I jumped into PE8 and PSE8

[mark hansen]

After taking the leap, I found the "water to be frozen". I haven't been able to successfully run PE8. When attempting to run a new project, it won’t do anything except give me the crash screen.

I tried to uninstall and and load again. During the uninstall process it talks about deactivating the serial number so I can use it again. It even gives instructions on how to deactivate the number. Well those instructions talk about going “here” in the menu and doing “that”. Well I can’t even get there.

If I just go ahead and deinstall without activating the number, can I still do a install using the same number right after the deinstall?

mark

[RJ Johnston]

You don't need to deactivate unless you are going to install the software on a different machine. That must be PSE8 that is asking about that, since I have uninstalled and reinstalled pre8 several times without being asked about deactivating.

Make sure to install the update that is available on Adobe's site for pre8. It includes fixes for crashes.

[mark hansen]

Thanks RJ... yep it will be going on the same PC.

[mark hansen]

Well, after an uninstall of both PSE8 and PE8 including contents, then reinstalling PE8 the 8.01 patch and the contents disk... I have yet to see anything in PE8 except the splash screen where I choose New project. Sometimes it just stops loading, sometimes it stops and I get the crash dialog box where I explain that I'm only trying to get to the edit screen and start learning about the software.

Can I get a refund? And now of course I have a new Sony camera that I really like that I can't edit footage from...

Has anybody gotten a e-mail reply from the crash dialog box explanation of you were doing?

Mark

[mark hansen]

I find it interesting the one link I could find at the Adobe support site that describes this situation to a"t"... doesn't work either.

[RJ Johnston]

One of the main reasons for crashes is because of the video card/driver, or you don't have a video card -- just an onboard graphics controller. Try reinstalling your current video driver. Get the latest version. If that doesn't help then try earlier versions. Buy a different video card, one that you can return to the store if it doesn't help.

You can try the advanced troubleshooting that's part of the display properties dialog: In Windows XP: Control Panel > Display > Settings Tab > Advance button > Troubleshoot tab > Hardware Acceleration. Then keep moving the hardware acceleration slider to the left one notch and click Apply. Then launch pre8. If it fails, then exit out of pre8, and then move the hardware acceleration slider to the left one notch, click Apply, then lauch pre8 again. Keep doing that until pre8 doesn't crash.