Trouble with Cloner

Is this only when you are using the cloning tool?  You are saying that when the cloning tool is selected, and you click on the File Menu, it is frozen, blank or something?

can you be more detailed please?  thanks!

 My wife has a wacom cintiq, her style is to use the cloning tool set very lightly and change it very often. She pushes the alt key, makes a few strokes and then pushes the alt key again. there isnt a problem until she wants to stepback with the edit command or save the pic, that is when it will show up. No commands are available. She does use some other tools, but not often. And at this moment I can recreate the same result.
The file can only be saved by the key board. After selecting file and trying to save, only to find that no options appear, if I click the alt button once, a line appears under all menus and file command is colored, they stay that way until the alt button is clicked again. Then the line disappears and the file menu discolors

Right now the machine is broke as discribed, but i can still do everthing else

al the keyboard shortcuts I have tried work, including ctrl+alt+z

Doesn't Alt+Shift+Z do step backwards as well?

Alt+shift+S should let you 'save as' right?

yes, that was working until 5 minutes ago, now cant save with keyboard

I did save the picture with the keyboard, but had to open it on the other computer to see the change. the wife has alot of work in this picture, so I have be careful. lucky got the pic saved, tried to create a layer (shift+ctrl+n) now it says it has encountered a problem and needs to close. There goes any more chances to experment, uless you know how to avoid the error

Restarted photoshop, no problems now, but what usally happens is ass soon as I leave, The same problem returns. Its like,"you know as soon as you left my computer broke."

I think its insufficient memory.  Can you try lowering the history tab to less than 20 and see if that helps?  

ok, let you know what happens

what are the system specs on your wife's computer?  Is your computer better than her's in that detail?

is it something to do with the wacom tablet?  Have you tried using the mouse and cloning tool instead of usign the tablet?  is your pc very powerful?

lol great timing!  :)

!!! I know huh!?

what do need to know about her computer? she does not use a tablet, the wacom cintiq is one of those things that you draw right on the screen. Even so, the mouse can be used and yes i have tried that.

Processor speed, RAM, hard drive(s) size & speed...

ditto

If you don't know the specs:

Right click My Computer, go to Properties and there you can see the processor type and speed, and how much memory (RAM) you have.

windows xp pro 2002 service pack 2
 Amd AthlonXP2100+
1.73GHz,1.00GB  of RAM
80 gig hard drive with 50 gig free   (how do i find the speed)

Well that should be enough to power photoshop...  what happened when you tried lowering the history as thephalanx suggested?  

When did this issue start happening?  Is this a new pc and it has just started out like this?  

were those the specs on your machine or your wife's?

have not lowered history yet
about a month ago
slowly at first maybe 1 a week and now it happens (only to the wife, I can not reproduce it) in a hour.
the computer is 1 year old

she was just working on the computer got the issue again, it is there now
i have save the picture with the keyboard.

the specks were on the wifes machine

do try lowering the history as that may help...  sounds like it builds in the pc as she is using it...

Have you tried reinstalling the software and doing updates?

ok, is there anything i can look for while the issue is here. It wont resolve without restarting PS

Have you tried reinstalling the software and doing updates?
no

do you suppose I should replace the keyboard first, hate to reinstall but will if i have to

reinstalling could help... i would say its worth a shot before replacing the keyboard (which i dont think would be the issue). just be sure to back up your brushes, actions, etc...

it is crazy, she can do , but i can not
after it happens, almost everything works, except the main menu

yea just try that

does she use photoshop more often than you?

if she is an avid user and hasn't done updates or reinstalled in quite some time it is possible that the program needs a "refresh" in the system.  and make sure to do updates as well and then try it out.

or

just download updates right now and restart the pc and open PS up and see how it does then.

ill check for updates

k

cant open help until i restart PS, sure you want me to do that (restart PS)

restart photoshop...do you need to save the file currently open?

already did that with the keyboard

I was able to close the pic, usally i cannot do that. once the pic was closed every thing works.
checked for updates .....none

well, if the problem continues I would reinstall, make back up of all important brushes,ect.

i dint get everything working when i closed the pic. everything did work until i opened anopthe pic, then it was the same thing. guess i have to restart PS. i thought i found some new

i think the problem is my wife

just out of curiosity...  how big is the jpeg file or .psd that you're currently working on?

I have recently discovered that jpeg files that are quite large (6mb big) can crash photoshop or prevent it from functioning normally having odd occureneces.  Is this your case by chance?

Maybe flatten all the layers, copy the layer into a NEW pic and use that one?  

Wow, the site keeps making me log back in.  hopefully it will be fixed soon.

me too...  was wondering if its IE7 that i am running...  (ps dont go to adobes site with IE7... completely unusable)

no its a site problem for sure.  I'm running Firefox, same problem ;)

just out of curiosity...  how big is the jpeg file or .psd that you're currently working on?
88 meg and all my pics are psd (normal size for us)
i have been working on her computer, still unable to recreate the issue. I think I need a wife upgrade (a younger version). I dont normally use the Cintiq, cant see where i am working, because of my hands being in the way. so unless you guys have better idea, when she comes back to work, I am going to watch every click (She will hate that).

watching may be the best way...  she could be doing something that she doesnt even realize....

nvslater,

any results?  new circumstances?

-thephalanx

I have covered up the Ctrl key and the next one (which brings up the start menu). But same results, except now she has crosshairs for a cursor and it hasnt changed in preferences. If I can get the default cursor back, I think I will try covering the whole keyboard, except the Alt key and space bar. The trick is, I need to get to the keyboard to recover from the ISSUE.

I had tried another keyboard earlier, but it was old. Still I thought that elminated the keyboard. Now after covering extra keys, and she got the same ISSUE, I have put the keyboard for Venus on her machine (Mars) my cmputer is Pluto. No problems so far and she has done 3 pictures.
 I belive her computer shortcuts are default, but I will check. Can I reset them all at once?