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Extremely slow start up with LR CC, from 2-5 minutes

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jrbehm

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Frederick MD
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I've been searching for an answer to this dilemma for a month or more without success. Sorry to say, the tips I've received elsewhere haven't worked, but I just found this forum. I'm running the latest LR CC update on a late 2012 iMac 27" with 24GB RAM, 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics card, and a 1TB HD with 565GB free space. The OS is the latest update to Yosemite. I've had all the hardware checked for read/write issues, and it checks out OK. The catalog and the image files are stored on the Hard Drive, in the usual place on a Mac, the Pictures folder. Internet is Xfiniity Burst, with TX speeds of around 240-300Mbps. I had thought it could be bottlenecked at initial startup, checking with Adobe, but those speeds shouldn't create that, I don't think.

By comparison, Lightroom fully installed (the old fashioned way) on my G5 PPC mac tower opens in 8-12 seconds. The CC version on the iMac above opens in anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes, and often remains inert for as much as 2 minutes after the library page shows up, before I can access an image. It can take a minute or so for the splash page to show up.

Going back to the G5 tower, that Lightroom has nearly 22,000 images in the catalog currently in use, and has had as many as 40-50 thousand. It never made much difference in time to open. Since some folks I've asked have suggested I reduce the size of the iMac's LR CC catalog from its current 17,300 images, I made a test catalog of 36 RAW files. It took 1 minute 50 seconds to open which isn't a winner.

One other odd facet to this concerns multiple openings of the software in one day. Usually when working, I open LR and keep it open until I export and start using Photoshop, at which time I shut down LR so they aren't competing for the 24GB of RAM. So, I usually experience one opening a day, taking an excruciating 2-5 minutes. Since I've been seeking solutions to the length of time that takes or at least why, I've been opening and closing Lightroom several times a day, something that wouldn't happen ordinarily. What's occurred is this: Subsequent openings of LR within short period from the original will open in from 8-24 seconds, repeatedly. If I shut it down and rest it for 4 or 5 hours, or over night, we're back to the extremely long start up times.

I am very interested in resolving whatever issue this is, and in hearing from members who might know what's going on.
 
No problem.
Turn of the WiFi, and disconnect the network cables. The idea is when you go into System Preferences -> Network; everything has a red dot next to it.

Tim
 
OK, Tim. I disconnected all networks and had red dots in the network prefs panel. Launched lightroom this morning, cold. It took 20 seconds for the splash panel to show, 1 minute 35 seconds for the actual application window to show and another 15 seconds before clicking on anything within that window had any effect. So, eliminating the network yields an improvement but not a great one. Certainly not back to the launch of LR 5 and all previous full installations, pre-CC. Thanks again for walking me through this stuff.
 
Then we need to punt to Adobe.
Ideally, they should give you some directions to log the data from dtruss to find what/why the application is pausing.
We have shown they have no obvious resource contention.

Good luck.
 
I see that "good luck" and wonder if it's because they aren't likely to respond. That said, how do I accomplish what you just said above?

To me, what's interesting is, there don't seem to be a whole lot of us experiencing this, but there are a number of us, and over the several weeks I've been searching for solutions, it seems that number is growing. My concerns in going to CC were twofold: rate hikes hijacking us and problems with software performance in a cloud environment. In my case, I'm one for two.
 
I see that "good luck" and wonder if it's because they aren't likely to respond. That said, how do I accomplish what you just said above?

To me, what's interesting is, there don't seem to be a whole lot of us experiencing this, but there are a number of us, and over the several weeks I've been searching for solutions, it seems that number is growing. My concerns in going to CC were twofold: rate hikes hijacking us and problems with software performance in a cloud environment. In my case, I'm one for two.

The "good luck" was exactly that. No more no less. Solving these kind of performance problems can be very time consuming and frustrating from a software development perspective. There are many variables, limited tools and limited items a company may be able to perform (mostly from a perceived liability aspect) which make this type of debugging much harder. So I understand a lot of the constraints the support and development teams at Adobe are operating under. I would suggest contacting Adobe support, giving them all the items we tested and eliminated; and how we eliminated each one.

I should point out, there is nothing here you have mentioned which is in the "cloud". Everything we have tested is local.

Now, with that stated. It now occurs to me, do you have Lightroom Mobile? Have you setup the sync? I do not have this setup, so I know very little about it. But I wonder if this might be a culprit.
 
I'll do what you suggest, thanks. As for the mobile, no I haven't activated that. I really don't want to work from iPad or iPhone on images, so never took advantage of it. Most of my work is for ad and commercial clients and I want to work on it in a more controlled environment. If I hear back from Adobe I'll pass it along here.
 
I had disconnected from Adobe's CC for a bit while testing and just reconnected. I received a notice of an update on Adobe's CC that came out on the 14th (2 days ago at this writing) which I decided to investigate further before installing. When I did that, I learned I had not installed an update from December that had to do with LR crashing upon opening (see attached). Is there any chance that all this is a result of not installing that update?
 

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It would definitely be worth updating to the latest versions to see if that helps.
 
Updated and tried it, no improvement. cold start was 2:45 Per Tim's suggestion, I'm preparing a recap of what we've done here to send Adobe. Is it OK to link to this thread? Will they even look??
 
