The potential causes are numerous for the "Unable to continue because of hardware or system error" message that you may run into when you start Photoshop Elements 7. These causes range from operating system compatibility issues to hard drive problems. If you do not learn about these causes, you will not be able to properly troubleshoot Photoshop Elements 7 when error messages like these occur.
Conflicts With New Windows Installation
- You may run into this, or similar errors, if you install Windows over an older installation of the operating system. When you do this, elements from the previous installation, such as registry entries and configuration files, will remain. Because you will have to install Photoshop again after you install the new version of Windows, conflicts can develop within the program. The option that can cause this problem in the Windows Installation process is Quick Upgrade. The New Installation option is much less likely to cause problems.
Photoshop Settings File
- Every Photoshop installation has a file that contains your user-specific preferences. If this file becomes corrupt, the program will not be able to load, and you will receive the error message. If you reset the file to default, however, the program will load normally. To do this, close Photoshop if it is open, hold down "Ctrl," "Alt" and "Shift" at the same time, and then double-click the Photoshop icon to open the program. When the "delete the Photoshop settings file?" dialog box opens, click the "Yes" button.
Conflicts With Hard Drive
- When you first install Photoshop to your computer, its files are stored in more or less the same place. Over time, however, these files can become scattered across the drive. When this happens, it takes longer and longer for Photoshop to gather the required files for startup, and eventually, startup may fail altogether. Photoshop requires that your hard disk have a certain amount of continuous space on it to function properly. To defragment your hard drive, press "Start," type "defrag" into the search box and then click "Disk Defragmenter." Note that the defragmentation process can take several hours.
Compatibility Issues
- It is possible that you have inadvertently set Photoshop Elements 7 to run in a compatibility mode that it is not capable of running in. To test this, right-click the Photoshop icon and then click "Properties." Click the "Compatibility" tab and then uncheck the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" box if it is checked. Point the mouse cursor to the "Settings" box and uncheck any selection entries there as well. Click "OK" and then double-click the Photoshop icon to start the program.
