CS4 is Constantly disabling GPU enhancements

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Each time I open CS4 and the initial image I get this message, "Photoshop has encountered a problem with the display driver, and has temporarily disabled GPU enhancements. Check the video card manufacturer's website for the latest software."

I'm writing to the Adobe Forum because GeForce feels they are not the cause of the problem. Here is what I've done toward resolving this problem:
As a side note let me add here that after upgrading CS2 to CS4 this error message appeared religiously. That caused me to purchased an Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT display adapter w/ 512mb memory. Prior to installing the new card I downloaded their newest drivers for this card after removing the old drivers. Originally I had a GeForce 7600 card. The error message continued with the new card. I've searched the settings within CS4 trying to find an option that would resolve the problem. This machine has a new motherboard, a D945GNT Intel board. It will support 64-bit however I'm currently running XP Pro 32-bit, SP3. It also has a new Pentium D dual core processor. I have 4 GB of RAM.

Have I overlooked a setting in the CS4 program that will resolve the issue? The graphics are slow to regenerate if you move in or out. Bridge is slow to generate all images in folders. As I view the tutorials on the Net I see normal regens where mine are slow. And last but certainly not least, other programs are slow to open. I've done several virus scans and turned up nothing. I've run chkdsk /r on all of my drives. I've run defrag on all my drives as well as Disk Cleanup.

I've got a copy of Vista Ultimate heading my way. I'm prepared to wipe the c-drive and begin over. Do you think my problems will go away after the new operating system in installed or is this my second bad 9600 GT video card?

[chris_...@adobeforums.com]

If you're prepared to do a clean install then try it. That's what helped me, when I first bought CS4, I had lag and pressure tablet issues - a reformat cleaned out all the rubbish and it's been slick ever since ( a few minor things but nothing that gets in the way ).

Don't forget to de-activate cs4 before reformating.

[Robert...@adobeforums.com]

First try disabling GPU acceleration; close Photoshop, then start it again. Then enable GPU and restart PS again. See if that works.

If that doesn't do it, before you try a clean instal of Windows try a reinstal of PS

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Chris, Thanks so much for your good suggestions. Tell me please, what pressure tablet do you have and possibly which one(s) to avoid buying. In watching the video tutorials I've noticed the use of tablets. Seems like the way to go.

And Robert, Thanks for your suggestion. It certainly won't hurt to give your suggestion a try. The fact that I'm having slow boot ups of other programs makes me suspect that the operating system is ailing. Have you ever used Registry Mechanic? I believe that was the cause of my problem.

[chris_...@adobeforums.com]

I have a Wacom Intuos3 A5 and A3 tablet. It takes about an hour to get used to - after that you cannot use photoshop without it.... :)

[Peter_...@adobeforums.com]

Try the newest drivers with the 9600GT I had that problem as well, and getting the newest drivers ( 1/8/2009 I think ) fixed that problem and actually made CS4 run smooth so far.

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Peter, thanks so much. I'll head there this afternoon. Funny how GeFORCE reacts when you suggest that their products are not working properly, when all they would have to say was, we're working on an update that will be released soon.

I've got Vista Ultimate coming this afternoon so I still might have another remedy if this doesn't work. But in the back of my mine I feel the registry got zapped in some way that has caused an across the board slowdown. We'll see. Thanks again Peter.

[Willia...@adobeforums.com]

I installed the latest nVidia driver (181.2) and it failed to function. I rolled back to 178.x. I have a 7600 GS video board driving a 2560x1600 monitor.

[William_...@adobeforums.com]

Makes no sense at all.

After Effects reports full usage of the Open GL capabilities. And I can definitely see huge increases in updating variables of various effects when enabled.

PhotoShop does not give the error message any longer because I shut it off, but it does not recognize Open GL and selection is greyed out.

Graphics adapter is GTX260XXX, factory overclocked version of a card listed as being supported. nVidia driver 181.20.

Same card, same computer, different Adobe applications.

Premiere has problems/crashes.

Bridge has problems/crashes.

