could not initialize photoshop because of a problem using the adobe color engine (Win 7)

[Guest]

Was running the lastest version of Photoshop CS5 and added a second quad graphics card and 4 more monitors.  Now PS will not start and I get the error message "could not initialize photoshop because of a problem using the adobe color engine."
Computer has 2 NIVDIA Quadro4 NVS420 graphics boards with 8 Samsung SyncMaster 1920x1080 monitors.  If I disable 4 of the monitors CS5 starts normally.  I do not have to remove the added graphics card.  When I extend the desktop again to all 8 monitors I get the error above.

How do I trouble-shoot the problem?  Is it Photoshop, NIVDIA or Windows 7?

[Noel Carboni]

andrewpweyrich wrote:

I have 7 monitors....

I'd ask why you have 7 monitors, but I suspect the answer may be "because there's not room for 8". 

You officially have my envy.

-Noel

[andrewpweyrich]

I may get 8.     Your products are why I am addicted to Multimedia - haha.  Let's just say I am a huge fan!

This is an old picture - when I only had 5 monitors!  haha

http://www.andrewweyrich.com/homestudio.html

[Guest]

On my 8 monitor system described above, I updated Photoshop to version 12.0.4.  PS CS5 still fails to start due to the Adobe Color Engine problem also described previously.

The only work around I have found is:

Disable 2 monitors so only 6 are active

Start PS CS5

You can't re-enable the 2 additional monitors until you exit out of PS.  If I do it crashes.

Disabling monitors is pretty messy.  If I find a clean way to do this I will post it also.

[andrewpweyrich]

thanks Ron.   i hve found the same thing.  i wish Adobe would do an update to fix this!

[ben-erwin]

I too have ATI cards and 7 (sometimes 8 when I turn the HD TV on as a monitor) and experience the same issue.
So, it's not an NVIDIA issue, it's not a driver or Windows 7 issue, it's an Adobe not testing it's product on upwards of 6 monitors issue.

I recently had an issue with Illustrator not running on more than 3 monitors, but that was resolved by making Display 1 my primary display.
This is a straight up Adobe bug.

I keep photoshop open all day so having one of my monitors turned off so photoshop work is mor than annoying, it's limiting and inconvenient.
I don't have 7 monitors and CS5 so I can't enjoy both.

Adobe, patch this, and push it down as an update, please.

[ben-erwin]

Adding> I just discoved that if you turn off any monitors above the sixth, then load photoshop, then turn back on the seventh, Photoshop will crash.

[andrewpweyrich]

Thanks for posting your experience Ben.  Welcome to the impaired Adobe club :).  Yea - I have a workstation that runs 8 monitors and I really do use all 8 monitors at times.  There have been motherboards with 3 PCI-e slots for maybe 4 years now - and ATI has had their eyefinity technology out for 2 years enabling 3-6 monitors PER VIDEO CARD.

It boggles my mind that Adobe has let its flagship product sit like this for at least 2 years where you cannot use it.  One Adobe guy did respond to this thread and his response was 'we are looking into it - why are you using more than 6 monitors?'  Really?  Maybe because I own your Master Collection and there are enough apps in there to fill up more than 6 - how about that answer!

And Photoshop is my most used Adobe app - I refused to get rid of my two monitors to use Photoshop so I typically just leave them off on a daily basis so I don't have to keep turning them on and off - but it is frustrating when I need to use all 8 montiors.

ADOBE IF YOU ARE LISTENING - PLEASE FIX THIS IN MAINTENANCE RELEASE 12.05.   You didn't in maintenance release 12.04 - us multi-monitor people need Photoshop back! 

Andrew

[flood84]

8 screen user that Just purchased Photoshop.... Now i find out i have to shut down 2 monitors to use photoshop..ARGH....  8 monitors is essential 16 would be better... Using 420 cards....   Adobe...   PLEASE address this issue

[Guest]

Switching the number of monitors which are enabled on my desktop is very painful.  I've tried a few different utilities to save positions of the monitors, icons and other configuration parameters with no luck.  I cue up my PS jobs as much as possible to avoid going through the pain of changing my desktop.  I then often find myself leaving monitors off until the pain of the reduced desktop space exceeds the pain of switching the monitors back on.

I hope this is resolved soon.

[Adam Jerugim]

If you're experiencing this specific issue (Photoshop not launching when > 6 monitors are connected to your system) and would like to help us test a fix, please send me an email to my non-work account:  travlin_adam at yahoo dot com

Thanks,

Adam

[FireCoding]

What is the status of this multi-monitor-bug-fix effort now?  I just set up 8-monitors only to find my Photoshop failing out of the gates.

David

[Noel Carboni]

TheGoodTech wrote:

I just set up 8-monitors

I want to be you. 

I wonder how many people in the world are using more than 6 monitors.  Not that many I bet.

-Noel

[Chris Cox]

It is fixed in Photoshop CS6.

We tested CS6 up to 16 displays, but it should handle any display configuration you throw at it (until you run out of RAM).

[FireCoding]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[ben-erwin]

Getting this fixed was a big deal for me. CS6 is an all-around good upgrade and worth doing, not just for this issue. (and I was really disappointed in CS5).
I'm running 8, and it was terrible to have to disable at least two to start up PS CS5.
Kudos to the whole photoshopt team on this release. Great work. And thanks Adam and Chris.

[Guest]

Hello GoodTech,

They didn't fix the bug in CS5 but I do have 8 monitors working now that I've bought CS6.

Ron

[8mmfilm]

I've had this problem on one monitor. It was working fine before