Experiencing performance related issues in Lightroom 4.x

[BCormier]

Anyone else notice that lightroom 4 is slow? Ligtroom 3 always ran fast on my system but Lightroom 4 seemlingly lags quite a bit.

My system is:

2.10 ghz Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge

8 GB Ram

640 GB Hard Drive

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

Message title was edited by: Brett N

[bob frost]

From: "Stephen_Carpenter

I also see the spot removal tool problem. What I see is high CPU

utilization across all the cores of a Core i7:

So you use a Wacom pen? Someone else found the Wacom driver was causing his

spot removal problems.

Bob Frost

[Guest]

bob frost wrote:

So you use a Wacom pen? Someone else found the Wacom driver was causing his

spot removal problems.

No pen, no tablet, just a normal mouse. This is not a system issue (hardware, software or driver).

It seems to be triggered by certain combinations of settings and therefore way you go about editing your files is probably determining whether you see the problem or not.

[rpavich1234]

It seems to be triggered by certain combinations of settings and therefore way you go about editing your files is probably determining whether you see the problem or not.

And what makes me think it's not just a "get a bigger computer" issue is that some with low end PC's aren't having problems....some with mega-computers are reporting problems...and likewise some with mega-computers ARE reporting problems....etc...

There seems to be no pattern to it..

[bob frost]

From: "Stephen_Carpenter

No pen, no tablet, just a normal mouse. This is not a system issue

(hardware, software or driver).

It's a brave man who says that! I had a LR problem with my MS mouse. Using

the MS intellipoint mouse driver it often didn't scroll properly on panels.

Uninstalling that mouse driver and using the built-in Win7 driver cured the

problem.

Bob Frost

[Guest]

bob frost wrote:

It's a brave man who says that! 

Troubleshooting complex computer problems is what I do for a living

I have the same problem on two different systems. Different CPUs, different chipsets, different GPUs, both external mouse & built-in trackpad (laptop). This is Windows 7 but other have reported identical symptoms on Macs. There are two many people with the same problem and different setups for it to be dismissed as a driver issue. There's one common denominator and that's LR.

These problems have been going on for some time. People are frustrated at the lack of engagement by Adobe. If they have reproduced this in-house and are working it then saying so would help. If they can't reproduce it then they are welcome to send me a version with a profile harness and I'll get them all the data they need.

[bob frost]

Stephen_Carpenter wrote:

bob frost wrote:

It's a brave man who says that! 

Troubleshooting complex computer problems is what I do for a living

I have the same problem on two different systems. Different CPUs, different chipsets, different GPUs, both external mouse & built-in trackpad (laptop). This is Windows 7 but other have reported identical symptoms on Macs. There are two many people with the same problem and different setups for it to be dismissed as a driver issue. There's one common denominator and that's LR.

These problems have been going on for some time. People are frustrated at the lack of engagement by Adobe. If they have reproduced this in-house and are working it then saying so would help. If they can't reproduce it then they are welcome to send me a version with a profile harness and I'll get them all the data they need.

Ah, I only do it for the challenge and to keep the brain working in retirement. The problem is this is a User-to-User forum, and there is no guarantee that any of the Lightroom team will see these posts. Best to repost it on the main Adobe forum, where the team do watch things, and get engaged.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/products/photoshop_family_photoshop_lightroom

Victoria may pass your problem on to the team, but posting it on the main forum is your best bet of it being seen and cured.

Bob Frost

[Eaglerapids]

I don't understand why people like Bob and Rob are even posting on this thread. You say your system is working fine, so why are you trying to help people whose systems aren't working fine? What in the world can you know of the problem? You guys are coming off as apologists for Adobe and you are not helping anybody. If it was a driver issue this thread would have died of natural causes months ago. It's not a harddrive problem. My goodness, it used to be that your kind of helpers told everybody to reformat your HDD and reinstall windows as the cure all, now you guys are telling everybody to build a new system for crying out loud when a lot of people who are having problems are running high end machines most people only dream about and then when you get called out you say post somewhere else. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but you guys are not helping, sorry.

[john beardsworth]

So what are you adding? Remember that this is a user-to-user forum, where users try to help other users. Read too why they are pointing to another forum - because it's one for feedback to Adobe.

