# Lightroom Crashes Computer When Exporting



## mikeo (Apr 20, 2009)

Computer Crashes and shutsdown when attempting to Export to JPG File for uploading to a website?

Help!!

Windows XP Pro, SP 3, 32 Bit
Intel Duo Core Processor
Nvidia MB


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## Robert T Higaki (Apr 20, 2009)

You are not the only one. I have been exporting images to Smugmug and the LR crashes all the time. So, often, I consider it as part of the "normal" process of exporting images. Upgrading to 2.3 did not help.


                                       Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## mikeo (Apr 20, 2009)

Robert T Higaki said:


> You are not the only one. I have been exporting images to Smugmug and the LR crashes all the time. So, often, I consider it as part of the "normal" process of exporting images. Upgrading to 2.3 did not help.
> 
> 
> Bob- the slide shooter at heart


 
Mine not only crashes it shuts down the computer?? Some people have said that my virus program is causing this to happen, well, I shut it down and it still happens! Something is bad wrong, I can't believe adobe would put such a product out without at least a fix??


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 20, 2009)

Hang on, tell us more?  No software should be able to turn off the computer.  I'd be looking at dying power supply or dodgy memory, something like that.  Export's a pretty high powered task, so it could be that it's just finding a hardware problem.  Tell us more about your system specs, and what you've tried to solve it so far.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 20, 2009)

Open your computer; Are the CPU fan and heatsink clean or dust filled?...

At export time the CPU will more easily overheat.


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## Robert T Higaki (Apr 21, 2009)

Open up task manager then performance. Move that( window) up in a corner then go ahead and export your images. Watch the CPU usage and try to rule out memory issues.


                                    Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## sizzlingbadger (Apr 21, 2009)

mikeo said:


> Mine not only crashes it shuts down the computer?? Some people have said that my virus program is causing this to happen, well, I shut it down and it still happens! Something is bad wrong, I can't believe adobe would put such a product out without at least a fix??




1) It would help us if you filled out your signature so we can see what type of system and software you are using.

2) There are 1''''s of people using LR that don't experience your problem so it *may* not be a problem with LR but something specific to your system, I think it's little early to start blaming Adobe.

3) Can you test other software that will generate CPU activity, exporting an image in photoshop or another editor.

4) when you say "it shuts down the computer??" does it do a proper shutdown or do you see a blue screen with errors or does it just hang etc ?

5) Check that your operating system and all the drivers are up to date, especially the graphics card driver.


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## mikeo (Apr 21, 2009)

*Re Lightroom shuts down-Exporting*



sizzlingbadger said:


> 1) It would help us if you filled out your signature so we can see what type of system and software you are using.
> 
> 2) There are 1''''s of people using LR that don't experience your problem so it *may* not be a problem with LR but something specific to your system, I think it's little early to start blaming Adobe.
> 
> ...


 

2-I've seen other people having the same problem with lightroom!

3- Well, I'm out of town today till next week, but will try that when I get back.

4- Like someone Pulled the Blug, No blue screen, No hang, just boom, computer shutdown, No Power!

5- Drivers-- I have the automatic update for Windows, just downloaded lastest driver for Graphic Card, as of 4-'7-'9!

Thanks for trying to Help,

Mike

Oh, I'm just a hunt and pecker, how do I check my cpu usage? Don't think I can do this as the computer shuts down and then no record of what happened?

Oh again, Graphics card is the Radeon 487'


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 21, 2009)

Mike, it is great to have you here and we really want to help with this. To help us help you could you please take a moment to fill in your signature in the "userCP' that is found in the nav-bar at the top left of the page - thanks.
Especially as this is not a widespread issue and may be system linked.


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## sizzlingbadger (Apr 21, 2009)

There are several people experiencing issues when exporting but this is the first I have seen where the power shuts down. I have many years experience as an electronics engineer and in IT and I would bet money this is system related. It sounds very much like the power supply is shutting down or tripping due to over-load or over-heating. Faulty hardware could cause this or just and undersized power supply. If you have added / upgraded components in the machine then it possible that the power supply is inadequate for the new parts. Graphics cards are a common problem in this area as they can suck a lot of juice.

If the power is dying then there isn't usually anything written out to log / crash dump files which makes it hard to see what's happening. I have never seen software shut the power down like this before, maybe a virus could be designed to do it. Having a virus checker is no guarantee that you are not infected either.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 21, 2009)

And did you started with the very first step by opening the case to see if it is dirty and check that all fans are running smoothly?...


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## mikeo (Apr 21, 2009)

*Hardware*

New, Updated Power supply, 65'W, I think! 

