Bridge CS5 Won't Open

Report · Aug 11, 2010

I just installed the Photoshop CS5 Production Premium suite on my Win 7 system.

I have 8GB RAM, 2.60 GHz processor, 64-bit operating system.

Photoshop works fine. However, Bridge does not open. When I click either File>Browse in Bridge, or click the BR icon, I see a momentary spinning circle timer, then nothing. While the little circle is spinning, the red X in the upper right hand corner of the Photoshop window turns gray.

I called Adobe and spent nearly two hours with a tech to solve this problem. The solution he came up with is not satisfactory, and I was wondering if anyone else had an idea.

We tried to reset Bridge using the CTR while opening Bridge and checking the three options, then restarting Photoshop.

We reinstalled Photoshop from the discs.

Finally, we set up a new user account on my computer. If I open Photoshop in the second user account, I can open Bridge. However, since all of my thousands of photos are saved in files in my first user account, I cannot save any photos to these files if I am in the second account. Also, I cannot browse my photo files, as they are in the first user account.

Obviously, I can't operate this way. Does anyone have a fix or an idea of what to do?

Report · Dec 17, 2010

Obviously ADOBE couldn't give a "RATS ASS" about those who have already spent the money.

Maybe it is time to start learning to us Capture NX2 and not get another CS product like CS6 or CS7 which I am sure will be coming out soon.

Report · Oct 25, 2010

I thought I had it figured out, but it is messing up again today

Report · Dec 17, 2010

not sure if this applies to all who have posted, but I finally solved the issue with bridge in my computer. I am Mac and I could not open bridge from photoshop CS5, nor could I access tools from bridge. what was causing a conflict was I had a drive that was named Library. when I renamed the drive photoshop and bridge worked without any problems. just wanted to let you all know incase you have a similar issue.

Report · Dec 17, 2010

I am NOT a computer geek. I know enough to tear stuff up but...this sounds like it could have some possibilities??????

I hope someone who is a geek and runs W7/64 can try it and see if it works.

If ADOBE won't help there are probably people here that are plenty smart enough to find a fix.

thanks for your post!

Report · Jan 05, 2011

Installed CS5 Design Premium today (32 bit version) in a Win 7 environment and Bridge does not open. This topic has over a thousand views and Adobe has still not successfully provided a response to the problem. Adobe.... hello? Are you there? Do you read these forms? Is there a solution? At least respond. Hmmm.... tomorrow I'll try and do battle with Tech Support. If anything is resolved I'll post the results.

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Good Luck Ron!!!

I have always thought of Adobe as being more responsive than other software companies...I guess this proves that is not true.

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Hi...

Thanks for the email. Just spent four hours with low-level tech support in

India. Nice people, but no help. They're kicking it up to the next level and

I should hear from someone in "four of five days."

It is still about the classiest bunch in a very un-classy industry.

Regards,

Ron Geisman

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Please let us know if there is a breakthrough!

Good luck

Barry Dudley

Report · Jan 06, 2011

I am having a similar problem. When I first installed the CS5 Design Premium Suite on my Windows 7 I kept having Bridge stop working as soon as it started up. I found the answer to my problems here. By resetting the preferences when I started up I was able to have bridge run normally.

Fast forword to today when I updated my Firefox browser. Suddenly the problem of Bridge crashing on startup every time started once again. I tried resetting the preferences but this time it does not work. I even totally removed firefox and still have the same issue.

I am not sure where to go from here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Hi Cathy-

Thanks for your email. Just spent four hours with tech support in India.

They blew away the old install, downloaded a new set of files, completely

reinstalled Design Premium... end result: Bridge still will not launch. They

have kicked my problem up to the next level. We'll see what happens. They

suggested that it might take four or five days before someone gets around

it. This is obviously not the first time this problem has occurred (over

1400 views of this topic), yet Adobe Support has been curiously silent about

the problem and a suggested fix.

I have no suggestions for you at this time. However, I'll let you know what

transpired after the next round of "support."

