CS4 Keeps Crashing, Need help

[Cardsbynikki]

Hi I am Nikki, I'm new here. I've been using Photoshop since 1998, and last year upgraded to CS4. I installed and have had no problems for over a year. Then three days ago, Photoshop would crash on me whenever I opened a new item, created a new project, or even just opened the program. It simply shuts down and I get an error message. When I can get it to stay open long enough, the GPU error pops up.

I have done the following already, and it has not helped. Any further suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Reset Preferences
Uninstalled and Reinstalled Photoshop

I did a search on Intel for an update to my graphics driver, and it did not have one. I searched through Dell and it showed an update. When I went to install it, it gave me a message that my current driver is a later release than the one I had downloaded, and asked me if I wanted to continue installing the driver. I clicked no.

Should I replace my newer driver with the older version available on the Dell website? My worry is that will make it worse and then I can't get the newer version back, because I could not find it anywhere on the Dell website.

My system is older, I realize that, and would be slower than newer systems, but I am hoping there is a fix, as CS4 has worked beautifully for over a year with no problems.

My system information:
Dell Dimension 4700
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2
Physical Memory: 502 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory: 8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory:128 MB
Graphics Media Accelerator: Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
Total Virtual Memory: 2 gig
Internal Hard Drive: 144 Gig
Free space: 66 gig

I would appreciate any help. I have some pretty tight deadlines looming and right now I am just a sitting duck.

Edit: I forgot to mention I am running CS4 Extended, if that makes any difference. Thanks again.

[Cardsbynikki]

I just realized this started after I ran Adobe Updater the other day - I don't know if it is connected or not. Would doing a system restore fix the issue?

[iDad]

System requirements
Windows
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3; Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (Service Pack 2 recommended); or Windows 7
1GB of RAM
1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash-based storage devices)
1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256MB of VRAM
Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7.6.2 software required for multimedia features
Broadband Internet connection required for online services*

do you meet those

[KRF]

My system is older, I realize that, and would be slower than newer systems, but I am hoping there is a fix, as CS4 has worked beautifully for over a year with no problems.

Ok if you are telling the truth that CS4 Extended has been working for over a year then, the system will be the preblem here.

My system information:
Dell Dimension 4700
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2 What ever happens you need to update to SP3
Physical Memory: 502 MB 502MB Ram, this is not even a real Ram bit amount, may be you meant 512MB?
Minimum Graphics Memory: 8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory:128 MB This is not enough Graphics Ram
Graphics Media Accelerator: Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
Total Virtual Memory: 2 gig This is Page swapping nothing needed here
Internal Hard Drive: 144 Gig
Free space: 66 gig

I would appreciate any help. I have some pretty tight deadlines looming and right now I am just a sitting duck.

Edit: I forgot to mention I am running CS4 Extended, if that makes any difference. Thanks again.

So as iDad said, you need to meet the requirements

•1.8GHz or faster processor Your computer has a "Pentium 4 2.80GHz"
•Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista) You have the min spec here as well
•512MB of RAM (1GB recommended) You have the min spec here as well
•1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices) You have the min spec here as well
•1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
•Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0 This can be turnd off in Photoshop CS4
•DVD-ROM drive
•QuickTime 7.2 software required for multimedia features This shouldn't matter
•Broadband Internet connection required for online services*

So seeing that you have at lest the min spec, I guess the Update made the problem, so going to a system restore point before the point at which Photoshop did the last UpDate, should fix your problem.

Try doing this and then post back letting us know how you got on

[Cardsbynikki]

Everything except the accelerated graphics card, but that hasn't made a difference before. I just changed the GPU preference and it worked fine (before) but now doing that hasn't helped at all. I'm not doing anything in 3D. I have 2 different RAM cards that total 1 gig.

[Cardsbynikki]

Thank you KRF, I will give the system restore a try and see if it helps.

Thanks again.

[KRF]

Everything except the accelerated graphics card, but that hasn't made a difference before. I just changed the GPU preference and it worked fine (before) but now doing that hasn't helped at all. I'm not doing anything in 3D. I have 2 different RAM cards that total 1 gig.

So please do a system restor point to a date that was before the Photoshop Update, this should solve any problem as it's looking like it was the update that went wrong let us know if this worked, it's 02:50 in the UK, so I may ot be on to answer any more question untill I get up, but I will be back to help if you need it, and there are other people that will help as well , I'm sure we can get this problem sorted out for you

This link will tell you how to do a system restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

[Cardsbynikki]

Thanks It's been awhile since I've had to do a system restore, so I appreciate the directions. I'm exhausted, so will probably go to bed now and do it in the morning. Thank you!

[KRF]

Thanks It's been awhile since I've had to do a system restore, so I appreciate the directions. I'm exhausted, so will probably go to bed now and do it in the morning. Thank you!

I feel this will work, so please let me know if it did. If not I'll try something else

[Tron]

You could also just try un-installing Photoshop and then re-installing it.

Or try deleting the preferences by holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift when you start it up.