[SavagePhoto-lItHqa]

SO I am testing Capture One and Aftershot both have features that I really like and missing some features that I have in LR that I reall want.  I am finding that since I have so many images on my plate and am slower in unfamiliar UI .... I am still doing most of my work in LR. Something to note..... The inconsistent results of my trouble shooting are from having various levels of edits on images not always from changes I have made .... There is evidence to show that updating Wacom drivers, Setting affinity, running as admin, have all helped but only a minor degree when comparied to the number of edits on an image. As it turns out in a newly created administrator user, small catalog, unedited images, Lightrooms performance is acceptable. I can drop performace instantly by adding - Noise Reduction - Lens Correction - or by stacking other edits such as clarity, tone curves, exposure, sharpening....  I have gone back and fourth with Adobe techs and am finally waiting for a callback from a second level tech.

If you are interested in taking your issues to Adobe do these steps first and it will knock down most if not all of their preliminary steps

These steps are assuming you already have a beefy system, clean defragmented drives and the host of of other suggestions for optimising performce suggested by Adobe http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html

1.If this is not a clean install of LR remove it

2.Make new user (admin account)

3.do a CLEAN reboot (msconfig)

4.If you removed LR reinstall from this new admin account while on a clean boot

5.Make Small catalog (I made one with 3 photos in it)

6.Test and call Adobe If you still have problems

I highly recomend REALLY doing these steps before you call. It is very possible that these steps will resolve your issues.

[rpavich1234]

1.If this is not a clean install of LR remove it

2.Make new user (admin account)

3.do a CLEAN reboot (msconfig)

4.If you removed LR reinstall from this new admin account while on a clean boot

5.Make Small catalog (I made one with 3 photos in it)

6.Test and call Adobe If you still have problems

I highly recomend REALLY doing these steps before you call. It is very possible that these steps will resolve your issues.

You know what bugs me about a list like this?

Reinstalling I can see...that's pretty normal for ANY software troubleshooting.

But making a new admin account just so I can run ONE piece of software? THAT'S what irks me....It's not as if the people who are having problems have crap machines that are in disrepair...we are running OTHER software fine....in most cases we are running Photoshop fine!

So I'm at a loss as to why the troubleshooting is pointed in this direction? It's like getting a new TV and saying..."well...the reception is bad...so you  have to grab the chassis and stand on one leg when you watch any even-numbered channel...."

yeah...but I just HAD a TV that worked fine WITHOUT having to grab anything...it just WORKED.

[RikkFlohr]

But making a new admin account just so I can run ONE piece of software? THAT'S what irks me....It's not as if the people who are having problems have crap machines that are in disrepair...we are running OTHER software fine....in most cases we are running Photoshop fine!

You are testing for a corrupt user account by doing this-not running Lightroom forever in a separate Admin Account. I have fixed more than one clients' machine by creating a new Admin-level User Account and discovering a corruption. Did you try it?

[areohbee]

Eaglerapids wrote:

I don't understand why people like Bob and Rob are even posting on this thread. You say your system is working fine, so why are you trying to help people whose systems aren't working fine? What in the world can you know of the problem? You guys are coming off as apologists for Adobe and you are not helping anybody. If it was a driver issue this thread would have died of natural causes months ago. It's not a harddrive problem. My goodness, it used to be that your kind of helpers told everybody to reformat your HDD and reinstall windows as the cure all, now you guys are telling everybody to build a new system for crying out loud when a lot of people who are having problems are running high end machines most people only dream about and then when you get called out you say post somewhere else. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but you guys are not helping, sorry.

The part of your post that isn't about how other people aren't helping, suggests you think of this as a single problem - it's not (ref: If it was a driver issue..., It's not a harddrive problem...). Lr4.1 solved some people's problems, *completely*, other people's problems partially, and other peoples: not at all. Some people have solved their own problems *completely*, others partially, and others not at all (some as a result of other user's suggestions, others on their own). What works for some, does not work for others.

Did you say "nothing you've done has helped"? - the suggestion I posed might help. Don't want to do it? - I don't blame you. If you wait long enough, Adobe will probably get around to solving your problem(s) too.

I stated what I would do, which may lead some to a solution, others: not...

The problems are system-dependent. The fact that some people aren't having the problems you are having, (e.g. the people at Adobe who tested Lightroom prior to initial release) running the same software, suggests you may find the solution by doing some thing(s) to your system, assuming you have the time, money, energy, and know-how to do the sorts of things that might do the trick. This holds true whether you are running a high-end, medium-end, or low-end system (assuming it meets minimum requirements).

I'm sorry you're having trouble with Lightroom, but I'm not apologizing for Adobe.

Switching to CaptureOne or what used to be Bibble seem like reasonable solutions too, if nothing you are willing and able to do has helped, and Adobe is taking too long. I've always said: "the best software to use for the job, is the one that runs well on your system".