Regards,

Ron Geisman

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Ron,

One curious thing about this problem is in many cases a second user can be created with access to CS5 and Bridge and it will work properly for that user????

For me I created a second user on my computer and CS5 and Bridge work like a champ. Opens VERY fast and works fine BUT that means I have to somehow transfer everything to the new user to have access to the files.

I would be curious to see if you could create a new user account on your machine and see if CS5 and Bridge work then????

Just an idea, not a fix to the problem.

Barry Dudley

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Stradibarrius wrote:
One curious thing about this problem is in many cases a second user can be created with access to CS5 and Bridge and it will work properly for that user????

This does not seem to be an OS issue. Here is link to Mac Bridge forum with same problem. Read post #7 as it addresses this issue.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/754355?tstart=30

Addresses will be different, but perhaps you will gain some insight for Windows.

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Hi Curt-

Thank you for your email. I tried that... but it did not work for me. After

four hours with tech support, simply removing, redownloading (if that's a

word) and re-installing CS5, I am exactly where I started: no Bridge. Adobe

is kicking this up to their next level of tech support and I can expect to

hear from them in four or five days.

Regards,

Ron Geisman

Report · Jan 06, 2011

Ron

These forum usually see the complaints. I have seen many posts where "they bumped it up the the next level and will call back a few days" rarely comes to reality. So keep a journal of name, dates, and session numbers and a list of things they have tried. Frequently they want to do the same stuff all over again which is just a waste of your time. If you do not hear within the promised time period contact them again.

I hope you do get a resolution to this problem. It is one that has been around with more than one version of Adobe (changing user name workaround). Since it is a rare occasion it will probably be some conflict in software or hardware that the unfortunate users have in common.

If if is a bug Adobe has to reproduce be able to reproduce it in the lab. That can be tricky with a problem that is not wide spread. Adobe occasionally visits this site, but don't hold your breath for that.

Best of luck.

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Ron,

You may have seen above that I have been struggling with this issue, intially when I first installed the CS5 suite, which I was able to remedy by resetting the preferences and then again yesterday when I updated my Firefox browser to version 3.6.13. When the issue popped up again after the Firefox update I tried the method of restarting Bridge, holding down the Control key (not sure what it is on Mac) and chosing reset preferences. This did not work for me this time.

After fretting and fuming over night I decided to do a system restore to an earlier point. This resulted in a Blue screen crash which scared me and did not restore Firefox earlier version or the new which I had deleted in an attempt to cure the Bridge isssue. It did however restore my Bridge to a point where it is now working and I did not lose my saved styles of web galleries in Bridge. My problem now is I do not have the Firefox browser running on my system which is not good for someone who designs websites.

My question for you is "Are you currently running this version of Firefox on your computer?" If so it could be that the cause of the problem has to do with a conflict between Firefox and Adobe Bridge. If this is so I would expect others to be experiencing this issue soon as this is the current Firefox build being suggested for update.

Has anyone else experienced the Bridge crashing issue after updating Firefox?

Thanks,

Cathy

Report · Jan 07, 2011

I had this p[roblem with PS CS4 and now with PS CS5. I use Firefox, and have been through several updates of it since the problem began. At onepoint I removed and reinstalled Photoshop CS4. So far, nothing has solved the problem on this (desktop running Windows 7) computer, although Bridge works on my laptop (running XP).

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Hi Cathy-

No, I am not running Firefox at all on this computer (also a Windows 7 OS).

My suspicion is that your problem (and mine, if they are the same) have

nothing to do with a Firefox/Bridge conflict. I think the problem most

likely resides somewhere in the registry. The other possibility is a

conflict with my antivirus software (Norton Internet Security). I am going

to wait for Adobe's next level of response for another five days or so and

then become quite a bit more pro-active about it.

Again, I'll get back to you if and when I find a solution.

Regards,

Ron

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Bridge is now working for me!

Ron may be on to something when he questions the registry.

