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Maguzza
12th of June 2004 (Sat), 22:00
I got Photoshop CS for my newish laptop computer about three weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to activating it until this afternoon. The initial activation was quick and painless over the internet. Subsequent to activation, I edited a few pictures (say, 10-15) and saved them to disk. I fiddled with a few other pictures and didn't save them. I created a two new folders and a couple of sub-folders. I checked my e-mail. I did some web surfing. I burned three CD's. The first CD failed, so I had to repeat it.

I then shut the computer down [it may have gone into sleep mode a couple of times before this] and took it with me to visit some people. At my destination I booted the computer back up and fiddled with one of the CD's I had written earlier and added another file. I then tried to add several more files. The CD failed at that point and the system automatically tried to recover it and seemed to hang on that task. The system went into a suspension mode a couple of times during this whole process.

The reason for all this inane detail: I then went to use Photoshop, and got a message telling me that my "computer's configuration seems to have changed since the time this product was activated" and that I need to reactivate it. This was, needless to say, quite a shock, as I had done *nothing* to the system except create some new JPEG's and a couple of folders and burn a few CD's in the ca. 8-9 hours since I had initially activated the software. I had not touched hardware, disk partitions, *anything*. I just used my computer in a way that would appear to be quite common for PS users of all sorts...

It was also extraordinarily inconvenient as I had no internet access at the time and using the telephone was not really an option under the circumstances.

Does anybody have any idea what happened? Did my failed CD-burning attempts set off a hair trigger in the Photoshop activation system? (Note that my Microsoft Office products weren't in the least bit perturbed and continue to run fine without needing to be reactivated.) How many times can I re-activate before it becomes a problem if this sort of thing continues? (Would I eventually have to call and talk to a person during business hours?)

I had read many complaints about the PS CS activation requirements, but most of them seemed to be a bit overblown. I doubt no longer that this is truly a scourge -- right now PS CS looks like the most unreliable piece of software I've ever used. If pretty much anything can trip the hair trigger and render a *very* expensive piece of software completely inoperative (one is not always connected to the internet or near a phone), this is entirely unacceptable. I can't say I blame those who stuck with v. 7 to avoid this insanity.

Any enlightenment anybody might have for me would be much appreciated.

iwatkins
13th of June 2004 (Sun), 02:32
Very strange.

I installed PS CS for the first time about six months ago, i.e. shortly after it came out.

On my main machine I have:

1. Added another SCSI disk
2. Changed the graphics card
3. Increased the memory on the system.
4. Swapped a plain jane CD-ROM drive for a DVD-ROM drive.

PS CS couldn't care less, but MS Office needed reactivating after step 3. I couldn't understand this as I was under the impression that Adobe use the Microsoft activation model (on Windws at least).

Anyway, in your case I suspect that the problems with your CD player/burner caused it to be reinstalled (as far as the OS was concerned) and all your hardware was probably rechecked etc. during recovery and this in turn caused the reactivation trigger to be set ?

Assuming you now have a stable system on the laptop, i.e. the CD Burner issue is fixed, I would guess that you wouldn't need to go through this again.

Cheers

Ian

chris.bailey
14th of June 2004 (Mon), 06:58
I have now re-activated CS on my computer 3 times without problem due to hardware changes. It seems particulalry sensitive to hard drive addition/deletion.

Belmondo
14th of June 2004 (Mon), 10:17
Unfortunately we never know where the problem lies when things like this happen. Until my 'lost filter' problem, CS has been absolutely transparent and trouble-free. Now that the filters are restored, it's well-behaved again.

I did have a somewhat similar problem on my Gateway notebook. I installed it and activated it without difficulty. Shortly after that, I started having unrelated problems with the computer. After several days of system freezes, email problems, and other seemingly unrelated reliability issues, I did a 'System Restore' to my last-saved system configuration, and everything came back---except for CS which completely disappeared.

This was on the road, and I was just happy to have my notebook back to working reliably; I didn't make any effort to re-install Photoshop. Now that I'm home, I'm going to try again.

PacAce
14th of June 2004 (Mon), 13:52
I've had that happen to once, too. Didn't change anything on the desktop to warrant a reactivation but there it was. So I just went ahead and reactivated it again. Haven't had any problems since. Let me rephrase that. I haven't had anymore "reactivation" related problems since although I have been having a bunch of other, weird, inexplicable problems every now and then.

Maguzza
14th of June 2004 (Mon), 19:22
Many thanks for the comments, all. This is encouraging feedback.

However, it's interesting to see how fickle and unrobust PS CS's activation system is. I found a thread in the Adobe user forums where several people reported similar issues; i.e. having to reactivate after having done nothing obvious to trigger it (beyond normal quotidian usage of the software and computer system). In many of these cases, MS products did *not* need to be reactivated. So, it sounds like Adobe's system has a long way to go.

One of the stories was a secondhand (and hence unverified) account of a professional photographer who had PS CS unexpectedly require reactivation while out in the Australian bush a day's drive from the nearest satellite phone. This sort of complete unreliablity is really unacceptable. Some have analogized Adobe's activation system to having to get a new ignition key every time one has the oil changed in one's car. In my case (and that of others, apparently), it's more like that we need to get a new key when we somehow bump the curb incorrectly while parking. And we have no indication as to what we can and cannot get away with in terms of curb bumping. This, of course, would never be tolerated in a car and shouldn't be in software.

I understand Adobe's need to fight software piracy, but it's really unfortunate that they were unable to implement their activation system in a competent way. (Microsoft seems shine in comparison.) And it's also unfortunate that those of us who are honest are bearing the brunt of their incompetence. And ironic that they have chosen to include this item in the soothing activation FAQ on their website:

Adobe does not believe a customer-focused activation process represents a burden to the user.

Adobe believes incorrectly.

cecilc
15th of June 2004 (Tue), 05:50
Hearing all this reminds me of why I haven't upgraded to CS yet .... and I've been a Photoshop user since it's very early days ....

I've still got PS 7, and I think I'll probably not upgrade until version CS.1 or whatever Adobe will call the "fixed" version of CS .....

It's really a shame .... and I know that not everyone experiences problems with CS, but for everyone ONE person that tells me they've had no problems with CS, I hear of two or three others who are totally frustrated with activation problems, installation problems, functionality problems, compatibility problems, etc.

Adobe has their work cut out for them in getting the CS version as robust and stable as previous versions .....

CyberDyneSystems
15th of June 2004 (Tue), 07:30
It cetainly can be a pain...

I've reactiveted three ties as well.

No Hardware has been added.

One reactiviation was after a "system restore" .. but NOT a system restore to back before installation of CS>. the restore only backed me up about a week.... anyway.. this is more system restores problem.. there are allways apps I need to reinstall after using system restore.. I consider it a last ditch effort.

The second reactivation was after the installation of an additional hard drive?

The third was after I flashed the BIOS...

Anyways.. so far Adode has not stopped me from using the rpoduct... but it is unnerving to know every time I do something awkward on my PC some major corporation gets to make a record of it ... :shock:


..."I see from your file here that you have quite some trouble keeping your home PC operating smoothly,... oh yes,. we are well aware of your use of "system restore",... what makes you think you are qualified to manage our network"...