Photoshop: Instant Death!

Have you tried going into "view" on the menu bar and selecting "thumbnails" or "icons".. something different than what is currently checked?

Mike

"bilglas" wrote in message

Hi.

This is not exclusively a Photoshop problem, but I’m hoping someone here recognizes this issue, and can offer a solution. I’ve searched the ‘Net

for

an answer, and come up blank. I’m still using version 7 on WinXP Pro …

all

updates and drivers are current.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access

the

files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or

hesitation

… just POW … GONE.

The reason why I know it’s not JUST a Photoshop problem: If I try to

access

the Bob folder from Corel PhotoPaint, same thing. Even if I try to click

one

of Bob’s photos from Windows Explorer, EXPLORER disappears, instantly.
What I tried, but it didn’t work: I was able to copy that folder onto another computer. I then deleted that original folder and did a complete defrag and checkdisk scan. I WAS able to open the files, now on the other computer, without any problem. I renamed each file, even renamed the

folder

itself. Copied it back to my main computer. Same problem exists … click

a

file, and lose whatever application I’m using.

Anybody ever heard of this before? Any suggestions (short of reformatting the hard drive)?

Thanks for your help!!

I had a similar problem with Ulead Explorer disappearing every time I tried to access jpegs in a certain folder.
I solved the problem by moving about half of the
files into a different folder. I use XP Home. I presumed something in the system objected to the number of files
I had in the original folder, or their combined size
(something like 1400 files and 2-5 to 3 gigs’ worth).

mm

"bilglas" wrote in message

Hi.

This is not exclusively a Photoshop problem, but I’m hoping someone here recognizes this issue, and can offer a solution. I’ve searched the ‘Net

for

an answer, and come up blank. I’m still using version 7 on WinXP Pro …

all

updates and drivers are current.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access

the

files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or

hesitation

… just POW … GONE.

The reason why I know it’s not JUST a Photoshop problem: If I try to

access

the Bob folder from Corel PhotoPaint, same thing. Even if I try to click

one

of Bob’s photos from Windows Explorer, EXPLORER disappears, instantly.
What I tried, but it didn’t work: I was able to copy that folder onto another computer. I then deleted that original folder and did a complete defrag and checkdisk scan. I WAS able to open the files, now on the other computer, without any problem. I renamed each file, even renamed the

folder

itself. Copied it back to my main computer. Same problem exists … click

a

file, and lose whatever application I’m using.

Anybody ever heard of this before? Any suggestions (short of reformatting the hard drive)?

Thanks for your help!!

This is not exclusively a Photoshop problem, but I’m hoping someone here recognizes this issue, and can offer a solution. I’ve searched the ‘Net

for

an answer, and come up blank. I’m still using version 7 on WinXP Pro …

all

updates and drivers are current.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access

the

files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or

hesitation

… just POW … GONE.

The reason why I know it’s not JUST a Photoshop problem: If I try to

access

the Bob folder from Corel PhotoPaint, same thing. Even if I try to click

one

of Bob’s photos from Windows Explorer, EXPLORER disappears, instantly.
What I tried, but it didn’t work: I was able to copy that folder onto another computer. I then deleted that original folder and did a complete defrag and checkdisk scan. I WAS able to open the files, now on the other computer, without any problem. I renamed each file, even renamed the

folder

itself. Copied it back to my main computer. Same problem exists … click

a

file, and lose whatever application I’m using.

Anybody ever heard of this before? Any suggestions (short of reformatting the hard drive)?

Thanks for your help!!

I have never come across this before, from your description I am guessing that the folder is somehow corrupted. Instead of renaming the folder on the other computer and copying it back, make a new folder on your main computer and copy the files to this folder. It may not work, but it’s worth a try.

—
Geoff Jackson, Nottingham, UK.

www.gjphoto.f9.co.uk
(Remove the obvious to reply)

Have you done an intensive virus scan.

"bilglas" wrote in message

Hi.

