February 2009

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
151617 18192021
22232425262728

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

June 25th, 2005

spedbug: (Default)
Saturday, June 25th, 2005 10:39 am
When I first started out with Photoshop, it was cranky and would freeze up every so often. Then, when I realized the resolution of the art I was creating wasn't high enough resolution and I changed that, it started locking up every single time I worked in it. Sometimes, it would be after I worked nearly an hour on something and all the changes would be just . . .gone Not conducive to a stress-free work environment. Lately, Photoshop took to freezing up my computer at every opportunity. Want to open a file? Screw you! *FREEZE*. Want to airbrush a large area? Bite me! *FREEZE*

I put in a call to the friend who built this computer and another friend who has "major computer skills" and both were in agreement that I probably needed more memory. After a bit of frustration, we *think* we know what sort of memory I need so I toddle off to Best Buy (even though friend #2 seems to think I'm going to have problems finding this sort of memory for sale).

At Best Buy, I find a computer guy and ask, "Do you sell RD RAM?" He wanted to burst into gales of hysterical laughter; I could see that. Instead, he just drawled, "We don't even sell RD RAM, anymore."
So, I tell him how much RAM I have (256RAM) and say, "I'm using Windows XP . . "
He replies, "That's eating up a good chunk, right there."
"And I'm using Photoshop -"
"You're not using Photoshop," he interrupts, "You're looking at Photoshop and then it freezes up your computer."
For a moment I wondered if he was psychic or a peeping Tom who, as fate would have it, I'd come to for help.
"That's eating all your memory, right there," he explains.
"Okay, so my friends figure I need about another 256 megs of RAM," I say.
"Yeah, good luck finding it," he replies. "If you don't, you have to change your mother board so it'll recognize different RAM (SD RAM or DDR RAM is more 'up to date') and that'll get hairy. . ."
Gee, thanks. Just what I want to hear.

I go home, not entirely dejected because in my hot little hands I have a new 17" flat screen monitor. My old behemoth of a monitor was making a high-pitched whining sound that was just under the pitch that only dogs could hear. If you add that sound to Photoshop locking up my system every five minutes, it's a wonder I wasn't hanging out my bedroom window with a high-powered rifle, cackling and picking off anyone stupid enough to wander into my field of vision. Anyway, I get home and I install the new monitor. Beautiful. I call Friend #2, Omi, back. "Omi. I'm home. The guy at Best Buy said "blah, blah,blah". So Omi goes online and finds the RAM I need for about $100 dollars, altogether. The catch is, I need to know what speed the RAM needs to be before I order the sticks. Weee.
I am not touching this; I'll wait for MrBug to come home and pull the RAM to look at it because if I pull it and break it, I'll never hear the end of it.
MrBug comes home around 11pm (he and Savagefuzzball went to see a fireworks display at a local museum), pulls the RAM and . . .we're not seeing a speed on it. :oP I really don't want to order $100 worth of RAM from a website and find out it's not what we needed because there's no returning it.

So, as of right this minute (11:03am, EST, June 25th) I'm no closer to working with Photoshop in a happy, non-stressful way than before but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.