Definitely worth a shot. I'd guess you have the same issue that Johan reported a week or so back.
 
I started a chat with Adobe Customer Service, and they asked to commandeer my computer for the fix. Mostly what it looked like they did is replace the Lightroom 6 plist. As soon as that was done it appears to be MUCH faster, but as I've already learned, that's not necessarily true 4 hours later. We'll see, but that's the latest.
 
My problem is just solved! It turns out you need to set the permissions to 'Read & Write' on three folders: Lightroom CC 2015.4/Lightroom 6.4, Photoshop, or Bridge crashes or hangs on launch. These folders already had correct permissions in my case, but apparently there was some subfolder that didn't. The trick is to click the wheel button and use 'Apply to enclosed items', to make sure that all subfolders also have correct permissions.
 
Good news! But a bit odd, wonder why/how the permissions got changed (since they must have been OK pre-6.4), and why only some OSX users are affected.
 
Good news! But a bit odd, wonder why/how the permissions got changed (since they must have been OK pre-6.4), and why only some OSX users are affected.

Permission problems are not uncommon, and they always only happen to some of us. The biggest problem is to know which folders could be involved, because it's often rather obscure folders like cache folders.
 
Tried it, no joy. 3 mins 24 secs.

The top guy at the local Mac store just reviewed the test results I emailed to one of his minions, and he told me the fact that my tests in Black Magic Speed test had a range of readings from around 85 Mb/s to 95 and then to 104 is an indicator that the read/write is having a problem, perhaps with small packets, who knows? The speeds were roughly equal between read and write, but the range shouldn't be there, and certainly not that wide. Next step, take the iMac in.
 
I was so excited to find a thread so perfectly dedicated to my horrible problem, and am now feeling defeated as I have tried all of the above to no avail. Averaging 3-5 minutes to open completely.

jrbehm, I'm eager to hear how things pan out for you. Thanks so much for sharing.

FWIW, my stats:
iMac 27", mid 2011
Yosemite 10.10.5
3.4GHz Intel Core i7
32GB RAM
300GB free out of 1TB
 
Sorry to hear you guys are all having problems. Have you all tried these steps: Lightroom CC 2015.4/Lightroom 6.4, Photoshop, or Bridge crashes or hangs on launch, and made sure you 'applied to all enclosed items' too?

And Ashley, welcome to the forum! If you're still on 2015.0, have you tried updating to 2015.4?

Hi Victoria, and thanks for the welcome wagon. I did try the steps you mentioned and updated to 2015.4 but sadly the open time seems to have gotten longer! I tried running the Blackmagic speed test, but honestly I have no idea what I'm looking for in the results. I also tried running the Apple Hardware Test, but it crashes each time. Perhaps I have some bad RAM? I may just take the computer to Apple this weekend. I'll be sure to post here if I have news to share!

Thanks.
 
Hi Victoria, and thanks for the welcome wagon. I did try the steps you mentioned and updated to 2015.4 but sadly the open time seems to have gotten longer! I tried running the Blackmagic speed test, but honestly I have no idea what I'm looking for in the results. I also tried running the Apple Hardware Test, but it crashes each time. Perhaps I have some bad RAM? I may just take the computer to Apple this weekend. I'll be sure to post here if I have news to share!

Thanks.

If the Apple Hardware test fails, then you have an issue. Take to them to fix; preferably backup everything first!
The Blackmagic speed test should show you two pieces of information. One the speed of your disk drives, two the speed should be even. Not spike and slow. Huge variations in performance tests generally indicate the hardware is starting to go.

Tim
 
If the Apple Hardware test fails, then you have an issue. Take to them to fix; preferably backup everything first!
The Blackmagic speed test should show you two pieces of information. One the speed of your disk drives, two the speed should be even. Not spike and slow. Huge variations in performance tests generally indicate the hardware is starting to go.

Tim

Thanks for the tips, Tim! Just made my appointment with the Geniuses, fingers crossed.
 
There was finally resolution for my own problem (as the the OP), this past Friday (March 11, 2016). After trying all the suggested software fixes and running hardware testing, the Apple reseller near me asked that I bring the iMac in for them to diagnose. I did, as soon as I finished a project I didn't want to switch to another computer.

It turns out that, when I had the iMac in for a RAM upgrade, the technician installed the wrong RAM. This time, as soon as I got it home and reset the PRAM, the slowness was gone. I realize this is not going to be the case for almost anyone else. It does raise the question "How could that happen?", but it also makes me happy I didn't do the RAM upgrade myself with that kind of error, because they assumed all responsibility for correcting it.
 
Another addition: Last night I upgraded the iMac 27" to El Capitan. Today was the first time I'd opened LR CC since the upgrade. It took 13 seconds for the badge to show up, and 1 minute 37 seconds total for it to be operational. That's not screaming fast, but its half to a third as long as it used to take. I count that as progress and something I can live with.
 
I recently upgraded to 10.11.4 and LR is opening a few seconds faster for me as well. About 7 seconds to the splash screen and just under 40 seconds to thumbnails.....we will see. Resetting preferences and or signing out and then back in to Creative Cloud results in launch times of half those numbers. Subsequent launches then take longer and longer....hopefully either Apple or Adobe will figure this out and come up with an upgrade that addresses the launch time.
 
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