Alistair

My CS2 will not let me brush or draw or erase. It shows up on the history pallet, but it is not visible. I've tried repairing, uninstalling and reinstalling.

Does anyone know what's going on here?

-Al

MsOz

Open a new document
Press 'D' for default black and white
Try the Brush tool
If it does not work, Use the Rectangle marquee to draw out a rectangle.
Alt+'E','L', Enter (Edit>Fill with foreground color) Does that work?
If yes, try to erase some of the black. What happens?

If this works, whatever document you are working on probably has an active layer beneath another layer, so you can't see what you are doing.

~MO

Alistair

This is on a new document. It doesn't paint, pencil, erase, dodge, burn, stamp... nothing. (I tried on a background layer and a new layer)

-Al

Gaussian

Some questions/suggestions:

- Very important: did you have any hard- or software changes on your computer recently, which includes drivers, skinning software, plugins, etc.
- Did you try deleting the preference file
- Have you removed any Photoshop leftovers after uninstall (Photoshop directory, my documents directory, program files/common, registry, etc)
- Do you have the same problem with existing documents
- Are you experiencing other weird problems/errors on your computer, especially with other graphics software
- Have you run some hardware diagnostic tests, like memory tests, hard drive tests, cpu test, motherboard test, etc.

docilebob

Is there a selection active and hidden somewhere ?

sPECtre

And... do you have a graphic tablet with the pen lying on it while you are using a regular mouse?

Re-installing should only be done after a deletion of the preferences: it cures way less problems.

Alistair

Ahhh I do have a graphic tablet.. and the pen or mouse might've been on it. But I did actually reformat my whole computer and it worked fine after that. I think it was a problem with the OS itself.

Gaussian

Reformat is not necessary. By reformatting you throw away the chance to find out how to solve these problems in a much easier way (based on my experience as a hard- and software professional). Once you start reformatting, you'll continue reformatting over and over, year in and year out.