Freeze during editing

[davidm6207557]

I have an extremely weird problem. I’ve been using Elements 15 with Windows for 8 years with no real issues but recently a significant one has arisen…

I do heavy editing with my clips – re-framing, speed changes and multiple freeze-frame screenshots. Recently I’ve discovered that after editing for an amount of time (which seems to be getting shorter), the clips start playing jerkily and too fast, at least double the normal speed, and then Elements freezes. So I exit but Elements won’t allow me to re-enter; the splash screen appears but freezes.

I’ve then opened Task Manager to check on Memory Use and sure enough, it shows 3 to 7000(!)mb. If I click “End task” for Premiere, it disappears from Task Manager… but still won’t allow me to re-enter. The only way to continue is to re-boot. After re-booting I begin editing again and the same thing happens after a few minutes.

In preparing this post, I checked the memory use right after opening Premiere, and it showed almost 3000mb… without my having done anything! (See image.)

I’ve tried making a video of the double-speed playback but once Premiere freezes, I can’t record. And for some reason Task Manager no longer shows Premiere after I’ve exited so I can’t send a screenshot of the post-exit memory use, which is usually substantial.

I've uninstalled/reinstalled Premiere and the problem's still there.

I have a Dell XPS 13 9315 and I use Windows 11. Any idea what’s going on?

[John T Smith]

Two ideas that MAY work to install and/or run old programs in Windows 10 or Windows 11
-RIGHT click the program icon or EXE and select a compatibility mode in the pop up option window
-and/or select Run as Administrator to assign FULL Windows permissions
-also https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/create-local-administrator-account-windows.html

[davidm6207557]

Thanks for the idea. It doesn't work but I think you may misunderstand the issue – it would be nice to get back in but even if I did, that wouldn't eliminate the problem of Elements freezing after X minutes of editing.

[Bill Sprague]

How about disk space?  Temporary files created during editing and output rendering need a lot of spare space. 

[davidm6207557]

Nope – 180 gigs free. And remember, I'd been using Elements for 8 years, the first 5 with a smaller hard drive, and had no problems, then the malfunctioning/freezing started out of nowhere.

To me malfunctioning then freezing usually means that the program's become corrupted. But uninstalling/reinstalling should fix that, and it made no difference.

[Bill Sprague · Accepted solution]

Another thing that shows up in this forum is that the Audio Hardware setting for Default Input gets changed from "No Input" to something else.  On some computers, that will eat up RAM and cause sluggish behaviour as the CPU tries to process.  

[davidm6207557]

Interesting! I checked and it was set to "Microphone"; maybe I was adding a mic track to a clip (though I don't remember ever doing that). Anyway, it wasn't on "No Input" and now it is, so I'll do some editing and let you know what happens.

[davidm6207557]

Still working but I just realized you marked my "disk space" answer as correct, which I believe means the topic will seem like it's solved, when it's not. Is it possible to un-do that?

[davidm6207557]

I've been editing for a half-hour now and no freeze; I can't believe it but I think you solved the problem! (Which I guess means I withdraw my request for you to undo the "Correct Answer" check-mark for my disk space reply.)

Who would have thought Audio Hardware would be the culprit? Other than you, evidently, Bill. Wow. I can't thank you enough.

I won't be totally convinced till I do more but my dinner's now stone-cold so I have to go re-heat and eat. But again, thanks so much for your invaluable assistance.

[Bill Sprague]

If it continues to work, will you mark my suggestion as a correct answer?

Yes, it is odd that that the Audio Hardware setting will do this.  But, it comes up often enough here in this forum that I know that "No Input" can fix sluggish and freezing performance.   Also odd is that the setting can get changed as a result of some other process like (maybe) a Windows update.   I've tried to duplicate the issue my changing my setting to something that should cause trouble.  But, on my computer, there is no effect.   My guess is that there is some odd combination of certain GPUs and audio processors on only some computers.. 

[davidm6207557]

<If it continues to work, will you mark my suggestion as a correct answer?>

Someone beat me to it!

By the way, I usually look things up before posting but I confess I didn’t this time because the problem seemed so peculiar. I will from now on!

Same thing with Windows Update – I know from previous experience that Update can affect entirely unrelated things but it never occurred to me with this. There’s no way of being sure but I suspect Update is the culprit.

One other question: When I reinstalled Elements a folder appeared on my desktop, “Adobe Premiere Elements,” which contained the folder “Pre 15.” There are similarly named folders in my Users/AppData/Roaming/Adobe directory, but the “Pre 15” contents are different.

Can you tell me if the new desktop folders are necessary? And if so, should I move them to the Users/AppData/Roaming/Adobe folder, replacing or copying into what’s there now? I tried temporarily deleting the new ones and Elements seemed to work fine…

[Bill Sprague]

"Can you tell me if the new desktop folders are necessary? "

I don't know.  

[davidm6207557]

Okay, thanks.

[John T Smith]

>desktop folders

That is odd... when I have installed programs I am 'usually' asked by the installer if I want a desktop icon to launch the program, to which I always say yes... I don't remember ever being asked to create a folder

I also always accept the default install location that is presented by the installer... did you change the install location?

[davidm6207557 · Accepted solution]

Yeah, I've done this many times too without getting desktop folders. I too always accept a desktop icon as well as the default installation folder. And the odd things is, I got the default installation folder -- it's there in my Users directory. But I also got the desktop one.

Thanks for getting in touch!

I contacted Adobe Support and they no longer cover Elements 15 (I really should update but I'm so used to 15 I hate to lose time adjusting to the newest version) but the agent kindly did some research and said deleting the desktop folder was fine. I've moved its location, which should probably be the equivalent of deletion, so I'll see if it continues working and if so, delete the folder then.