Rob

[areohbee]

rpavich1234 wrote:

1.If this is not a clean install of LR remove it

2.Make new user (admin account)

3.do a CLEAN reboot (msconfig)

4.If you removed LR reinstall from this new admin account while on a clean boot

5.Make Small catalog (I made one with 3 photos in it)

6.Test and call Adobe If you still have problems

I highly recomend REALLY doing these steps before you call. It is very possible that these steps will resolve your issues.

You know what bugs me about a list like this?

Reinstalling I can see...that's pretty normal for ANY software troubleshooting.

But making a new admin account just so I can run ONE piece of software? THAT'S what irks me....It's not as if the people who are having problems have crap machines that are in disrepair...we are running OTHER software fine....in most cases we are running Photoshop fine!

So I'm at a loss as to why the troubleshooting is pointed in this direction? It's like getting a new TV and saying..."well...the reception is bad...so you  have to grab the chassis and stand on one leg when you watch any even-numbered channel...."

yeah...but I just HAD a TV that worked fine WITHOUT having to grab anything...it just WORKED.

Not sure why people trying to help bug you so much. SavagePhoto's suggestion may help some people, even if not you. Or, maybe it won't help anybody - but it seems clear to me, he is at least trying to be helpful.

PS - I used to run SageTV, because my system wouldn't run BeyondTV, for some unknown reason. Then after I upgraded my motherboard, and rebuilt my system, it wouldn't run SageTV properly, but BeyondTV was working OK. In case you were wondering, I'm still running BeyondTV - but perhaps only until next upgrade...

It's not at all unusual for specialty software to run well on some machines, but not others. MS office probably runs well on a higher percentage of Windows machines, but that's different.

Rob

[SavagePhoto-lItHqa]

Creating a new admin account is because there are an number of user settings, files and registry settings that do not get removed/ replaced with an uninstall and reinstall.

this is not to run the software forever but rather just for troubleshooting - if this does help performance then that gives you great insight as to where to find the problem.

A clean reboot is to make sure other software and drivers are not the issue. - if this fixes your problem ...

Doing these steps all at once will only save you from having to make a ton of smallers steps that their frontline people will put you through to try and get you off the phone /chat.

them you can say

it happens on a clean install

It happens on a clean reboot

it happens for multipe and new users

it happens on a small catalog

yes I have followed the optimizing steps outlined by your help file

and there is not much more that a frontline tech can do besides send you on up.

If the front line techs can get you off the phone with a few simple steps Adobe will never see this as a serious issue and never spend the time to try and reproduce it. The only way this problem will get resolved is by giving Adobe enough information to reproduce the problem. If the problem cannot be reproduced it will never be fixed.

[areohbee]

This sounds like an excellent suggestion to me, and I thank you for posting it, even though I am not having any problems with Lightroom 4.1 performance.

[areohbee]

Victoria Bampton wrote:

Rob Cole wrote:

Buy new hard disk...

Er, yes, thanks Rob. While that's what I'd do on my own machine, I think I'd get slaughtered for suggesting it as a wholesale solution.

That said, hardware issues are certainly a percentage of the problems.  My business partner complained for ages, before discovering that one of his hard drives was failing.  I think there are multiple different causes going on here, which makes it much harder to narrow down.

To be clear: My suggestion was intended as a trouble-shooting step, not a wholesale solution (I assume you realize that Victoria, but it seems that  some readers do not). Read: how to eliminate a whole host of things in one fell swoop, so you don't waste a bunch of time looking for improvement where you'll *never* find it. After trouble-shooting, return hard-disk and graphics adapter to vendor, *or* keep - depending on outcome, and druthers...

[rpavich1234]

You are testing for a corrupt user account by doing this-not running Lightroom forever in a separate Admin Account. I have fixed more than one clients' machine by creating a new Admin-level User Account and discovering a corruption. Did you try it?

I thought they were suggesting that this was permanent.

This does bring up a question: Why, if all the other pieces of software work perfectly on this admin account do we think it would be a corrupt admin account?

Wouldn't the data point to this particular piece of software (the only different variable) rather than the admin account?

Just asking.

[rpavich1234]

Not sure why people trying to help bug you so much. SavagePhoto's suggestion may help some people, even if not you. Or, maybe it won't help anybody - but it seems clear to me, he is at least trying to be helpful.

It doesn't bug me at all that people are trying to help...what DOES bug me is someone suggesting that I buy motherboards and other hardware that works perfectly find with all the other software (and the previous version of THIS software) as some sort of fix...when clearly the issue lies with LR4.

