Help! Photoshop CS6 hangs when using brush, clone, healing brush tools etc on Mac

[BarneyHamilton]

I am having a big problem when using the new CS6 on my Mac (os x 10.7.4). When switching to a new tool, like a brush, or clone stamp, or healing brush etc, Photoshop hangs for about 20 seconds before resuming. It's not 3rd party plug-ins, because I get the same behaviour when I run using the shift key and third party plug-ins are disabled. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens frequently. I've heard that others have had similar problems... are there any solutions - is it a known bug?

[Was DYP]

Did a new partition clean install of ML and CS5 and CS6. PSCS6 is now very resposive and I have not seen any hangs form any tools and selecting tools works correctly without having to click on the image twice. Same Wacom table and driver that I had loaded in 10.6.8.

Lightroom 4 is a whole lot faster too. So far 10.8 is the best OS yet from Apple, but I am keeping a close eye to see if anything gets added that will cause the hangs in PS again.

The icon bug in PSCS6 is still there though and deleting .DS_store files fixes the finder icon but not in PS.

[kcapizzi]

I've been running into this on and off, and I've been able to recover from a seemingly indefinite hang (threatening a force quit). Let me lay out what I'm using and how I work:

1) I'm on OSX Mountain Lion, running Photoshop CS6 (12-Core MacPro).

2) I'm using a Bamboo Wacom, with the stylus button's lower lever set to middle-mouse-click (I have the upper part of the lever set to right-click).

3) When I'm using the brush tool, if I accidently hit the lower part of the lever (the part closest to the nib), registering a middle-mouse-click, Photoshop immediately hangs, seems completely unresponsive, twirling "processing" icon, and my Activity Monitor shows PS is maxing out one of my cores at 100%.

4) I've let it try to resolve itself for letting it just spin for minutes and minutes; switching to other apps then back; hitting all manners of command-period, escape, etc. All to no avail.

5) Now, this JUST happened so I left it spinning again, and googled to arrive to this thread. I saw a post mention switching to the mouse, and sure enough, I did so, and bingo—everything came alive and all the previous clicks and keystrokes I attempted while hung executed all in rapid sucession, and resumed using my tablet again.

Ahh, relief, but still, I'm unsure this is a solid maneuver to recover from a hang. Time will tell...

ETA: I attempted to reproduce the hang by running through the steps and it seemed the more History I filled up, the more sensitive PS was to hang due to a middle-mouse-click on my stylus. Grabbing the mouse and wiggling it a bit seems to imediately recover Photoshop for me. Weird.

Message was edited by: kcapizzi

[Chris Cox]

Which OS version are you running?

(10.7 seems to want middle mouse click to activate dashboard)

[geigreg]

I'm still having the issue routinely and I'm about to revert back to CS5. The scroll wheel preference did nothing. It happens when I use the lasso, brush, eraser, dodge and burn. I resolve it by clicking out to the desktop, back to Photoshop (still hung up), back to desktop and then when I click back to Photoshop the 2nd time it is fixed. Very frustrating. Chris, is there any progress being made on this at all? It's a significant bug.

imac 2.66GHz Core i5

16GB ram

OS X 10.8

Wacom Intuous 3.0 with the most recent drivers

Creative Cloud Creative Suite

[Chris Cox]

We can't reproduce the problem.  Somewhere there is some other factor that you're missing or not telling us about.

I've tried Intuos 1, 2, 3, and 4 (I don't have a 5 yet, but someone else is trying all the tablets and cintiqs) without success.

Also, this topic seems to have devolved into multiple problems (switching apps, middle button, etc.) that make things more difficult to track.

[Jesseham-jc1rvC]

Though most here seem to be using Wacom tablets, there are a few of us here with the problem that are not.  If you are chasing after the tablet as the sole source of the issue, you may be missing other angles...

[geigreg]

I'm sure there's a plethora of things I haven't told you but not because I am keeping them from you. I have a lot of stuff on my system. I suspect that since some users say they are not using Wacoms that it might be a USB issue. I do have many USB devices plugged in and I have not tried disabling them all to troubleshoot because I need most of them. I also did not have any issues with CS5 with all of these devices plugged in. And I am not using any new hardware that I did not use in CS5. I am certainly using other software that I may not have had with CS5 and have many 3rd party utilities installed. If you want a list of all of them I am happy to provide. I also had the same issue in Lion and continue to in Mountain Lion.

