Fresh install of PSP X3 + 4 patches. Won't start, crashes at "Initializing Palettes

[tonyw]

Hi,
I installed a new harddrive in my laptop and restore a Norton Ghost image of my old C: drive to the new drive. Virtually everything worked as before other than 1 program that detected a change in hardware and I had to re-activate. PSP X3 wouldn't start, it crashes when loading at "Initializing Palettes" so thought the software detected a new drive and needed a fresh installation. I removed PSP X3 and reinstalled along with the current 4 patches. But PSP X3 still won't start, it crashes at "initializing palettes".

My system is a laptop with 3GB RAM, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT drive. This drive has 4 GB RAM to speed up transfers from the drive to RAM but otherwise behaves as a regular drive. No other software has an issue with this drive.

PSP X3 has been buggy from day 1 and crashes often. But now it won't even start. Any hints on what's going on or how to fix?

I'm looking for an alternative raster editing program but haven't found any yet. So stuck trying to get PSP X3 working.

[OldRadioGuy]

I'm looking for an alternative raster editing program but haven't found any yet. So stuck trying to get PSP X3 working.

Tony, Corel has a tool for completely removing PSPPX3 from your system. Do a search in the Corel Knowledge Base for the removal tool. Then you can try a clean install.

As for alternatives to X3, it depends on your needs. If it's editing photos, a good choice would be Photoshop Elements 9. Price around $90-$100 as I recall. Elements does excellent job of processing RAW files. The downsides are the program is 32-bit, and it will run actions recorded in Photoshop, but it does not have actions-record capabilities.

If you have a need of other types of raster image creation and editing, you might want to look at a free program, Paint-DOT-NET (Paint.NET). It's free and being designed for the Windows 7 platform. To get full use of it, you have to download free plug-ins, available at their forum site. It won't run or record actions, but Paint.NET is lightning-fast! http://www.getpaint.net/download.html

Another alternative if you need to do more than just photo editing is PhotoLine 16. It's 32- and 64-bit. Developed by a small German company, PL is powerful and fast, will record and run actions. You can customize keyboard shortcuts and toolbars galore. There is a steep learning curve, primarily because of its unconventional (that means un-Photoshop) approach to some operations. Customer service is great. Support inquiries usually get an answer within 24 hours. Added features often come from customer requests. About $90 US.http://www.pl32.com/

Bob

[tonyw]

Thanks OldRadioGuy,
I tried the reset (shift + start PSP) and the complete remove tool. But no change, still crashes at Initializing Palettes. So have given up on PSP X3. I'll check out PhotoLine. The reviews look good. I've also ordered PhotoPlus X4 and it got pretty good reviews.

-Tony