This is not exclusively a Photoshop problem, but I’m hoping someone here recognizes this issue, and can offer a solution. I’ve searched the ‘Net

for

an answer, and come up blank. I’m still using version 7 on WinXP Pro …

all

updates and drivers are current.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access

the

files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or

hesitation

… just POW … GONE.

The reason why I know it’s not JUST a Photoshop problem: If I try to

access

the Bob folder from Corel PhotoPaint, same thing. Even if I try to click

one

of Bob’s photos from Windows Explorer, EXPLORER disappears, instantly.
What I tried, but it didn’t work: I was able to copy that folder onto another computer. I then deleted that original folder and did a complete defrag and checkdisk scan. I WAS able to open the files, now on the other computer, without any problem. I renamed each file, even renamed the

folder

itself. Copied it back to my main computer. Same problem exists … click

a

file, and lose whatever application I’m using.

Anybody ever heard of this before? Any suggestions (short of reformatting the hard drive)?

Thanks for your help!!

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:17:39 GMT, "bilglas"
wrote:

Hi.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access the files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or hesitation … just POW … GONE.

What you have to do is split the folder contents into 2 more folders.

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

Just create 2 more folders called Bob 2 and 3 or whatever you want to name them and move files into them..

Colyn Goodson

http://home.swbell.net/colyng
http://www.colyngoodson.com
http://www.colyngoodson.com/manuals.html

"bilglas" wrote in message

This is not exclusively a Photoshop problem, but I’m hoping someone here recognizes this issue, and can offer a solution. I’ve searched the ‘Net

for

an answer, and come up blank. I’m still using version 7 on WinXP Pro …

all

updates and drivers are current.

I’ve got a LOT of folders filled with TIF and JPG images (I’m a photographer). I’ve recently discovered that, when attempting to access

the

files in ONE particular folder ("Bob") … the instant I click on a file, Photoshop just DISAPPEARS … BANG! No error message, no pause or

hesitation

… just POW … GONE.

The reason why I know it’s not JUST a Photoshop problem: If I try to

access

the Bob folder from Corel PhotoPaint, same thing. Even if I try to click

one

of Bob’s photos from Windows Explorer, EXPLORER disappears, instantly.

I’ve never had this happen with Photoshop’s file browser. If it happens with File>Open using the Windows thumbnail view, and you have told Windows to cache thumbnails, delete the thumbs.db file. Since this is normally a hidden system file, you may have to turn on the option to show hidden files.

I find I can avoid this problem by telling Windows not to cache thumbnails, although this will of course slow down the creation of the thumbnail view in large folders.

"Colyn" wrote in message

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:17:39 GMT, "bilglas"
wrote:

snip<

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

That is new too me, what makes you say that?
Any references you could share?

snip<

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:37:06 GMT, "Stephan"
wrote:

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

That is new too me, what makes you say that?
Any references you could share?

snip<

My sister bought a new computer last summer with XP. She would download all of the photos from her digital camera into her photo folder.

At one point when she would try to open that folder, the editing program she was running would disappear..

I had her break the files up into several folders and the problem went away.

I’m running Win 2k on one machine and Linux on another and don’t have this problem..

Colyn Goodson

http://home.swbell.net/colyng
http://www.colyngoodson.com
http://www.colyngoodson.com/manuals.html

"Colyn" wrote in message

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:37:06 GMT, "Stephan"
wrote:

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

That is new too me, what makes you say that?
Any references you could share?

snip<

My sister bought a new computer last summer with XP. She would download all of the photos from her digital camera into her photo folder.

At one point when she would try to open that folder, the editing program she was running would disappear..

I had her break the files up into several folders and the problem went away.

I’m running Win 2k on one machine and Linux on another and don’t have this problem..

Typical: Something doesn’t work on sister’s computer => XP is not working well!
I love this kind of science.

