Unable to export images, lag in Dev Mode, Customer Service TERRIBLE

Report · Aug 26, 2018

I have been having issues with slow performance in LR Classic CC since I updated at the beginning of August. I am also not able to export images from LR without crashing my whole computer.

I am using:

Mac OS High Sierra

Version 10.13.6 Processor 2.9 GHz Intel core i7, 16 gb 2133 MHz

Graphics Radeon Pro 460 4096 MB, Intel HD Graphics 530 1536 MB

I have been in contact with adobe phone support COUNTLESS times since the beginning of August- over 17 hours of my time wasted. I am literally at my wits end and my business is suffering since I can't get my clients their images, and conveniently, even though I can't collect my income, I continue to pay adobe for a product I can't use, and customer service that is non existent..

Things we have tried-

* All updates done on adobe products & on MAC.

* Contacted Apple support to have them check the OS was working/ storage good/caches cleared/

* Optimize catalogs

* Clear LR caches

* Increase camera raw cache settings to 10GB

* Checked hard drive and commuter storage space (I have 1TB HD with 300GB space available)

* Checked Activity Monitor (CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk)

* Moved the LR catalog to the "PICTURES" folder in finder (instead of my documents) then tried moving it to the Desktop

* Tried opening a new catalog and importing old edits & images

* Tried opening a new catalog and importing just raw images

I am still not able to export any images, and any edits done in develop mode are lagging severely making LR unusable for editing.

I have spoken with no less than 7 support people on the phone and had them do ALL these things over and over and over again wasting SO much of my time. I was told a Senior support technician would contact me within 48 hours, I didn't hear back.... I contacted adobe and was told someone would contact me.... still waiting 2 days later.

I am about ready to throw my computer out the window and jump off my roof. Someone HELP ME. What am I supposed to do?!?!?

Report · Aug 26, 2018

For the lag in Develop, you didn't list the most common (and often effective) magic spell: Disable the graphics processor by unchecking Preferences > Performance > Use Graphics Processor. After doing that, restart your computer for good measure.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

Thanks John, I tried this. No change. The computer is still crashing when I try to export any images.

Report · Aug 26, 2018

Tell us some more details

What is the size of your computer screen in pixels, not inches?
What is the size of the images taken by your camera in pixels or megapixels (not megabytes)?
Are you doing a lot of brushing or a lot of spot healing in Lightroom?

Report · Aug 27, 2018

Hey dj.

1. 15.4-inch (2880 x 1800) is my screen size (working on a Mac book pro)

2. Average image size is about 3100 X 5200 pixels (in RAW format)

3. I do a "decent" amount of brushing exposure/clarity on the images that I am editing, yes. However, I have ALWAYS been editing the same way (4+ years) and this problem literally just came up over night. One day editing and exporting fine... no lag, no issues... then the next morning I open LR and brushing is greatly delayed, as is cropping, etc... and I can't export any images without the whole computer restarting.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

SheaMichelle wrote
However, I have ALWAYS been editing the same way (4+ years) and this problem literally just came up over night. One day editing and exporting fine... no lag, no issues... then the next morning I open LR and brushing is greatly delayed, as is cropping, etc... and I can't export any images without the whole computer restarting.

This is a typical symptom of the CPU overheating, the computer shuts down and restarts. This explains why you never had this problem and then it showed up out of nowhere. It is also my understanding that laptops throttle back the CPU in an attempt to avoid overheating, creating the lag that you are experiencing.

So, check the cooling system in your computer. Vacuum out all of the vents in the case.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

That sounds super plausible.

This is a nearly brand new laptop and I noticed right away the fan kicking in any time I opened up LR or PS. The CPU goes through the roof when I am editing and up to 800-1000 when exporting.

I will chat with Mac about this issue.

Thanks!

Report · Aug 27, 2018

Wait a minute. Now you say this is a nearly brand new laptop, when did you get it? Did the lag begin when you got this laptop? Or shortly after?