Thanks.

g

[Norm Johnstone]

Hello all,

Any updates to this problem yet--it has been so frustrating working with the Adobe Photoshop CS6, with the multiple, endless hangs when using the brush, clone, healing tools...etc...soon time to go back to CS5 -- which worked great.

Norm

[Noel Carboni]

Norm, perhaps it would be prudent for you describe your system and just what's happening in more detail, on what size images, etc.  If you had done so, no one would have to ask you whether you've installed the 13.0.1 update, or have to dig into your other posts to find that you're on Snow Leopard.

It seems clear that "multiple, endless hangs when using the brush, clone, healing tools...etc..." aren't happening to everyone.  You may have a specific system problem that can be solved by someone familiar with your setup.

-Noel

[BarneyHamilton]

Chris

Would it help if I set up for you to take remote control of my machine - and you can dig around to see settings etc? I want to try to help you solve the problem. I'm in the UK, so we'd have to work out time difference - and I don't have remote hosting software, but I've seen other software providers take remote control like this to solve for a problem - you'd probably know better than me how to do it.

I'm on 10.8.2, using Intuous 3 tablet, on 13.0.1 PS. My workaround right now is to do Alt-tab, skip to another application, then alt-tab back to PS again and carry on after a second or two.

Barney

[Adam Jerugim]

Barney,

It would be great if we could set up a remote session so we can see a demo of the issue on your system.  Can you please email me directly (first name + last name separated by a '.' at adobe dot com)?

Thanks,

Adam

[Fried_Egg_Sandwich]

I think I've had a result.

I installed some new Ram in my Mac yesterday (early 2009 Nehalem MacPro4,1) and am ashamed to say it was utterly filthy inside. Fans, processor towers, GPU and motherboard all clogged with so much grey dust that it looked like it was insulated for winter. It was like Miss Haversham's Mac.

So I've cleaned everything meticulously with hot, soapy water in the bath.

Kidding.

But I did carefully vacuum and brush every single particle of dust out of the Mac, removed and reseated RAM, removed, cleaned and reseated PCI cards, removed and reseated all four HD's and my boot SSD, and generally made everything boxfresh and sparkly again. As Steve intended. I spent easily two hours cleaning every single surface, socket and seating that I could access. It looks like new.

Result = Boost A and Boost B fans are now spinning at 1100 RPM instead of the 2500 RPM (yeah, really) they were at under load previously, and the temp is down by at least 7 degrees. The Mac is now whisper quiet instead of noticably whirring away beneath my desk.

I've used PS CS6 exclusively since doing my epic cleaning teardown and not one brush tool hang has happened. Previously I'd given up on using the brush tool because every single time I selected it, PS would hang. If anything it had been getting worse of late. I now attribute that to the increasing amount of crud accumulating over ever-so-slightly important components.

Now before I posted this message I've been masking and brushing solidly for an hour in an attempt to make PS hang, but it's been rock solid stable. No way could I have done this previously.

Gentlemen, I'm not for a moment suggesting that the innards of your Macs are as squalid, swarthy and unkempt as mine. But maybe take a look into fans, vents and any other areas that need a clear air flow and see if they've become blocked or obstructed.

I'll report back tomorrow, but so far it seems like my own tardiness and mucky housekeeping has been to blame for the dreaded brush tool hang.

[conroy]

Great post!

[sean_b99]

Reminds me of an incident I had back in 1981 with an Apple II+. I ended up having to scrub the innards clean with warm soapy water (I kid you not). When it was all dried I restarted it and it worked perfectly for many years.

[Noel Carboni]

I clean the dust rhinos out of my systems about once every 3 months at the longest.

Once last year when I had little spare time and saw that I had quite an accumulation of dust I brought the (electric) leaf blower into the office, opened the window (it was windy outside), and blew 160 MPH air through the computer system.  It literally filled the air in the office with dust and for a few minutes until it all blew outside I actually had to leave the room.  That had the advantage, since it was quite a violent airflow, of dislodging dust that had gotten fairly deep into things.

