Photoshop crashes and freezes

[LievenL]

Whatever I try, which ever update I try, the latest PS will only start up with a beach ball and that ever since version 22.x

On a MBA 2020 Big Sur 11.4 I7 16GB

What I tried:

- deleted preferences

- uninstalled and reinstalled

- reverted to version 21.X well that worked but updating results in the same crash.

What to do next?

{Thread title edited by moderator}

[garyw23160612]

I've had the same problem with PS on Big Sur since day one. I've tried each of the recommended fixes and nothing has fixed it. It's monumentally frustrating. I'm now researching alternatives to PS, even though I'm using LOTS of Adobe products. This is simply and completely unacceptable. 

[SpaceAcex]

I've switched to affinity after doing some research. I simply could not
wait for Adobe. I need to complete commissions i am behind on.
Especially the fact that Adobe hasn't even made any statement at all about
these issues.

In Affinity the Language is similar but there are some work flow
differences. Seems just as powerful a program though.

[josephm11396410]

I finally got mine working but the Apple update was the issue and the latest 11.1 version of Big Sur finally after 3 days of frustation appears to have stabilized my PS issue.    I tried everything on this thread and finally after I updated to 11.1 it "appears" to have worked.   That was AFTER I finally got the right person on the phone at Apple and going thru everything I had done.  I had the update already on the computer but for some "unknown" reason it didn't install it.  Had to restart my computer and in mid restart restart it again but it finally installed.   The Apple tech opened an internal ticket ........ yawn

[michaels37302693]

My hand is slowly being forced towards Affinity - I'm starting to be left with no choice.

There is a major issue between the way Photoshop and Apple's Big Sur OS communicate (could apply to Adobe products more generally, but I mainly use PS).

I've tried granting PS full Accessibility - didn't fix it.

I've tried downgrading the Graphics Processor - didn't fix it.

What's causing the issue seems to be different for everyone, so it's impossible to pinpoint the exact cause. The only thing I can be sure of is that Photoshop is virtually unusable on Big Sur.

My machine is brand new, and everything is fully up to date. Their appears to be no solution forthcoming. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know.

Moving to Affinity might be a big leap, but from what I can see, it looks very similar so might not be that scary. If more Adobe users start making the switch, maybe Adobe will start to take notice and work harder to fix their products. Currently, they're not fit for purpose.

[lukehemms]

With the issues persisting. What version of photoshop are people using for Mac Big Sur?

[Sonia73]

Mine keeps freezing too and I haven't updated to Big Sur, I've been too scared to.
I'm still using Mojave 10.14.6.

[AndreaM1]

Hi everyone, I need help too.

I have an iMac 27 with Catalina, this morning after updating the OS to 10.15.7 version, Photoshop (22.3.1) stopped working.
It does not start, when I double click on the icon it immediately returns an error message befor do anything (unexpected closure of photoshop).
I tried to reinstall Photoshop cleaning all the preferences, to reinstall an old version, but nothing change.

Illustrator, indesign, acrobat work good.
Someone can help me?
Thanks

Andrea

[jaredm12943319]

I am having exactly the same problem. Tried all the same attempted fixes, zero result. Need a solution NOW adobe, this is rediculous.

Jared

[AndreaM1]

I tried with Adobe support and Apple support, but nobody could help me.
I looked for re-install all the Adobe Creative Cloud after using the Cleaner tool, but no results.
I hand-clean all Adobe installation files, but nothing
The crash-problem was about the GPU, I have a Radeon video card, so it's a conflict between Photoshop and the OS GPU.
I had to reinstal OS Catalina from start.
It's crazy, Apple is going to become like windows, ...or less, but its price will rest hight.

Andrea

[vicagreda]

I have exact same specs, and this started happening today. Anyone up for a class action lawsuit? Adobe has a market cap over 200 BILLION dollars, this is utterly inexcusable. 

[stephenmann-nbts]

Hi!  I'm having similar problems.  Photoshop crashes on launch.  I've created a new ueser, same problem.    So, I reinstalled the OS (MacOS Catalina), and it worked! ... for a few hours.    But, then, the next morning, crashes at each launch.   All other Adobe apps seem to be fine.  

MacPro (2013 model).  

Photoshop 22.3.1

Catalina 10.15.7

Here is what seems to be a relevant section of the Crash Report: 

Crashed Thread: 12 GPU Sniffer Launcher

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00000000000004e0
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process: exc handler [61279]

Help!!

---

@defaultdfbye5nqzta0 wrote:

Hi, I really need some help!

I have a brand new Macbook Pro - well, I bought it mid year.

I have Photoshop 21 and all Apple updates are current.

Everytime I used a brush, the computer revs up and I get the coloured circle - and it freezes. It has now started doing it with the Spot healing brush too! What am i doing wrong, or is this a problem with photoshop and Apple?  I can't get a damn thing finished!

Thanks

{Thread title edited by moderator}

---

---

@defaultdfbye5nqzta0 wrote:

Hi, I really need some help!

I have a brand new Macbook Pro - well, I bought it mid year.

