PC crashing when saving files

[Phil Baxter]

I have found my PC crashing on several occasions after downloading version 2.5.6. I always save off my files as an affinity file first then i save a jpeg version of the file. The Affinity file saves ok. But sometimes when trying to save the jpeg version the whole pc locks up forcing me to restart the machine.

I have also found that i cannot log into the forum because my account is not recognized. Although it is still ok on the main site

My pc has a 12th gen i7 chip operating with 32gb ram so i don't think it is a machine issue. All other software operating on the PC runs perfectly. And the crashes have happened when only Affinity is running

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Phil Baxter

18 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

I have found my PC crashing on several occasions after downloading version 2.5.6.

Is your PC, the machine itself, crashing or just the Affinity application(s)?

Which Affinity application(s) are you using and which version are they?

And do they all exhibit the same behaviour?

And is it always with the same application/document combination(s) or all Affinity applications and documents?

And where are you saving/exporting to?

18 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

I always save off my files as an affinity file first then i save a jpeg version of the file.

Do you mean that it happens when you are exporting the document to a JPEG, or saving a modified JPEG, or both, or something else?

18 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

But sometimes when trying to save the jpeg version the whole pc locks up forcing me to restart the machine.

Locking up isn’t really the same thing as what I would call crashing, but one can lead to the other. Do you get one, or the other, or both?

Do you have an example document that you can share with us which seems to cause the problem? And can you give us screenshots of your export settings (if you are exporting)?
 

18 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

I have also found that i cannot log into the forum because my account is not recognized.

You seem to have been able to log in to the forum to post this thread so I’m not sure what you mean by that.

18 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

Although it is still ok on the main site

If by the “main site” you mean the Affinity Store then that has a separate log-in to these forums.

[Phil Baxter]

It is the whole pc crashing but not in a way i have ever seen before. The hard drive is continually "hunting". Everything is hung. The mouse is still active but cannot be used on anything. I am using Photo 2.5.6. I have only had this problem since upgrading from 2.5.5. I don't have any other Affinity programs

I start with a raw file. Then when finished editing I always save off the affinity file first. Then i export a jpg version of the same file immediately afterwards. It is at that time the PC freezes

Crashing, locking up. I am not sure what the correct term would be. But i am completely unable to use the PC for anything. As i said above the cursor/mouse pointer is till active but nothing works. None of the keyboard buttons work. And  i cannot bring up the task manager. It ends up that i have to remove the power to the machine and reboot it. Which creates problems because of course windows hasn't shut properly. I have tried waiting for an hour or more for the machine to unlock but it never does and in that time the hard drive is continually hunting

I have examples of the files that the machine has crashed with. But there is no pattern. The way i am working is the same as is written above

Yes sorry about the confusion with the forum. But i found it strange the way that i got to get into the forum. I originally assumed that the main site was linked with the forum but now understand they are separate

I hope that covers your questions. Sorry for delay in response but i have been away for a few days. But thanks for your help

Regards

Phil

[Phil Baxter]

Just now, Phil Baxter said:

It is the whole pc crashing but not in a way i have ever seen before. The hard drive is continually "hunting". Everything is hung. The mouse is still active but cannot be used on anything. I am using Photo 2.5.6. I have only had this problem since upgrading from 2.5.5. I don't have any other Affinity programs

I start with a raw file. Then when finished editing I always save off the affinity file first. Then i export a jpg version of the same file immediately afterwards. It is at that time the PC freezes

Crashing, locking up. I am not sure what the correct term would be. But i am completely unable to use the PC for anything. As i said above the cursor/mouse pointer is till active but nothing works. None of the keyboard buttons work. And  i cannot bring up the task manager. It ends up that i have to remove the power to the machine and reboot it. Which creates problems because of course windows hasn't shut properly. I have tried waiting for an hour or more for the machine to unlock but it never does and in that time the hard drive is continually hunting

I have examples of the files that the machine has crashed with. But there is no pattern. The way i am working is the same as is written above

Yes sorry about the confusion with the forum. But i found it strange the way that i got to get into the forum. I originally assumed that the main site was linked with the forum but now understand they are separate

I hope that covers your questions. Sorry for delay in response but i have been away for a few days. But thanks for your help

Regards

Phil

As an extra note. my PC just crashed again. When i rebooted it and re-started it it cam up saying that some of settings may not have loaded properly. Although the program seems to be working at the moment

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra information but you still haven’t told us where you are saving/exporting the files to. For example, for each function (save and/or export), is it your local hard drive, or network storage, or some cloud storage, or a local-but-cloud-storage-managed location, or something else?