It doesn't matter you have been doing things the same way for 4 years, it only matters if the lagging and crashing began when you got this laptop.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

No.. sorry.. Nearly new. I have been using it since April 2017 for editing, so 18 months worth of use.

Besides the fan kicking in more frequently since I got it (different than my last laptop) I haven't had any issues with it.

The LR issues just started 3 weeks ago.

I just ran the "apple diagnostics" (holding D key while restarting) and there are apparently no issues. ? I'll vacuum out the vents just in case.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

It's expected that CPU utilization will spike as you edit and especially as you export. This is by design -- Adobe has tried hard to speed up LR by using every last bit of the CPU. And it is expected that the fan will run when the CPU is being used heavily -- that is also by Apple's design. Many recent purchasers of Macbooks have been surprised how frequently the fan runs when using newer versions of LR, mistakenly thinking that something is wrong with LR, since no other app they use drives the CPU so heavily.

What is unexpected is your computer shutting down or slowing down when the CPU is used heavily. As dj_paige indicated, that indicates overheating, with fans that aren't working properly.

You can monitor your CPU temperature and CPU frequency using this free Intel app: Intel® Power Gadget | Intel® Software . Run the app and watch temperature and CPU frequency as you do an export -- does the frequency suddenly drop as the temperature rises? Does the Macbook stop soon after the temperature reaches a sustained maximum?

Report · Aug 31, 2018

See my recent post.

Report · Aug 27, 2018

SheaMichelle wrote
I'll vacuum out the vents just in case.

There are two things you have to do. One is vacuum out the vents. The other is to check the cooling system to make sure it hasn't malfunctioned.

Report · Aug 31, 2018

See my recent post.

Report · Sep 01, 2018

So you did not check the cooling system, and you did not vacuum out the case vents.

Anyway, this seems to confirm that doing the brushing that you are doing has caused a well-known lag/slowdown, if it happens on other computers with just your images and their images.

Report · Sep 01, 2018

I ran diagnostics on the Mac (holding the D key on restart) to check the cooling system/OS, etc.. and everything is coming back clean with how the computer operates. I did vacuum out the vents and keyboard, etc...

But would 2 other computers be having the same problem if it was a hardware issue like the cooling system?

~S

Report · Sep 01, 2018

I ran diagnostics on the Mac (holding the D key on restart) to check the cooling system

Startup diagnostics won't necessarily detect problems that only occur later after the computer heats up. The only way to rule out overheating is by running a monitoring utility such as the Intel Power Gadget: Re: Unable to export images, lag in Dev Mode, Customer Service TERRIBLE

Report · Sep 01, 2018

Hey John, I did run that, yes... and the computer runs super hot (93-99 Degrees C) - I screen shot the results and sent them to my contact people at Adobe and Apple and neither seemed concerned... ???? I even ran it while I was on a support call with Adobe and showed her how hot it was getting and she didn't say it was an issue... Should I be concerned-??

Report · Sep 01, 2018

If the processor runs for more than perhaps 15-30 seconds at close to 99C, it could well be overheating. Without knowing the precise Intel processor you have, from the other specs you wrote I'm guessing you have a recent Macbook with an Intel® Core™ i7-6920HQ Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.80 GHz) Product Specifications . The specs say its maximum operating temperature is 100C.

Can you post a screenshot of Powergadget after a LR Export has been running for a couple of minutes?

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, and it's maximum operating temperature is 100C. And the computer never lets its temperature stay close to 100C for more than 15-30 secs. For example, here's the Powergadge graphs for the start of an export of 100 raws from LR 7.5:

You can see that as soon as the CPU nears 100%, the temperature spikes at 100C, and then the computer starts dropping the computer frequency to drop the temperature. After a minute or so, the frequency has stabilized at about 1.7 GHz and the temperature at 72C:

Report · Aug 26, 2018

Hi SheaMichelle,

In addition to the suggestions above one other thing to consider is that your system needs some maintenance.

