Macbook Pro 2008 (4,1) running Photoshop very slowly

[J-Fry]

Hi folks; looking for suggestions. I'm out of guess options here.
I've got a 2008 MBP (4,1) that had been tricked out with 6GB RAM (I know...I know... 'apple supports 4').

Photoshop was running very sluggish (taking up to 2-3 minutes or longer to save a file / crop a file etc) and here's what I've done.

Hard drive error blocks led me to replace hard drive.
I tried upgrading RAM, but surprised me the techs actually tried going to 8 when it is only supported for 4. Ran worse. Went back to 6.
Reinstalled OS from scratch. Only app on the machine was Photoshop. Same deal.
Took out one stick of RAM and tried running with just a 2 or a 4. Same deal.

The thing is---no other 'slow ram' symptoms really show, the system seemed okay in other apps before I reinstalled.

A tech told me 'could be something corrupt at the main board with the RAM'. SO my next attempt would be to buy new RAM period and try that.

Any suggestions?

It was working fine, then one day I ran the hard drive out of room and it hasn't run well since, despite the new HDD and also reinstalling. I'm lost.

 

[Astroboy907]

Hi folks; looking for suggestions. I'm out of guess options here.
I've got a 2008 MBP (4,1) that had been tricked out with 6GB RAM (I know...I know... 'apple supports 4').

Photoshop was running very sluggish (taking up to 2-3 minutes or longer to save a file / crop a file etc) and here's what I've done.

Hard drive error blocks led me to replace hard drive.
I tried upgrading RAM, but surprised me the techs actually tried going to 8 when it is only supported for 4. Ran worse. Went back to 6.
Reinstalled OS from scratch. Only app on the machine was Photoshop. Same deal.
Took out one stick of RAM and tried running with just a 2 or a 4. Same deal.

The thing is---no other 'slow ram' symptoms really show, the system seemed okay in other apps before I reinstalled.

A tech told me 'could be something corrupt at the main board with the RAM'. SO my next attempt would be to buy new RAM period and try that.

Any suggestions?

It was working fine, then one day I ran the hard drive out of room and it hasn't run well since, despite the new HDD and also reinstalling. I'm lost.

Try resetting PRAM and doing an SMC reset.

You can also check the RAM slots, go into system profile or whatever and look at your RAM slots. If one of the slots doesnt show anything, it could be the RAM itself or the mobo.

 

[J-Fry]

Done and done.
I pretty much give...this machine headed for the scrap heap I guess.

Sad.