I've been following this thread since I originally posted, trying every solution suggested. Nothing.

Then, yesterday, I installed and ran a program called Advanced System Optimizer, because I thought I was having memory issues. I mean my PC, not me. 🙂

The program includes a function that cleans up the registry. I ran the program. I then immediately opened Photoshop- and Bridge now works fine!

I am keeping my fingers crossed, I don't want to jinx myself, but perhaps Ron is right that there is a problem with the registry for those of us who cannot open Bridge.

The program I used can be purchased for $40 at http://www.systweak.com/aso/ . I have nothing to do with this company. I'm just passing on what worked for me. Before I ran the program, I looked it up, and it gets great reviews from trusted sources. But I know nothing more, other than Bridge now works.

I will keep you all posted if things change.

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Thanks to everyone contributing to this on-going issue. AJ, I initially ran

CCleaner from Piriform on the registry and cleaned out a lot of naval lint

but didn't see anything there that seemed to impact the launching of Bridge.

I may try another registry cleaning program as well to see if CCleaner

(which I recommend and it is free) missed anything. Just a reminder, always

back up your registry before making any changes to it.

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Hi AJ-

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded Advanced System Optimizer after

looking at a number of reviews for it. Scanned and fixed the registry and

poked the Bridge icon and.... no luck. Still won't launch. This suggests

that the issue is more problematic. I've about run out of options. I am now

using Sysinternals Process Explorer (a free download from Microsoft) to

examine the various strings connected to Bridge). We'll see how that does.

Ron

Report · Jan 07, 2011

How many of those affected her are using Norton Internet Security?

Several years ago I had a computer crash and burn, no retreaval possible, caused by Norton System Works right after they had integrated Ghost file back up to the software. I discovered after the fact that I was not the only one that happened to. So I do have a healthy distrust of the Norton product line. I finally went relented and went back. Right now my subscription is up in 21 days so I would like to figure out if this is causing problems to me.

Report · Jan 07, 2011

I have run several free registry cleaners, including ccleaner, ncleaner, and Advanced System Care (which cleaned up several other troublesome issues on my laptop the other day). Collectively, they claim to have removed over a thousand useless registry keys, but Bridge still won't run.

Like cathy, I have suppressed my Norton antipathy recently and am running Norton 360. I won't be renewing my subscription when it runs out (I'm pretty well convinced that the free programs work at least as well), but I'm pretty sure I was having the Bridge problem before installing Norton.

Report · Jan 07, 2011

Hi Cathy-

I closed down completely Norton Internet Security and tried launching Bridge

again... still no luck.

Ron

Report · Jan 07, 2011

I use nothing but Firefox and have had no problems. A lot of users have the same experience.

I remember when CS5 first came out some users were have major problems with bridge. I can not remember which issue, but it went on for months. Finally through the users observations, common programs, and Adobe staff the problem was narrowed down to Norton anti-virus. Forget what version. It seems like this was the version supplied by comcast on thier internet connection. Believe Adobe provided a patch.

While this is not your same problem, it does appear the best route is to compare what you are using, and see what is the same. Maybe Norton again, or not.

Report · Jan 08, 2011

Hi Curt-

Read the thread on the earlier Norton problem. It was a problem that

required a special free version of Norton supplied, as you correctly pointed

out, by Comcast to their subscribers and it manifested itself only on WinXP

machines. It involved Norton creating some virtual drives and a hincky dll

called bushell. Removing the dll resolved the problem, although Adobe did

develop a small self-executable patch as well.

I've completely shut down the Norton suite and tried to launch Bridge, but

still have had no luck. I've also tried to debug Bridge using Microsoft's

Software Development Kit's debugging tool as well as analyzing Bridge using

Sysinternals Process Explorer. PE is tough because Bridge has to try to

launch long enough so that you can select it in PE and then use the dropdown

menu to debug and copy the strings. My reflexes aren't that fast to select

and copy all the processes.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to Google my way out of this mess (with no luck

so far).

Ron