"Buffer Overrun Detected" message

[rgravel]

Hi again.

Tonight, I continued to put tags on my pictures (31.6gig, 19,417 files :shock: ), a project I'm doing once in a while as you can imagine :wink:

I had noticed through "Windows Task Manager" that when selecting many files to give them the same tag, that the CPU utilisation was 100%.

At one point, PSE-3 crashed and gave my the above mentioned message. My setup / settings are as follow:

Preferences: Memory & Image cache

Cache levels : 4
Maximum used by PSE: 50%

Anything I should change to prevent that from happening ?

Thanks

Robert

[Matt K]

Hi,
You could try bumping up the "Max. mem used by PSE". I'd first try it in increments of 10%. However, I'd be careful about going above 80%. Keep in mind this will reduce your ability to use other programs while using PSE so close everything that you can.
Hope this helps.

[Jodi Frye]

see that's the thing about keeping computers healthy. It's not healthy to have umpteen programs open and joggin at the same time...I don't care how much super tweaked ram anybody has. Those that have the most problems with their systems are the ones who insist on having 4,5 6 programs runnin all at once. For gosh sakes, there is no reason for that ! There, that was my bitch peeve of the day ;)

Everyone have a great day !! :)

[rgravel]

Thanks Matt. I'll give another 10% and see what happens.

Jody, all I had running was PSE-3. I too keep only running the programs I need.

[Mary]

I too have experienced the exact same problem - after following all the very good suggestions that I received here - I have concluded that the Organizer is one very LARGE resource hog and tagging pictures more than 2 or 3 at a time is too much for my Pentium 4 - 512 MB RAM.

[Johnny the Hat]

Whats the point of windows if you can't have multiple windows open at once. I keep an eye on email, maybe have a browser or two open. I might even have an msn session or two running and elements browser and editor would be open.

It's not just women who can multi task.

Where in elements 3 can the memory be increased, as what the help tells me:

"To increase memory allocated to Photoshop Elements on Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > Memory & Image Cache. In the Memory Usage menu, drag the Maximum Used By Photoshop Elements slider to the right."

does not work. There is no "Memory & Image Cache" option from the preferences menu.

Regards,

Johnny the Hat

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

I guess that you are using Windows and not a Mac ... then accessing Preferences from the menus within Elements should give you a series of preferences options

General
--------
Saving Files
Display & Cursors
Transparency
Units & Rulers
Grid
Plug Ins & Scratch Disks
Memory & Image Cache
File Browser
--------------

Can you see any of those ??

Wendy

[Johnny the Hat]

Hi. I reckon I must be going blind or running a different version. I have attached a screen shot on the menu I have.

The reason I eevn want to try this is because I get a Memory Buffer overrun error in the elements browser. It's only happens when I click on certain folders and not others. It is driving me crazy. I have patched the system and even re-installed elements but still I get this message.

If anyone can help I would be a very happy chappy.

[Johnny the Hat]

You're all talking about edit preferences in elemets, not elements browser.

Der.

Still, I have this buffer over run problem.

Any ideas.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Is that the Organiser Preferences ??? (I'm a Mac user so I can't check)

You need to be in the Elements Editor and do Edit > Preferences >

... hopefully then you will find the Image Cache :)

Wendy

[NickLewis]

I don't think there's any way you can change the memory allocation to the Organiser/browser.

But you shouldn't be getting buffer overruns, and Organiser will indeed happily co-exist with other open programs. As I'm typing this, I have My Computer, Organiser, IE7, Outlook, MSN Messenger, MS OneNote, and Norton AV all open, plus a couple of background utilities, on a 2.4GHz P4 with 1Gb RAM. It'd start slowing down if I opened Editor, but I still wouldn't get overruns.

I think a buffer overrun is probably caused by some other problem than memory shortage.

In Organiser, I'd suggest doing a File>Catalog>Recover operation to make sure your catalog is in good shape. Then I'd be worrying about my PC health in general, and making sure there was adequate free hard drive space (~10-15% on each drive), drives were defragmented, that I'd run Checkdisk recently, and my AV and spyware defences were up to date, and I'd run scans recently. Oh, and that Windows was patched up to date.

Is anything else playing up?

Nick

[Johnny the Hat]

Hi Wendy. you are correct it is the organiser preferences. I realized you were meaning the editor preference a few minutes ago.

Does the Mac not have the organiser / browser facility?