Photoshop doesn't see OpenGL. However, the 64-bit version is FAST!!!

After Effects will play a timeline at 30fps! Uses OpenGL. Solid as Gibraltar. No Problems.

I have to say, surprisingly, After Effects has become my flagship benchmarking app.

All of these are the first applications installed in a brand new system. Intel Q9550 quad core 2.83GHz, 8GB DDR3 RAM 1.33GHz, 1-TB Raid 10, Intel DX48BT2 mobo, Quattro 850W ps, Dual 20-in. Viewsonics on DVI, LG Blu-Ray burner, AVG security.

What's up Ps??

[Chri...@adobeforums.com]

Sounds like you have some nasty driver problems.
Especially if Premiere and Bridge are crashing.

And if Photoshop doesn't allow GPU acceleration, that is because the driver says it cannot do something required, or because it returned errors and had to be disabled.

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Chris, thanks for jumping into this conversation. I did visit the GeForce web site and took the newest drivers released last week. There were no improvements after the install. I guess what I have are issues related to the registry as suspected earlier. I never should have run Registry Mechanic on this machine. So tomorrow I'll do a clean swipe of the c-drive and install Vista Ultimate 64-bit and hope for the best. Thanks all for your input.

[Chri...@adobeforums.com]

good luck!

[Terry_M...@adobeforums.com]

I have a NVIDIA 7950, after a conversation with NVIDIA they said my card would "probably" not support the GPU enhancement but they werent' sure. Is there a published list of known working video cards that allow all of the features of CS4 to work. Thanks!

[Wolf_...@adobeforums.com]

The 7950 meets CS4 requirements. I have a lesser model (7300GS) and GPU features work in Photoshop (although the GPU stuff is somewhat temperamental).

See this: <http://www.adobe.com/go/kb405711>

However, simply because a card is on the list is no guarantee that GPU oddities will not occur.

[Wick_...@adobeforums.com]

My screen, also with the 9600GT, looks like this.

-wick

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Wick and Wolf,

I'm not going to be of much help to you unfortunately. I have however solved my problems. What I did was visit my motherboard makers web site and took the BIOS update and installed it. Once I installed the Intel BIOS upgrade things improved. My machine was still slower than when running XP Pro, SP3. My primary drive was an IDE 80 GB and I replaced it with a 160 GB Sata drive and ghosted the contents of my IDE drive to the Sata. Now things are what I'd expect them to be. When I reinstalled CS4 then immediately checked for updates I took the 129MB update and with it came CS4 X64 much to my surprise. So I'm pleased right now with how the machine is performing.

Good luck.

[chris_...@adobeforums.com]

It's should be pointed out that you should NEVER update the bios via the operating system...ALWAYS update within your bios via a floppy disk or sd card. Especially with ASUS Motherboards as the windows bios update program is seriously broken...Believe me ....I know!!...and I have burned the bios chip as a consequence...ouch$$$

[David_E_...@adobeforums.com]

I hear ya Chris. I bought a ASUS motherboard that will bootback to the origional bios if the refresh fails and that saved me twice in the past. Few of my friends got burn't like you did. Not for the faint of heart and is expensive.

[dikje...@adobeforums.com]

Perhaps that is the rule with Asus however Intel has provided software that will update the BIOS while running in the Windows environment. It appears your concerns are with Asus at this point. My comments earlier today were not remedies for all to solve this problem. As I described in my initial post I had specific concerns based on my system. I'll leave you all now having resolved my problems.

[Luis_...@adobeforums.com]

After investigating for a while I found in the adobe website that there's no support for OpenGL on Windows XP x64 (check here <http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb404898)>.
Perhaps that's the reason why I get this error when launching Photoshop CS4 on XP x64 with a GeForce 9600 GT :( I will have to upgrade to Vista :(

[Michael Kalcevic]

I'm experiencing the same issues as dikjenkins1.
My thread here: <http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b7d5ab>

XP-32bit,P. D 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, GF 9600GT (upgraded from 7300LE, thinking that would fix... didn't)

I'm getting OpenGL problems, that send the memory usage sometimes up to 2GB. The video driver is the latest one.

