How to get Adobe Camera RAW loaded so I can open RAW files from a Panasonic LX7?

Question

I opened these images two days ago. Now I get a message that the CS6 Photoshop does not recognize this type of file. I went online and again(3rd time)downloaded Camera RAW 7.3 and tried installing and opening the images.
Once again - same thing.
Now I have something called a DNG converter on the machine and I don't know what it is.
I opened it and tried to get to the LX7 files in my computer I can see in Bridge - and the DNG converter does not show the files at all.
I was doing just fine with CS5 - then I bought this piece of crap because I could not get an update for CS5 to open the Panasonic Lumix LX7 images. So, I wasted $200 on CX6 only to find I can't get my images opened.
I hate photoshop more every damn day
First, took three days and over 9 hours wasted on hold for Adobe phone help - and finally got a guy on to help me register Photoshop CS6 - and he could not get it to register. Finally after a day & a half and hours of continually cutting and pasting from teh online computer to the main computer that does not hook up to the Internet I got CS6 to work.
Then, I opened the Panasonic LX7 RAW images twice after downloading and installing Adobe Camera RAW 7.1 and 7.3 - and now the machine does not recognize the files and tells me to go to http://www.adobe.com/go/kb407111
I went there and have downloaded the Camera Raw 7.1 and 7.3 four different times now and tried installing it - and Still can't open the damn files. I keep getting the same "photoshop cannot open this file" message and teh same referenc to teh above.
How can I get this piece of Shiz to work???
Oh - the name for ID above is after 22 minutes of trynig to find an name this program would accept.

Answer 1

The first thing I would suggest is, in Photoshop, go to Help/About Plug-Ins and click on Camera Raw to verify what version is installed. There should only be one version listed, and listed only once. If there are more, then you need to get rid of the extras.
The DNG converter is a program that will create DNG (digital negative) copies of your raw images. It takes all of the raw image data and copies it to a new file format. The raw data is unmodified, and the DNG file is a standardized and open documented file format. But the DNG converter will not list the actual files. You choose the folder that contains your original raw images, and then the converter will put the copies wherever you choose to put them. But if your camera is supposed to be supported by the latest version of Camera Raw, I don't know if converting will solve the problem. It won't hurt anything; your raw files are still intact.
It would be helpful if you could describe your computer; operating system, how much RAM, a little information to allow the experts (of which I am NOT one) to help you isolate and solve this problem.