If an Affinity application crashes it should not crash the whole machine but if one goes into an (essentially) infinite loop then it can take up machine resources to a point where the machine becomes unusable (except for the mouse which is handled differently) which can look like it has ‘crashed’ or is in the process of ‘crashing’.

If the hard drive is ‘hunting’ (and I’m not totally sure what you mean by that), it might mean that the application is doing a lot of paging of memory to and from disk, if it’s the application which is using the storage. Can you show us a screenshot of your Settings / Performance settings?

A screenshot showing your Export Settings might also be useful.

When you say that there is no pattern, do you mean that the problem happens ‘randomly’ across any images (sometimes it will happen with an image but sometimes not with the same image), or it always happens with some images but never with other images, or something else?

Have you recently updated Windows or any graphics drivers?

Are you up-to-date with the Windows updates and graphics drivers?

If you can share an image which you know you have had a problem with and give us a step-by-step workflow which you know sometimes (or always) causes a problem then we can look into it further.

[Phil Baxter]

Hi

Sorry. I have a 1TB SSD which holds all system and programs (70% free space). Plus a 2TB internal SATA hard drive (currently 25% free) for all my original raw photos  and music files. After editing the raw file I add a letter to the original files name (to keep the original and the edited versions "linked") and use file/save as to save an Affinity file back into the same folder of the hard drive with the original file. I then use file/export to place a jpg copy of the file also in the same folder. I never use any other storage other than my local hard drive.

By the hard drive hunting, i mean that i can hear it operating. Although in normal use it is almost silent. It sounds like it is paging, as you say, looking for information. I have attached a screenshot f what i think you are asking for

When i say it is randomly happening there is no rhyme or reason as to when it hangs.  But i had one thought this morning. The edits i do are relatively quick and easy. Loading the raw file. Small adjustment to maybe exposure, brightness etc. Then i develop the file to the Photo Persona before going through the saving process. I am sometimes moving quite fast with the mouse clicks. Is it possible that given i am double saving the file that i am not giving the program sufficient time to physically save the affinity file before i am exporting the jpeg? And then the program is trying to save both at the same time. I would have thought that there was some check in the software as to not allow both to clash. although i am able to select and opt to save them both of course. Just a thought

Windows and all my drivers for everything are completely up to date. This is all set to be carried out in the background. Windows was last updated on 16/12/24 and my graphics card on 20/11/24

I have shared a graphics file. This was the last one to "crash" the machine. They are all just EOS R raw files and i am only carrying out small tweaks to them in terms of lightening or boosting colours etc. I have created more complicated files in the past with 40 or more layers and lots of effects and adjustments. these have never been an issue.

 

i hope this gives you sufficient information now. thanks and regards

Phil

20231105 Chamarel (171A).CR3

[GarryP]

Thanks for supplying the extra information.

I can’t see anything in what you have said to be something that I would expect to cause the problem you are having.

I don’t use RAW processing myself so I’m not the best person to be diagnosing this problem (I don’t know what to expect) but the information you have given should help someone who knows what they are talking about to delve into the issue and, hopefully, come up with something useful.

If you could also supply a screenshot which includes the Performance settings of Photo – see attached image for an example – then that should be of help to anyone looking at this.

[Phil Baxter]

attached is the screenshot of Affinity settings

[GarryP]

A quick search of the forums for rtx 3080 returns quite a few (possibly unrelated) issues which might, or might not, have been resolved since they were posted.