As far as heating up, I wouldn't know why?? New hard drives, and mother board (Nvidia) put in a little over a year ago??

My brother built this computer for me, He's pretty well up on this stuff, has built several and he's the one that had me get the Bigger Power supply!

Beats me?

Cleaning out, I'm pretty vigilant about this, watch it close and Blow it out about every month or so! It's setting on Top of a des, not under the desk where it could gather dust nor have good ventilation. Soo?  Just luck, I guess!


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 21, 2009)

Mikeo, see if you can get your brother to have a look in that case.  I'd still suspect hardware, and my first guess would also be power supply.  I've seen it happen numerous times.  Lightroom DOES tax hardware more than most programs, and even brand new power supply units can be faulty.


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## mikeo (Apr 21, 2009)

*Re: Power Suppy*

Will do! I can check that myself, I guess just feel it and see if it feels hot? 

Thanks for all the help, this is Great!

OH, Just mike will do, I couldn't use that as a nick!

Course, I've been called much worse, suit yourself!


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 21, 2009)

Thanks for the generous comments Mike, it helps to have a friendly attitude in my experience!!
To help us help you could you please take a moment to fill in your signature in the "userCP' that is found in the nav-bar at the top left of the page - thanks.


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## sizzlingbadger (Apr 21, 2009)

Don't forget even if the power supply is ok, faulty hardware can short it and trip it out, the power supply is just protecting itself and you for that matter


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## Robert T Higaki (Apr 25, 2009)

I should clarify: check your memory usage instead of CPU
Open task manager> performance> two boxes on the left; the top says CPU usage and the bottom says memory. On my computer, the memory box says 1.58GB which means 1.58Gb used out of 3.5GB of usable memory. That is good news.
Just compare the numbers: the RAM you have in your computer vs the amount used. 

                                          Bob- slide shooter at heart
PS- hit computer details to see your specs, in fact, my usable RAM is 3.325GB even though 4GB installed.


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## mikeo (Apr 28, 2009)

*Sorry, Out ot Pocket for  a while*

Just got back from a week on the Scooter, so let me apologize for not responding sooner! I haven't tried any of the recommendations I've gotten here, but I had time to think about it while cruisin down the road!:mrgreen:

The only thing that I can think of that changed and when I started having my problems is that I changed my Graphics card to one that could support two monitors with 2 different profiles for Calibration! 

I hear that a Graphics Card(Depending how powerful it is) can be a Big drain on the Power supply, so I'm going to get a newer, more powerful one and see if that doesn't do the trick!

Thanks again to Everyone for the Help, I'm a cripple when it comes to this stuff and your help is greatly appreciated! I'll most def. keep everyone up to date!:lol:


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 28, 2009)

Thanks for reporting back Mike!!
Look forward to seeing what you can come up with in your further exploration of this issue.


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## mikeo (Apr 29, 2009)

Kiwigeoff;43'58 said:
			
		

> Thanks for reporting back Mike!!
> Look forward to seeing what you can come up with in your further exploration of this issue.


 
thank you and everyone else, may be a while before I get the new power supply hooked up, think I might wait for my brother to do that for me!! It's 95' watts, soo, think that should be big enough!!?:lol:


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## mikeo (May 4, 2009)

*New Power Suppy*

Well, got everything hooked up, oh, and the computer was very dirty, wondering if that wasn't my problem all along, oh well!

So, started exporting again, Computer didn't quit but Lightroom Froze Up??

Sheesh, now what do I do, Or is that Did I do??:shock:


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## Victoria Bampton (May 4, 2009)

Well we're getting closer!  Freezing's better than crashing!    Very dirty could indeed have been a factor - it could have been overheating.  How many did you try to export this time?  Is there a certain image it freezes on?


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## mikeo (May 5, 2009)

Well, I didn't count, about 15 give or take, got about half way thru them! :roll:


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## sizzlingbadger (May 5, 2009)

Definitely sounds like a hardware issue somewhere. The power supply is not giving up now but it looks like something in the system has a problem.


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## mikeo (May 5, 2009)

Damn, I hate to hear that, it doesn't do that with any other program, course, Like you said, Lightroom/Photoshop is very CPU intensive! ?


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## mikeo (Apr 20, 2009)

Computer Crashes and shutsdown when attempting to Export to JPG File for uploading to a website?

Help!!

Windows XP Pro, SP 3, 32 Bit
Intel Duo Core Processor
Nvidia MB


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## mikeo (May 6, 2009)

*Anti Virus & Export Plug-In?*

Could my anti virus program be causing this problem? Also, I've installed an Export Plugin for Picasa and it just suddenly disappeared. Tried to re-install and it wouldn't accept the plug in, Lightroom always Disabled it??


