Help for problems with DIP - SBB Digital Scrapbooking Forums | Scrapbook-Bytes

shelleyrae · #1 (**permalink**) 10-05-2005

Digital Image Pro is a memory hog much like all the other programs used for digital scrapping.
Here are some suggestions for getting the best performance you can that have worked for other users.

What is the RAM of your computer and what hard drive capacity do you have and how full is it? 256 is the recommended minimum but I find you really need at least 512 and 1Gb or more is ideal.
If you are using more than 2/3 or your physical space you will also find slowing so an external hard drive or removing some of your files to another source would be a great idea.
Another source to check is the quality of your graphics card. A dedicated graphics card rather than an intergrated card will improve performance.
Ensure you have up to date drivers for all of your hardware ( eg printer, scanner, graphics and video cards: you can do this by checking the manufacturers website)
Having your OS up to date will help too eg having SP2 installed for XP

Practice basic maintainece at least once a month or every two weeks if you are a heavy user.

Run Disk clean: Start> Program Files> Accessories> System Tools > Disk Cleanup

Scan Disk : (For XP other OS systems check you help files)
Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check.
On the File menu, click Properties.
On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now.
Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.

Defrag: Start> Program Files> Accessories> System Tools > Disk Defragmenter

Check what you have running in the background (CTRL ALT DEL) to bring up the task manager and disable what you don't need. IF you have Norton Anti Virus you should disable it while you are working as it scans every thing you open, slowing things significantly. If you are running Norton AntiVirus 2004...add the following files to the Auto-Scan Exclusion list:
Users of PI / DIP7.0...add piorg7.db
Users of PI / DIP9 or DIP10...add piorg.db

Increasing your paging file may be beneficial...the following
article explains how to do it: (308417) HOW TO: Set Performance
Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

If you have been doing other things before you launch DIP ..reboot first and make sure that DIP is the first thing you launch this gives it priority allocation. You should also reboot every two hours or when you notice that DIP is slowing.

If you are getting repeated errors, uninstall DIP - run tthe basic maintainence as suggested above and then reinstall it.
Even though you can run various versions of DIP on the one computer I don't recommend it. If you must though uninstall any versions - install the latest version first and then previous versions.
When you install DIP DISABLE running programs as suggested most importantly anti virus software to ensure a clean install.

Try to restrict how much you have open in the files area at any one time. Close out unnecessary files once you have finished with them, and be wise and save your work often!

If none of this is helping, or you are getting a specific error message check the microsoft.com Knowledge and Support base here http://support.microsoft.com/search/ Be specific with your search.
Alternatively ask at the MS PictureIt! newsgroup for help - they are the ones to ask for technical problems. Visit here:
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx
Then choose English>Home Publishing> PictureIT

You can also search through this forum to see if someone else has had a similar problem and how they resolved it.

jak8396 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-04-2006

Good thread Shelly!!! Do you think any of these problems would lead to DIP just closing down without any notice??? Happened to me twice in the last 2 days now!!!! Arrgghhhhh!!!

Kirsty

shelleyrae · #3 (**permalink**) 06-04-2006

Hi JKirsty - any of the above and the latest MS update can cause the problem you are experiencing.
Do all the basic maintenece suggested and check if this thread is relevent to you, Need DIP help, please!!!!

Its often a memory issue to so if you are runnng close to your computers capacity both in RAM and HD space it may be time to upgrade

Marmart · #4 (**permalink**) 09-11-2007

Hi ShelleyRae - I am experiencing problems when trying to use the magic wand in some of the templates I have bought. I used the above advice. I have 750 GB HD, 4 GB Ram and I'm really up to date on the other things. I don't need to defrag after anylyzing and I'm stuck. I use DIP 9 and magic wand use keeps freezing the program. I keep clicking in a particular area and it does nothing. I have tried different tolerance settings and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It gets very frustrating to have to keep shutting the program down. Do you have any suggestions. I know you do so much with the program and just wonder if you have ever encountered any problems with magic wand.

Thanks

Marmart

shelleyrae · #5 (**permalink**) 09-11-2007

You have great computer specs there - i havent run across it particular with the magic wand but the first thing to check is to make sure you have the right mode chosen at the bottom of the magic wand palette - its an easy thing to overlook that you may have chosen either the + or - setting at one point and forgotten to reset it back to new selection (the one that looks like a party hat).
Assuming that that isnt an issue its sounds like its just become corrupt along the line - it happens - Photoshop did it to me yesterday lol. Its more common after a Windows update or similar.
The easiest way is just to uninstall DIP, shut down start up and do a reinstall.
If you are using the library make sure you back up your library pod file so you dont lose the tagging info etc.

Let me know if you are still having problems after that