For PC users at least, this is a decent free tool for monitoring temperatures:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

-Noel

[BarneyHamilton]

Adam - I did email you, but I've not had a reply.... did you get my email?

[James Hayward]

I'm glad Fried Egg Sandwich got some good results from cleaning his Mac Pro. We still are having problems with brand new iMacs, 3.4GHz i7 with 16 RAM, 1 TB, 10.7.4, CS6 Photoshop Extended (Design and Web Premium), Wacom intuos 3, and 4 with current drivers.

[BarneyHamilton]

Adam - did you see my email? We need a solution for this...am willing to help by allowing you remote access if it would help.

Barney

[RipTawn]

I have freezing during painting with my wacoms, I have had this since a clean install of CS5 when I bought it 18 months ago.

I am now running a cintiq 21ux, but have had exactly the same problem.

This problem has hindered my work, wasted hours of time, and frustrated me immensley.  Glad to now have a 'solution' ( I am also able to solve the problem by clicking off the window/switching programme and clicking a bit and then clicking back on PS.) it is clearly happening on various setups, PC, Mac, wacoms and other tablets.

Late 2009 imac i7 27"

  Model Name:          iMac

  Model Identifier:          iMac11,1

  Processor Name:          Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed:          2.8 GHz

  Number of Processors:          1

  Total Number of Cores:          4

  L2 Cache (per Core):          256 KB

  L3 Cache:          8 MB

  Memory:          12 GB

  Processor Interconnect Speed:          4.8 GT/s

  Boot ROM Version:          IM111.0034.B02

[BJamieson2215]

Something I've noticed with CS6 that may be related is that occasionally (as in several times an hour) the cursor disappears. I'll just command-tab out of PHotoshop and then right back in and the cursor is back again. It can be very annoying!

Also, sometimes I'll be using a brush (or any retouching tool that affects pixels) and when I lift the pen away from my tablet, Photoshop apparently ignores it and acts like I'm continuously holding down the pen. I try to navigate around to do something else but everything is locked out since it thinks that I'm still painting.I end up with huge dark marks on my masks and layers! I'll get out of it by painting elsewhere on the document, which usually resets Photoshop back to normal behavior. Then I just undo the lousy mistake and I have to reprint. This usually happens when I'm using a gigantic brush. Also annoying!

These issues aren't true freezes since no SBBOD appears, but they do halt my ability to work until I do the work-around. Thought this might be related.

[geigreg]

Just to reiterate the issues I am having and the workarounds:

I do get the disappearring cursor, which appears to be unrelated to the freeze. Clicking out to the Desktop and back to PS resolves it.

The "freezing" cursor (you can still move the cursor around but you cannot interact with the application) occurs with Brush, Dodge & Burn, Lasso, Clone, Eraser. PS does not respond. I click out to Desktop and back to PS twice (once doesn't do it) to break out of the paralyzed app.

Again, I first encoutered this issue with CS6 and Lion and upgrading to Mt. Lion has not resolved it.

[theodr]

I am having similar issues associated with use of Intuos 4 tablet with the latest drivers; brush tools, particularly healing and ask, are non-responsive when the Wacom is plugged in, but resume properly when Wacom in unplugged.

[rulisto]

i am having the exact same issues with the cursor disappearing, tab out and back is working fine.  Would be great to find the problem and solution.   Mac 10.8.2  CS6  Intous 5 touch.

[gross_cw]

I seem to run into this problem only when running the Right Zoom app. I added PhotoShop to my list of exceptions in that app and the problem went away.

[Brandman]

I am using an intuos 5 on a mac, mountain lion. Something that i have noticed that helps photoshop jump out of its stooper is as followed, I will be tring to make a selection with the pen input and it freezes, i put down the pen and grab my wacom mouse and click in the empty portion of the swatches panel and it seems to knock it out of its stooper. when i do that it pops up asking me to create a new swatch i just hit cancel and continue with my work. seems to help alot with me. I have noticed that i need to do this as soon as i notice it freezing up. hope this helps other people.