I have Photoshop 21 and all Apple updates are current.

Everytime I used a brush, the computer revs up and I get the coloured circle - and it freezes. It has now started doing it with the Spot healing brush too! What am i doing wrong, or is this a problem with photoshop and Apple?  I can't get a damn thing finished!

Thanks

{Thread title edited by moderator}

---

Help!! 

[AndreaM1]

Here too

I restalled the OS 2 days ago (Catalina 10.15.7), Photoshop worked for 1 day and yesterday it crashed again with the same error:

".....Crashed Thread: 12 GPU Sniffer Launcher........"

I hope it was only a casual error, but....

Andrea

[ortizfreelance]

I'm happy to report that whatever updates Adobe did recently worked for my computer. It hasn't freezed or crashed in a while. Thank you!

[SASanderson]

A couple of weeks ago I had continual crashes when I tried to edit a Sony raw file by exporting it from LR Classic to Photoshop CC. Everything is up to date. I finally had to delete and reinstall PS by removing all of my customizations in order to get it not to crash every time I tried to use it. It worked for awhile, and now it is crash, crash, crash again. It seems as though other people are having this problem too. I checked and did not have a problem with permissions. This is just so frustrating. Please fix this Adobe.

[SASanderson]

This morning I tackled this problem again. This time, when I booted my computer up, the first thing I did was to launch PSCC. It opened fine. This was novel behavior after last night's continual crashes. I was then able to take raw files from LR Classic to PSCC with no problem. So it seems to me that the problem is with the round trip procedure where I work in LR first, then select "edit in" PSCC. That procedure generates the crash and the report of some bad instruction. Something is wrong with the round trip procedure if PSCC is not already running. At least that is my experience, and I hope that Adobe fixes this ASAP.

[Jayson5FE1]

Same issue!! ADOBE YOU ARE COSTING US MONEY!!! FIX THIS ISSUE PLEASE!

I've sent in every crash report - I have uninstalled, killed backup setting files, I've followed all of the recommendations. the problem is the same!

Please fix this issue!

[SASanderson]

AJayson5FE1, have you tried my workaround? I boot my computer in the morning, immediately launch PSCC. Only then do I launch LRClassic and turn on my external RAID where I have my raw files. I can then do LR edits and then edit that file in PSCC. If I try to edit a file in PSCC without having first launched PSCC it immediately crashes. Until recently I could work in LRCC and then when I invoked the "edit in Photoshop" command, it would then launch PSCC and open the file. Not anymore! Now I have to make sure that PSCC is already running before I use the "edit in" command in LR, otherwise it is crash, crash, crash. I wish Adobe would fix this.

[SASanderson]

Even after today's PSCC update to v. 22.4.0 AND a reinstall of my OS, PSCC still crashes when sending it a file from LRCC.

[vicagreda]

I started a new thread and an Adobe employee says it's an issue with OpenCL in Catalina. His suggestion was for me to update to 11.3 (Big Sur)... It's like the people who make this stuff don't understand how production environments work at all...

[tracymoon]

I gave up on Catalina, and I think adobe has as well. I upgraded to BigSur last night and now everything is working fine. Go for it.

[vicagreda]

Yeah I have a Big Sur machine and I love it -- but in practice, some of us have production machines that may be running software that developers haven't yet updated. Especially things like plugins. So it's not as trivial as snapping our fingers and switching to a completely new OS -- and a lot changed in Big Sur. Adobe should support Catalina. 

[stephenmann@mac.com]

^ This.   A million times this.    I can't update to Big Sur yet because enough of my critical bits are not updated for that yet.   In a production environment, it takes a long time to get things stable, and right now everything except photoshop is rock solid.   I fully expect Adobe to keep this software running and stable on all currently-supported OS versions.   Especially since this is subscription software - it really should be kept stable.   

[Mark.Dahm]

stephenmann@mac.com, there is an OCL instability issue on Catalina that is causing a lot of freezing, as people describe it. It seems to have been introduced in that last security update. It was fixed by Apple in 11.3, which is what we are conveying to users. We will soon be issuing a patch that will disble the GPU on 10.15.7., since OCL is basically DOA on Catalina 10.15.7.

I know it's often problematic for many situations to upgrade the OS, but that is where the fix for the issue is. I apologize for this inconvenience, because, well, I know OS upgrades are costly in their own right.

Sorry I didn't get to this thread sooner; I've been monitoring other threads and missed this one.

[stephenmann-nbts]

Mark.Dahm,  many thanks for your reply.   I really appreciate the info into the situation.   The long-running mystery just wasn't yielding any viable solutions or explanations.      

I assume there is little chance that Apple will fix OCL in Catalina, but if they do, might Adobe then re-enable GPU?     I would think that other applications running on Catalina would be similarly affected by this, so perhaps Apple will issue a fix...    I know,  I live in hope that Apple will do the right thing.  🙂 

[Mark.Dahm]

@stephenmann-nbts , we'll be working on eliminating our own OCL dependencies so that if this happens again, hopefully it will not matter.