Stephan

It could be a pagefile setting, if this is set too small the box may well struggle, might be worth setting page file to say 10gig, make sure the photoshop scratch file isn’t on the same HD as the pagefile. Ste the min and max values to the same size. It may solve your problem………………or it may not. HTH.
"Stephan" wrote in message

"Colyn" wrote in message

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 23:17:39 GMT, "bilglas"
wrote:

snip<

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

That is new too me, what makes you say that?
Any references you could share?

snip<

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 19:39:55 GMT, "Stephan"
wrote:

Typical: Something doesn’t work on sister’s computer => XP is not working well!
I love this kind of science.

Stephan

Speaking of science, if you really wanted to know if the issue was the number of files, then you could test the hypothesis by copying a bunch of jpgs into one folder and see what happens.

Personally, I’m not doubting that the number of files in a folder could cause programs to react like that. Particularly because a few Windows versions ago, I do remember that there was a limit on the number of files and folders that were directly off the root of the drive (I seem to remember that 512 was the max).

And, though I cannot remember where, I do know that within the last few weeks I saw a note that some program would not work well if the directory being accessed for files was more than 6 levels deep in the folder structure.

So would I doubt that there’s a functional limit to the number of files in a folder (why else with the Windows OS put all its files in so many folders).

— JC

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 19:39:55 GMT, "Stephan"
wrote:

Typical: Something doesn’t work on sister’s computer => XP is not working well!
I love this kind of science.

Stephan

I’ve seen this very problem on several XP machines..

XP’s main problem is it relys too much on memory. That makes it faster but it also has a tendancy to run much slower when doing multi-tasking or even opening large files due to excessive memory usage..

Colyn Goodson

http://home.swbell.net/colyng
http://www.colyngoodson.com
http://www.colyngoodson.com/manuals.html

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 02:51:51 GMT, Colyn
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 01:37:06 GMT, "Stephan"
wrote:

XP does not like folders with a lot of files, especially large files.

That is new too me, what makes you say that?
Any references you could share?

snip<

My sister bought a new computer last summer with XP. She would download all of the photos from her digital camera into her photo folder.

At one point when she would try to open that folder, the editing program she was running would disappear..

I had her break the files up into several folders and the problem went away.

I’m running Win 2k on one machine and Linux on another and don’t have this problem..

I’m running XP and the largest folder I’ve had (i.e. before sorting) contained approx. 15 thousand images. And guess what, I had no problems with my software. Just how many images are you talking about?

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, reliqui

An update, and responses to your abundant, generous assistance … thank you all!

Firstly, the folder was not particularly full … 27 jpgs … less than 4 mb total. I’ve got other folders with WAY more … so an over-filled folder wasn’t the issue.

Thoroughly checked for viruses … that ain’t it, but thanks, Donald.

I tried Geoff’s suggestion: From DOS (remember DOS?) I created a new folder with a new name, then moved all the files from their current location into this new folder, then deleted the now-empty folder. Hard reboot, just for grins. And … similar to my previously described efforts, this process DID work – for a minute or two … then it crashed again. (Windows "Error Report" was automatically sent … that’ll do us a lotta good, eh?)

Since I’m convinced it had nothing to do with the size of the files, the number of files in the folder, the name of the files or folder, a virus, a bad sector on the hard drive, or bad karma (my karma’s pretty good) … I have taken the big leap: I just deleted the damn files. There are a few that I would’ve enjoyed keeping, but screw it, y’know? Life’s too short.

My ONLY remaining concern, obviously, is WHAT might have happened to one or more of those JPGs to have caused this corruption, and how can it be avoided in the future. And I don’t really expect to ever get an answer to that one…….

So again, thanks for everybody’s help … have a great 2004.

Bill

"bilglas" wrote in message

…
My ONLY remaining concern, obviously, is WHAT might have happened to one

or

more of those JPGs to have caused this corruption, and how can it be

avoided

in the future. And I don’t really expect to ever get an answer to that one…….

All the symptoms you have described are consistent with a corrupted thumbs.db file. To avoid this, tell Windows not to cache thumbnails.

Thanks, Warren. I inadvertently overlooked your advice in my previous thank-you and summation. What I would’ve said, though, is that I’ve GOT thumbnail caching turned off. So… I’m afraid that ain’t it.