Can somebody please help? I've rolled back to CS3, just so my work flow doesn't come to a screeching halt...

[Dal...@adobeforums.com]

I believe that someone has to take a stand on this. It is either Adobe or Nvidia but the problem is widespread. I have a 9800GT and I still get the OGL error this is unacceptable. I have tried all of the relevant fixes and nothing has worked. I await an update from Adobe and hopefully soon. Or Nvidia will fix it ?

[Wolf_...@adobeforums.com]

I have a lowly GeForce 7300GS. My OpenGL problems were cured by setting the NVIDIA 3D settings to Performance. (Default is Quality.)

[Dal...@adobeforums.com]

My GPU is not even showing in the GPU Settings as such I do not have the option to enable Open GL Drawing.

[agx_wo...@adobeforums.com]

We have just upgraded 5 "identical" XP Pro SP3 machines from cs2 to cs4 and one has this gpu enhanced error. Photoshop opens the error appears in a window and you can click ok. As soon as you try to access anything eg open a file , go to preferencse it crahses out - no messages just gone. We are using Matrox Parhelia 256 in all 5 systems . 4 seem to be fine ? We have tried deleteing the preferences file and copying a good one from another system. login on as Adminintrator and reinstalling does not help.

Any suggestions.

[Dal...@adobeforums.com]

Just an update I can get the enable OGL to work and see the GPU. Will work fine for a while. If I shut down and go to open the next day it tells me that it has a problem and the OGL has been disabled. I can then realign the settings and it works. Do the same again same problem just a continuous loop ?

Hope someone may have found a solution ?

[Bruno_Pa...@adobeforums.com]

Folks,

I tested several older and newer cards with the new CS4 enhancements on Win XP SP3 workstations. Here my lowdown (or 2 cents):

Issues on all cards, no matter what:

-All cards did have the one issue when displaying an image on a 2nd monitor: Background showing through. Just maximize the image window and the problem is gone. This happens to all my 6 video cards, no matter what driver, brand or GPU!

How to avoid the "GPU Message" and reduce drawing issues:

Here two cards that deliver a pretty decent price/performance (nothing is perfect, really). Key: The DEVIL IS IN THE GPU SETTINGS DETAILS! With these settings, we had a good performance with brushes, clone/healing, zooming and NO MORE GPU MESSAGE:

NVidia GeForce 8600 - 512MB

Use the following settings, and the error messages are gone:
-Vertical Sync: Yes
-3D Interaction: Blank/Disabled
-Force Bilinear Interpolation: No
-Advanced Drawing: Yes
-Use for Image Display: Yes
-Color Matching: Yes

ATI Radeon 4670 - 1GB

-Vertical Sync: No
-3D Interaction: Blank/Disabled
-Force Bilinear Interpolation: No
-Advanced Drawing: Yes
-Use fro Image Display: No
-Color Matching: Yes

I really believe that you will encounter issues no matter what brand, type or age of GPU you're using. The Trick is to find the perfect GL settings for your card. Based on my research, the OS seems to have no impact.

Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Bruno

[Bart_...@adobeforums.com]

Bruno: I have a 8600GT (which works perfectly), when I go to the nVidia control panel with advanced settings I cannot find: 3D Interaction, Force Bilinear Interpolation, Advanced Drawing, Use for Image Display or Color Matching in the settings. Hmmmmm!

[Wick_...@adobeforums.com]

Sorry:

Those were my settings on my 8600GT and I still get the same problem. Error message about 50% of the time and video anomalies (transparent areas, brush issues) the other 50% of the time. Luckily, I didn't remove CS3 from my system. It's all I can use at the moment until this issue is addressed.

[Wick_...@adobeforums.com]

These are CS4 settings, not nVidia settings.

-wick

[Bruno_Pa...@adobeforums.com]

Well, the new update pretty much solved all the remaining quirks, like the delayed/squares brush issues. And yes, I was talking about the PS GPU settings, not the driver panel, as Wick pointed out correctly. Cheers,
B