You could try disabling Hardware Acceleration and see if that makes a difference.

Other than that I’m out of suggestions and you will need someone else to help.

[Lee D]

@Phil Baxter Does the crash occur if you change your workflow, for example.

1, Open another image format, make adjustments and then use File > Export > JPEG
2, Same as above and then Use File > Export > TIFF or PNG

Select to save the file to your Desktop.

It's also worth checking for a crash report from Photo, see this FAQ article for the steps.

[Phil Baxter]

Hi Lee

The main problem is I don't ever know when its going to happen. And it doesn't appear to be a workflow issue because i can work all day long using the workflow described without issue. Then for some reason it decides "enough" and crashes. I have saved off as TIFF and PNG before without issue. But this was before the upgrade to 2.5.6. 

I am nervous to upgrade to 2.5.7 now in case the situation is made even worse. But do you think that may solve things? I am also nervous because i saw a note on the forum from someone saying they lost most of their brushes and i have also a lot on my system.

nobody has commented on the point i made that sometimes when i reload the program i get a message saying some of the settings didn't load correctly.

I have downloaded the crash reports you suggest.  I have attached 3 for you to see. I am afraid this sort of stuff is way above my head so I hope it is helpful to you.

Can i ask the question I put in an earlier response? Is it possible that I am hitting save buttons too quickly and the program is trying to save both the affinity file and the jpeg simultaneously and that is locking things up? 

And another thought. Is it that the memory on the PC is somehow getting filled up causing the issue? Because i can work for a few hours saving literally hundreds of files and then bang. Should i close the program down after a few hours and restart? 

Regards

Phil Baxter

 

 

20929693-3d10-49c2-a88a-9aea3d972cd8.dmp eaed0619-00da-4b8f-9f7b-fa103a2f3df1.dmp f0c9af61-6f3c-4ef8-be22-d807d81894c6.dmp

[stringy]

Hi

did you ever sort this issue?

I am having the exact same issue even down to the settings missing screen sometimes showing.

I have just moved to a new desktop using windows 11. I installed photo 2 v 2.6 and now when I try to export a file it mostly(not always) freezes the screen meaning a hard reboot.

On my old desktop (win 10) I upgraded from  2.5 to 2.6 and everything works perfectly.

on the new desktop I uninstalled 2.6 and went back to 2.5x and everything worked correctly but if I install 2.6 again I get the same error?

I don’t know whether to blame the new desktop supplier or the software.

 

 

 

 

 

[Phil Baxter]

No I never managed to solve it i am afraid. I am running on Windows 11 with an Alienware high spec machine so i am pretty sure it is not the PC. I don't have any issues with any other software on my machine. 

I have recently installed version 2.6 but have not been using the program that much. So don't know if it has solved the issue or made it worse

Sorry i cant be of help to you

[zlf]

Same. I'm on Win11 and both release and beta versions can freeze my system. Only reset helps.

i5 12400, geforce 3090 latest drivers

Just crashed on exporting JPG

Edited March 11 by zlf

[stringy]

5 hours ago, Phil Baxter said:

No I never managed to solve it i am afraid. I am running on Windows 11 with an Alienware high spec machine so i am pretty sure it is not the PC. I don't have any issues with any other software on my machine. 

I have recently installed version 2.6 but have not been using the program that much. So don't know if it has solved the issue or made it worse

Sorry i cant be of help to you my pc has just been returned as it would not boot after so many resets, I was hoping that the issues would be fixed in the beta version but I have not checked yet. Based on another reply this looks unlikely:-)

[stringy]

18 minutes ago, zlf said:

Same. I'm on Win11 and both release and beta versions can freeze my system. Only reset helps.

i5 12400, geforce 3090 latest drivers

Just crashed on exporting JPG

My pc went back to suppliers as it was still under warranty as it froze so many times it would not boot.

it arrived back today but I have not tried it yet, I was hoping it was given on the beta version as others had been having similar issues.

i did find that going back to 2.5x did not have an issue as a workaround.