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## mikeo (May 9, 2009)

*Thanks for you Help!*

Just wanted to get back to everyone and thank you again for your help. The computer Crashing, A little red in the face, I believe that was because of a Filthy puter!!? I couldn't imagine that happening since it sat on the top of my desk, but I never did clean the front screen or pay any attention to it, it was very dirty and blocked! Anyway, after a new power supply, which I question if it was necessary, the Crashing has stopped!

As for Lightroom, well, another "DUH," by me, I'm afraid! I had both DNG and JPG files in my folder, I believe this to be the problem when I tried to export these files! I went to another folder that had all DNG files and exported with NP!


Anyway, Thanks again for all your help!:cheesy:


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## Victoria Bampton (May 10, 2009)

That's great to hear Mikeo, we always love a happy ending!


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## Kim V (May 7, 2011)

*Same Problem*



Victoria Bampton said:


> That's great to hear Mikeo, we always love a happy ending!


Unfortunately I don't have a happy ending with the same problem & hope that someone can help.
This started happening for me in Jan 2011 whilst trying to upload a gallery to Smugmug, it crashed my computer over & over at different times during the upload, never on the same file. It causes havoc with my computer as it just goes off completely without warning & when I restart the computer it has to do the whole check disk/c thing, then my outlook was unable to start up & I lose every password my computer holds...it has gotten to the point where I turn off outlook & close everything else whilst I am using lightroom & waiting for the upload to complete or crash...
Up until tonight it had only happened on one gallery/folder of images & I had tried uploading them to other parts of my Smugmug that wasn't seeming to have trouble accepting uploads, it still crashed. Two weeks ago I finally thought, I'll try moving all of the jpegs to a separate folder & import them again ( I had deleted/removed the files from LR) this time they uploaded fine, so I assumed that maybe it was crashing on the PSD's... tonight whilst attempting to upload a new folder of images, I unchecked them(PSD's) from the upload & STILL it crashed, luckily I don't trust LR anymore & had closed everything, which is very annoying to sit & watch that slow moving bar instead of still working & now I just have to put all of my passwords back in   It is a fairly new system, less than a year old & I had it made specifically for what I needed & I am concerned at the damage it is doing to my system...
So, is it because of other file types that this is happening, is there something I should not be including? Or was it possible to do with an update, because I never had to worry about file types before ...
thanks for any help/advice, Kim :hail:


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## Victoria Bampton (May 7, 2011)

Hi Kim, welcome to the forum!  Sorry to hear it's problems that bring you here.

If it's crashing the whole computer, I'd be thinking hardware.  Is it just while uploading?  Does it do the same when exporting?  Any other times?  And when it crashes, does it blue screen or just turn off, or what?


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## ukbrown (May 7, 2011)

95 Watts does not sound large enoiugh


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## Victoria Bampton (May 7, 2011)

ukbrown said:


> 95 Watts does not sound large enoiugh


 Oh that's an old post!  That's 950 watts - the forum upgrade did some funny things with 0's on old posts. :(


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## Kim V (May 7, 2011)

Thanks Victoria, Turns off completely, it doesn't do it at any other time & I haven't had a problem with the computer since buying it :/


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## Victoria Bampton (May 7, 2011)

Doesn't do it any other time - but does while exporting normally as well as SmugMug?  And mainly on bigger exports rather than an odd photo or two?

Lightroom pushes the computer pretty hard, so I'm not overly surprised that you don't have problems in other programs.  I'd be thinking in terms of overheating, problem with the power supply or dodgy RAM as my first places to look, but probably better if some of the Windows guys jump in on this as I've been Mac based for far too many years now!!


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## Jim Wilde (May 7, 2011)

First thing....is the system automatically restarted, or is it actually powered off by the crash (i.e. you have to hit the power on button to get it to restart)? If the former, that would indicate the OS reacting to a problem which could either be software or hardware initiated....if the latter, it's more likely to be a pure hardware problem.

If the latter, then I would agree with Victoria...my first thought would be  overheating, either CPU or Motherboard, possibly power supply. Based on  my own experience with my previous desktop, these can be a real PITA trying to pin down. What type of system is it, laptop or desktop?

First thing would be to check all fans are actually running, and that they're not blocked at all. As the system is less than a year old I would definitely be getting the system builder to look at it under warranty....


