PE 4.0 Editor won’t open?? (Win XP)

[SpX]

Edit: Solved! See below.

PE 4.0 Editor won’t open?? (Win XP)

I’ve had Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Premiere Elements 2.0 installed and working for about 2-3 months.

Now the Photoshop Elements Editor won’t open – not from the welcome screen or from the Organizer. Yes, Organizer works great.

I’ve been working on this issue for about 3 days now and haven’t seen another user with the same issue – a lot of Organizer problems but not the Editor.

I called Adobe for install support and the ONLY way for the Editor to work correctly is when the tech had me:

1. Create a new user
2. Logoff (not switch users)
3. Log on using new user
4. Run PE
5. Works!!! ??

I’ve tried to repair and uninstall/reinstall. I’ve made sure Anti-virus and spy ware were off for uninstall/install. When I uninstalled I made sure all files, preferences and register entries were removed.

My computer is an HP zd8000 with 2gig RAM and plenty of HD space and has all the latest OS and app patches.

I get two different errors depending on how I try to start the Editor

1. Start From Scratch
2. From the Organizer (both quick and standard)

Both attempts give me this dialog box which I then select “Don’t Send” – sending gives me nothing:

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe0.jpg

Start From Scratch then gives me this error window:

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe1.jpg

From the Organizer gives me this error window:

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe2.jpg

Thank you for any help. I’m hoping to fix this issue without reinstalling the whole computer.

[GaryK]

Hi SPX

Welcome to the forums. sorry you are having problems.

When you say REPAIR, do you mean reset the preferences in Elements?

If not, try holding cown CTRL/ALT/SHIFT as you click on the the elements startup icon, answer "yes" to the popup window. It may take a while for everything to get back, but this might work.

Hope this helps.

[SpX]

Thanks for the quick reply.

By 'repair' I mean put in the installation CD and select 'repair' (vs 'remove'). I've done both.

I've seen this suggestion before. However, I've had difficulty figuring out just 'when' CTRL/ALT/SHIFT should be hit with 'what' elements startup icon should be clicked.

So to help me and others out...

When I double-left-click on the "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0" icon on my desktop...

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe3.jpg

...the 'Welcome Screen' appears...

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe4.jpg

Sorry to drag this out and be specific but I haven't been able to figure out what the CTRL/ALT/SHIFT suggestion is asking me to do.

So...what are you asking me to do and when do I need to hold down CTRL/ALT/SHIFT?

Thanks for your help!

[Wendy]

Hi there ..

... and welcome to the forum :)

To delete the prefs file try it this way:

Close down Elements then click on the Editor start up icon and quickly hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys (If you are a Mac user Apple, Alt and Shift). Continue to hold down all three keys until you get a screen asking if you want to delete Settings ... just say Yes.

You do have to be quick holding down the keys so you may find it easier to hold them down with one hand and click on the start up icon with the other :)

Do let us know how you go on :)

Wendy

[Carbone]

I also see that you've changed Windows in some way, because on that second dialog box, there's a couple of buttons that shouldn't, normally, be there. Can you disable this "skinning" so to speak, temporarily for the sake of eliminating possible problems? PSE is an already skinned application (it does not use Microsoft's default theme). Perhaps this is conflicting.

Ray

[SpX]

Bingo!!!

First off, for everyone that has had a similar issue and tried to figure out what was meant by "click on the Editor start up icon and quickly hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys" - the Editor start up icon is the "Start From Scratch" icon...

http://www.pw18.com/ds/temp/pe5.jpg

So the process is: use one hand to click the 'Start From Scratch' icon and them IMMEDIATELY hit Control, Alt and Shift keys with the other hand (I hit all three keys at the same time).

However, that didn't solve my problem. The solution was to turn off my "skinning" utility - in my case this was FileBox eXtender. I shut it down and the Editor worked perfectly! I turned it on - errors.

Now that I know the root cause to my probelm I have to wonder because I've been using FileBox eXtender for much longer than Photoshop Elements 4.0 without any issues. Also, I don't remember upgrading it either.

I just uninstalled/reinstalled to the latest version of FileBox eXtender and the problem remains - FileBox eXtender messes up Photoshop Elements 4.0.

Lastly, thanks to the VERY fast replies that helped me solve my problem.

[Wendy]

Hi Spx ...

Oh that is good news ... so glad that you are now up and running :)


Wendy