I can see temp workarounds to help temporarily while Adobe fixes the problem but why should we have to revamp whole systems to accomodate LR4?

I'm perfectly happy running LIGHTING FAST LR3 until LR4 is servicable.

[rpavich1234]

Creating a new admin account is because there are an number of user settings, files and registry settings that do not get removed/ replaced with an uninstall and reinstall.

this is not to run the software forever but rather just for troubleshooting - if this does help performance then that gives you great insight as to where to find the problem.

A clean reboot is to make sure other software and drivers are not the issue. - if this fixes your problem ...

Doing these steps all at once will only save you from having to make a ton of smallers steps that their frontline people will put you through to try and get you off the phone /chat.

I understand now...thanks for doing this.

[bob frost]

From: "Eaglerapids

I don't understand why people like Bob and Rob are even posting on this

thread. You say your system is working fine, so why are you trying to help

people whose systems aren't working fine?

Because although my system is currently working fine, it hasn't always been

so, and I've had to do most of the things in my list to get LR working

again - going back to LR1. I've had to clean out my catalog, I've had to

re-render all my previews, change graphics cards, update graphics drivers,

etc, etc. And these things have solved whatever problems I had with LR at

the time. So I'm speaking from experience with these issues.

This is a User-to-User forum, where users are supposed to help one another

solve problems. It is NOT the forum for telling Adobe what you think of

them, or even asking them for help. The other forum is read by Adobe, and of

course they have help-lines for 1:1 help.

It may seem laughable, but currently I'm rebuilding my previews database

(65K images) because a few hours ago my computer had three blue screens in

short succession while running LR (probably due to over-clocking), and that

wiped out the previews database. That does not help LR performance, so I'm

re-rendering all my previews - actually it does not re-render them in this

case - it knows the previews are still there, but the record of them in the

previews database has to be redone. Should be done in another three hours or

so!

Bob Frost

[bob frost]

From: "rpavich1234

>It's not as if the people who are having problems have crap machines that

>are in disrepair...

I was reading a post just the other day from a Mac user who was having

problems with LR, and it turned out to be a Permissions problem, so she had

to 'repair permissions' to access some of her images. So her Mac was in

'disprepair'. Permissions problems on Macs seem quite common.

Bob Frost

[rpavich1234]

I was reading a post just the other day from a Mac user who was having

problems with LR, and it turned out to be a Permissions problem, so she had

to 'repair permissions' to access some of her images. So her Mac was in

'disprepair'. Permissions problems on Macs seem quite common.

And that's supposed to be an answer? You found SOMEONE who had a permissions problem??

I've never said (nor has anyone else) that machines are NOT part of the equation...only that there is no clear data that shows that "all users of low end machines in disrepair" have problems but users who keep their systems up to date and have large machines do not...

In my experience in the past with software rollouts and beta programs, when there is a large cross system of users who have top performance machines, low end machines, and in between and those users are all complaining of performance...then it's the software that has some huge bug that needs to be squashed.

is that more clear?

[bob frost]

From: "rpavich1234

In my experience in the past with software rollouts and beta programs,

when there is a large cross system of users who have top performance

machines, low end machines, and in between and those users are all

complaining of performance...then it's the software that has some huge bug

that needs to be squashed.

It's clear what you mean, but you are still wrong with your 'all

complaining' IME.

I doubt if it is some 'huge bug'; I would guess its a series of small bugs

affecting different machines. If it were a huge bug, I would have expected

it to show up on Adobe's test machines, and on their testers machines, but I

may be wrong. None of us is infallible; we're all just humans.

[rpavich1234]

It's clear what you mean, but you are still wrong with your 'all complaining' IME.

Let me be more precise.

Of the users who complain, there is a huge cross section of machine specs that doesn't point to any one hardware issue such as "low performance machines won't work with LR4"...

Is THAT more clear now????

[Keith Reeder]

Drop the attitude, eh?

Some of us have been saying all along that there's no rhyme or reason about which machines run well - and which don't - with L4 1. You're saying nothing new, and indeed, what you are saying just underpins the fundamental point of this: whatever's going on, it's not solely an Lr problem, it's not solely a spec problem, and it's not solely a user issue.

But because some of us are having excellent user experiences with Lr 4 (even me, with "just" 8 gb and a mid range Intel quad core) the only logical way to explain why Lr won't run well on some machines is that there's something about the machine it's on, or we'd all have problems.