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TICKET ARCHIVE -> iPhoto is frozen

Claire - Mar 24, 2008 - 1:21 pm

When I bring up the iPhoto program it is frozen. Whenever I try to click on anything I get a little rainbow colored ball spinning around but nothing happens. I have to bring up the force quit box to get out. I am able to load photos from the printer (HP Photosmart - I put the memory card into printer to load photos into iPhoto). however it takes a very long time and i see the little rainbow colored spinning ball for quite a while before the loading begins. But once he photos are in the program I am again unable to do anything.
Underneath the list of slide shows (on the left) i no longer have the description of photos and I cannot get it back (or keywords etc). Every thing is just frozen. Have you any idea what I should do?

Serenak - Mar 24, 2008 - 9:22 pm

Hello Claire

thanks for using macosx.com and I will try to advise and assist you as best I can.

This sounds like either iPhoto itself or something in the iPhoto Library is corrupted. First of all back up the iPhoto Library (it should be in your user account in the Pictures folder) by copying it to somewhere else on the Mac or burning to CD/DVD or putting it on another Mac/PC or the like.

OK once you have done that open the Disk Utility and do both the Repair Disk and Repair Permissions just in case it is something there... if it says stuff was repaired on the hard drive run it again till it says "No Repairs Necessary" or "the disk seems to be OK" (you do not need to run permissions repair again if it says permissions were repaired... though you can if you want to be sure) If it says stuff was fixed try the iPhoto again... if it is fine "Bonus" if not proceed to below

Oh yes - make sure that there is some space on the HD - these days if you have less than about 10Gb (5Gb at a push) you may be running out of space... consider clearing some stuff out (onto CDs or DVDs or an external HDD etc.)

Now delete the iPhoto Library and open iPhoto again - if it boots normally and seems fine then try using the "Import" to bring in the pictures from the backup library... I am hoping that fixes it, at worst you may lose a couple of pics.

If iPhoto is still ghastly rubbish even with no library then you may have to reinstall it... How hard this is depends on whether you have the one that came with the Mac or one that you have a separate disk for... get back to me with more details if it reaches this far...

Beyond that we are looking at stuff like a full Archive and Install - but let's wait to cross that bridge until we get to it hey?

Let me know how you get on

TechSupport - Apr 14, 2008 - 11:10 am

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=299798

Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.

Claire - Apr 14, 2008 - 11:15 am

1) Please tell me how to back up the iPhoto program before I do anything else?
2) Also, where do I locate the Disk Utility?
3) How do I locate the amount of space on my HD?

I have been away on vacation, so was unable to do any computer work.
My iPhoto has over 14,000 pictures in it. About 1/3 have been put on CD's, so I'm really hoping to save the others.
Hope you can help me,
Claire

TechSupport - Apr 17, 2008 - 11:20 am

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=299859

Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.