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## Kim V (May 7, 2011)

That's the strange thing Victoria, the folders/galleries that it are crashing on are MUCH smaller (number of files) than what I usually do...the only difference I can think of are huge PSD's & no to ordinary exporting, only to SM


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## Kim V (May 7, 2011)

Thanks Jim, powers off & I have to push the button to restart it. With the other/first folder it was happening with, the folder contained over 900 images, which uploaded without a problem when I separated the into a "jpeg" folder, but had been crashing around the 120-130 mark every time before...today only had 170 files & it crashed at approx 40, so I really don't feel it is an overheating issue, as it wouldn't then be able to upload many other galleries with up to 1000 files... do you think that sounds right? 
Just out of interest, I waited to send this until I could tell you what happened when I separated these/todays ones too & they have now uploaded quickly with no problem at all, I really feel it has to be a file type issue...


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## Jim Wilde (May 7, 2011)

I'm not entirely clear exactly what you are saying about the various uploads, all I would say is that some file-types will inevitably cause the CPU to work harder than others, e.g. huge PSDs will have a different effect than much smaller JPEGs. I sense you are thinking that this is a pure Lightroom issue, but all I can say is that in my experience this is unlikely. Yes, it may be that the problem only crops up when you are running Lightroom, and then only when doing certain activities, but this is likely to be that the activity in question has caused a system threshold to be exceeded, e.g. CPU or Motherboard temperature. 

The system will continually monitor itself and should it detect a threshold is being breached it can shut itself down without warning, simply to protect the relevant component from permanent harm. Many modern-day motherboards are supplied with a set of system tools which can allow the user to monitor certain values and to set warning thresholds which would allow them to do an orderly closedown rather than the emergency shutdown which you are experiencing. That may be something you could explore. As an example, this is a screenshot of some of the displays from my own motherboard monitoring tools:



There are some excellent system experts on this forum, quite possibly they may have a different perspective. But as I said earlier, my first thought would be a warranty call to the system supplier.


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## Kim V (May 7, 2011)

Thanks Jim, that makes perfect sense & maybe tonight I hadn't deselected all of the PSD's like I thought


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## Evan (May 8, 2011)

Sounds like hardware to me.  I would start by running a memory test.  I usually do this with memtest86+.  You just download the file, burn it to a CD and then reboot.

I would warn you that it takes a very long time to run(hours).  I usually do it overnight or during the day while I am at work.


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## ukbrown (May 11, 2011)

It definitely sounds like a thermal cutout of some kind.  Software issues do not shutdown the PC, Blue Sceen maybe.


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## sizzlingbadger (May 11, 2011)

Check the simple stuff first. Are all the vents on PC the casing clear and free from dust build up? Is anything inside the case blocking the airflow of the vents ? Are the fans all working correctly ? do any of the large heat-sinks look like they are not fixed down properly ?


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## Kim V (May 12, 2011)

Thanks Everyone


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## Kiwigeoff (May 12, 2011)

Kim V said:


> Thanks Everyone



What is the result???


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## Kim V (May 12, 2011)

I haven't "published" anything else to Smugmug without splitting the Jpegs first, but have saved all of this info to take to my IT guy when I can, probably next week & will post the result


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## gilesf (May 29, 2011)

Hi All,

My first post here are the reason I joined, I had the same issue - for me at least it was heat related. I would advise using Core Temp (google it) to see how hot your chip is running, in the event that it gets too hot the PC will auto shut down to prevent permenant damage. 

The cause of all the heat - Fluff in the heat sinks - solution - get your vacumm cleaner, hold it close to the heatsink, then take a drinking straw and blow the fluff and dusk out of the heatsinks. With the vacumm close to the opperation it should suck up most of the airbourne dust. 

On my machine the processor heaksink, and the main airflow holes though the whole machine where blocked. 

Before cleaning all 4 cores where running at 90 degrees C when exporting. After cleaning they run at about 65 and I've not had a crash since - about 3-4 days and 1000's of images exported later. 

I really hope that this helps someone else, I was in the verge of buying a new PC and when I looked inside I couldn't belive the amount of dust. As others have said this is almost 100% a heat issue - it might not be dirty heatsinks - it could be a loose heatsink, fan not running etc etc.

Good luck everyone!!!

Giles


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## Kim V (May 30, 2011)

Thanks again everyone, it does look like it is the heat, mine goes from 70 odd to 100 in no time flat when using lightroom, it goes in to be checked under warranty this week


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## Victoria Bampton (May 30, 2011)

Oh good Kim, at least that should be easily solved!


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## Kim V (Jun 9, 2011)

Just dropping by to let you know that dust was the problem, :/ Thanks so much everyone for your help & advice.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 9, 2011)

Thanks for reporting back Kim - great to hear you're sorted for now!


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