In general (and this is no means absolute), if something horrible is happening to your system and is not happening to others, one possible solution is that there's something wrong with your system.

While certainly much better than in ancient days of the 80s and 90s, our operating systems occasionally need some tender loving care. What I'm about to suggest will take some time (maybe up to an hour) to process which means that you will spend yet more time on your issue AND IT MAY NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM. I'm stressing that because I do not know what the problem/issue is but it should not be happening. The good news is that if you follow through on these suggestions, if there is something wrong with your system, it should be fixable and the sooner the better.

Things to try, The following two mostly deal with things that the Mac OS is supposed to deal with on it's own. The catch is that it is built into the OS to do these operations in the middle of the night but if your computer is asleep or turned off, nothing happens. So these allow you to do the maintenance when YOU want it done.

-OnyX. Free, good, can do no harm. Go to https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/index.html

-Sierra Cache Cleaner: Modest fee ($9.99), has served me VERY well over the years (my personal favorite). https://www.northernsoftworks.com/sierracachecleaner.html

Next are higher priced repair programs:

-Drive Genius. $79 I've used this for years and like it a lot.

-Tech Tool Pro $99 I had some issues with this software years & years ago and have not used it since but that was a long time ago and my experience back then is probably not relevant now. Mac Hard Drive Repair

-Disk Warrior: IF you have a mechanical hard drive (not an SSD), this is/was one of my favorite Mac repair software but they cannot work on SSD drives and High Sierra. Alsoft, Inc. Makers of DiskWarrior. The Disk Utility for Mac Disk Repair, Mac Directory Repair, Mac ...

Looking forward to hearing what you've tried, what has worked and what has not.

Report · Aug 26, 2018

Oh, one more thing. I was just re-reading what you have done and you should try this, it's a quickie: reset your preferences.

You can read about that here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

Report · Aug 31, 2018

See my recent post

Report · Aug 31, 2018

So, another 10+ hours on the phone with adobe and 4 more with Apple. Here is what else we have tried...

*Tried launching and working in LR in SAFE MODE

* Tried launching and working in as a "Root" user (?)

* Did a full NVRAM reboot

*Reinstalled the whole Mac OS

*Did a Malwarebytes scan, Bit defender scan (of Mac, and external harddrive that contains my raw images)

*Installed current adobe CC on my hubby's computer, edited his images with no problems. Created new catalog and imported my images, scrolling slowed and develop mode lagged. Launched my "problem " catalog edits, and editing & exporting came to a halt.

* Visited my neighbour who has current LR cc and a new desktop MAC... no issues with his images. Loaded old 2015 images of mine in a new catalog, no problems. Loaded 2018 images, performance slowed. (I didn't try pushing things further as I didn't want to mess up his system)

ANY HELP would be great. We are at week 4 of not being able to edit and export images and NOTHING is helping.

PLEASE.

Report · Sep 01, 2018

No one else has asked yet, so could you post the first ten lines of Help -> system info?

Does an export crash if you try exporting the files as "original" instead of Jpg?

Any errors shown either from LR or the OS as part of the crash?

In the export options are there any watermarks or Post-processing options set?

(Try exporting with no renaming, no watermarks and Post-Processing set to "Do-nothing")

Report · Sep 01, 2018

Report · Sep 01, 2018

It does crash when I don't make any changes or apply any export presets. I don't watermark. I do have presets and watermarks in the export menu- but with adobe, we tried a new catalog without any presets created and still had issues. We also still had issues when using a previous version of LR.

I get a TON of error reports from Adobe and from Apple every time it crashes- and oddly enough, no one seems to want them. I have asked that every single time I talk to someone at Apple and adobe... it would make sense to me that there are clues in the code as to what is going on and why the system is failing ..... but no one wants the reports????