed and tested, it was on older cards and drivers, not the latest ones.

>Solve the video problems with an ancient card!

Yes, Lawrence, but then you wouldn't be enjoying any of the new OpenGL features that you paid for in the upgrade. Might as well just go back to CS3, which is what I've done. 8(

Lawrence, I hope you are sooooo wrong!

The weird thing is, as I explained in detail in another thread, my installation seems to be working fine despite having 11 errors show up! Not only that, my system isn't exactly the top of the heap. It's a single core Athlon 64, 2G processor, only 2G of memory and the video card is a PCI, not PCIe card! (PCIe bus went down so I grabbed a $50 PCI card until I rebuild). Needless to say, I have no problems with graphics as the Open Gl is not functional.

Cox is right. Solve the video problems with an ancient card!

Maybe ancient everything as well!