ALTHOUGH … this raises another issue, which you sound like you might have an answer for (and it’s somewhat off-topic, so forgive me): A given folder will contain, let’s say, 50 JPGs. When I view that folder in Explorer, either in LIST or DETAILS view, the little default Windows icon is initially adjacent to each of those filenames … but slowly, gradually, those default icons change to the preferred icon (in this case, the Photoshop icon for JPGs). But MAN, they change slowly! I mean, one every 2 or 3 seconds, which is a LONG wait! It’s a problem because, as long as they haven’t ALL changed, I can’t really DO anything to ANY of the files in that folder … move, copy, delete or rename. What might be causing this ridiculously slow switch-over on those tiny little icons? All the OBVIOUS possibilities, I’ve checked … plenty of memory, CPU usage is in single-digit percentages. There’s something else funky here…….

Got a clue? I sure don’t….

Best regards….

========================================

"Warren Sarle" wrote:

All the symptoms you have described are consistent with a corrupted thumbs.db file. To avoid this, tell Windows not to cache thumbnails.

"bilglas" wrote in message

…
ALTHOUGH … this raises another issue, which you sound like you might

have

an answer for (and it’s somewhat off-topic, so forgive me): A given folder will contain, let’s say, 50 JPGs. When I view that folder in Explorer, either in LIST or DETAILS view, the little default Windows icon is

initially

adjacent to each of those filenames … but slowly, gradually, those

default

icons change to the preferred icon (in this case, the Photoshop icon for JPGs). But MAN, they change slowly! I mean, one every 2 or 3 seconds,

which

is a LONG wait! It’s a problem because, as long as they haven’t ALL

changed,

I can’t really DO anything to ANY of the files in that folder … move, copy, delete or rename. What might be causing this ridiculously slow switch-over on those tiny little icons?

Bugs in psicon.dll, which is the program that displays icons and thumbnails for Photoshop files. Adobe can’t fix the bugs, which is why they don’t distribute psicon.dll with Photoshop CS.

Two workarounds:
1) Don’t associate JPEG files with Photoshop.
2) Rename psicon.dll to something else and reboot. This will eliminate the performance and file-locking problems, but will also prevent thumbnails from being displayed for .psd files or other formats that Windows does not understand. You can rename the file back to psicon.dll if you decide you want the thumbnails back. In a standard installation, psicon.dll is in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell

"bilglas" wrote in message

Thanks, Warren. I inadvertently overlooked your advice in my previous thank-you and summation. What I would’ve said, though, is that I’ve GOT thumbnail caching turned off. So… I’m afraid that ain’t it.
ALTHOUGH … this raises another issue, which you sound like you might

have

an answer for (and it’s somewhat off-topic, so forgive me): A given folder will contain, let’s say, 50 JPGs. When I view that folder in Explorer, either in LIST or DETAILS view, the little default Windows icon is

initially

adjacent to each of those filenames … but slowly, gradually, those

default

icons change to the preferred icon (in this case, the Photoshop icon for JPGs). But MAN, they change slowly!

<SNIP>

This is a known PhotoShop bug.

It’s fixable. First thing to do is load ONE file of the graphics type (.jpg, ..tif, etc.) you want to associate with PS into a new folder. This keeps the machine from grinding to a halt trying to thumbnail scores of images. Then right-click on that file and go to Properties > Photoshop Image and uncheck "Generate Thumbnails".

Do this for each file type.

Bob’s your uncle.

Tom

TOM: Uh, Bob’s my uncle? Bob who? I’m sure there’s a punchline in there, but I’m just too dense.

Anyway, thanks to everybody. I think you’ve solved this one … I’m very grateful.

bilglas

"bilglas" wrote in message

TOM: Uh, Bob’s my uncle? Bob who? I’m sure there’s a punchline in there,

but

I’m just too dense.

Anyway, thanks to everybody. I think you’ve solved this one … I’m very grateful.

bilglas

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxbobsyo.html