It is really useful, except I get this buffer overrun message when I click on certain directories. It is most frustrating as elements just closes down and I cannot few these directories.

Any ideas?

[Wendy]

Hi Johnny ...

No we don't have the organiser (thanks goodness :eek:) ... Macs come complete with a suite of programs and one of them is iPhoto which is a photo organiser .. there is also iDVD and iMovie. They make great slide shows and movies :)

Wendy

[Johnny the Hat]

Hi Nick, Thank you so much for your input, I did not know about catalog recovery, I have started this running. Nothing else is playing up on the machine at all. As far as disk dpace this was / is a problem so went and bought a 500 gig external drive (usb). I am using a 1.7 ghz laptop. The internal drive has checked out ok but the problems started when I tried to move files from the internal drive to the external hard drive. I moved them using the browser / organiser and although I moved undreds of files 0 (zero) space was recovered and yes I did empty the recycle bin.

I guessed this was an issue with elements. I have tried so many things since the problem started including moving everything off the hard drive, formating it and copying everything back. Still the problem persisted. I can access the files in the directories that produce the error from other applications with no problems.

Right! Recovery has finished and...... DOH!.

Still get the error! :-( It was a "Great idea" though.

I thought about upgrading to elements 5 but dont know if this would fix it. Also shouldn't really pay out right now for more software having just bought the new disk. I try to restrict myself to one toy a month. Already bout a flat screen this month as well.

[NickLewis]

Hi Johnny,

When you say you reformatted the drive, do you mean you reformatted and reinstalled Windows, and the problem still continues? Or is this a different drive (the external perhaps)?

If you look in the problematic directories using something other than Organiser (i.e. Explorer), do they have anything in common? Some unusual type of file, possibly?

Also, when you say no space was recovered, do you mean that the files are still on the internal as well as the external, or that the files are gone, but the hard disc is still full? If the latter, try running Checkdisk as there may be a problem with your disk filing system.

Strange.

Nick

[Johnny the Hat]

Hi Nick, My internal drive is partitioned in to a C & D drive. I put all my data on the D drive. I have also a mini drive which is my I drive and now the new external drive which is G. F is my DVD drive. E is memory stick.

I formated the D drive after moving all data off to G and then moved it back.

I actually rebuilt the whole machine a few days earlier, you know back to how it was shipped and went through a complete install. Removed a lot of the free extra stuff (using the proper windows utilities) all was working fine including elements organiser / browser. The problem only started when I moved the files from with in elements to the new external drive.

Yeah the space was not freed even though the files had been moved to the external drive. They had gone from the D drive and had been copied to the G Drive. Then I deleted the recycle bin but the space in the D drive had not increased.

It reports 34 gig out or 37.5 gig used.the number of files when I did a right mouse click on the directory and properties did not reduce. It wasas if the move in elements only did half the job. However I would have thought the reformat and now the catalog rebuild would have sorted this out. Sadly not.

Odd files in the directories. I also use Picasa from google (Which I think is brilliant by the way) which has a control file in the directories but this also in directories that do not cause the buffer overrun error. And I have been using both elements and Picasa for months side by side and even at the same time.

There is a file called ZbThumbnail.info in each directo as well but as this is in the dirs that work and the ones that dont.

[NickLewis]

Hi Johnny,

Zbthumbnail.info files are from Canon's Zoombrowser - I've never known them cause trouble.

I think you may have a problem with the drive itself, or its filing system. Although I would have expected the reformat to sort most things out.

Try running Checkdisk (My Computer, right-click on the drive, then Properties>Tools>Check Now. Select both option boxes.)

This will run a thorough check on your drive, including a scan for bad sectors. You may have to restart the PC if Windows is using files on the drive.

The check can take some time if you've a big drive.

You don't lose anything by trying - Checkdisk should be part of everyone's routine maintenance programme.

Nick

[Johnny the Hat]

HI Nick, 0 (zero) bad sectors from the chkdsk.

I have created a new catalog and this can see the directores that give the errors. I think I will just delete the other catalog and start again.

Thanks for the help all the same.

[NickLewis]

Hi Johnny,

Sorry we couldn't sort the problem out.

If a new catalogue can see the directories, then presumably something is awry with the old one. And there's no tool available to work on a catalogue except Recover.

I'm still puzzled about why you didn't get your disk space back though.....:confused:

Nick