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TICKET ARCHIVE -> iPhoto not opening

Niki Corcilius - Nov 28, 2005 - 9:40 pm

I just imported 50+ pictures into iPhoto. When they were finished importing the operation just quit & I recieved that error message asking me if I want to submit a bug to apple. I clicked on the iPhoto icon again and it began to open, but after about 3 seconds it quit again. I have tried restarting my computer, even reinstalling the program with the mac osx install disc 2. The same thing occured. It goes without saying that I am concerned about losing all the pictures I have in that program. I have tried to open the photos through Photoshop and they are all listed, but the names of the photos in the menu are faded, not bold, so that I can't select them. Hopefully this makes sense enough for you to help me. At this point I have grudgingly accepted the fact that I may loose my photos, but I am concerned about the program not working at all, especially since I have tried to reinstall the program and that has not worked. Thank you so much for you help.

LovesMacs - Nov 28, 2005 - 10:03 pm

Seasons Greetings Niki!

Ok, I just read your post. Could you please respond and tell me the
following:

What kind of Mac do you have and which OS is it running? If you aren't sure, click the Apple logo top left on your Desktop, then click, About This Mac. It will give you the processor speed, version and amount of memory. All this information really helps us to help you. Also, which iPhoto... iLife 04 or 05???

In the meantime I want you to locate this file: com.apple.iphoto.plist
Follow this path: MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences. In the Preferences folder you will find that file. Drag it to the Trash, then empty the Trash.

Also, run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions. Disk Utility is in your Applications folder on your hard drive. Launch Disk Utility, then select the MacintoshHD in the panel on the left so it is highlighted.
Then click Repair Permissions. It only takes about a minute to run. It will indicate that has repaird permissions.

Now, reboot your Mac, and see if iPhoto is behaving and get back to me with the information I requested above.

Thanks for choosing Macosx.com for your tech support needs and hopefully we will rescue your photos!

Helpful tip: In iPhoto when you get it working, make back up copies of all your photos! In iPhoto, click Library (where ALL your photos are stored, not just in albums), Select All from the Edit menu, then go to the Menu again and click Photos>Duplicate. iPhoto will automatically make dupclicates. Create a new album and call it Photo Copies. Later on when you Import more and more photos, get a blank CD and burn them to the CD.

But first, let's get iPhoto going!

Carolyn :-)

Niki Corcilius - Nov 29, 2005 - 1:39 pm

Hi Carolyn!
Thanks so much for your quick response.
Ok...first of all, processor: 1 GHz PowerPC G4...memory: 384 mb DDR SDRAM...I run on OS X and have an iPhoto 4.

I located the file you wanted me to and trashed it, but then I couldn't find the Disc Utility & Repair Permissions. I checked under Applications, a few other folders in my hard drive, & finally did a search on my computer...nothing.

So, I skipped ahead and rebooted my Mac. iPhoto was working and most of my photos were there, which I backed up. All the photos that were missing were photos that were imported from my digital camera. The photos that remained were scanned in. Any reason why that is?

Thanks for you help!
Niki

LovesMacs - Nov 30, 2005 - 12:33 am

Hi Niki,

No idea what so ever why the photos you Imported are missing. In fact, I'm stymied. I've never anyone who had already Imported photos from a camera have them just come up missing.... BUT... I want you to try something.

Double click on your MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop. That will open a Finder window for you. In that window on the left side, called the Sidebar, by Default, one of the folders on the left side should say:
Pictures. Double click on Pictures. Then locate "iPhoto Library" ...
double click that. All of the photos you have Imported should theoretically be in there. iPhoto has a weird way of saving photos that have been Imported from a camera... it's just the way Apple Computer has written this program. It's the same in iPhoto 5. It just takes awhile to get the hang of it. I had the same thing happen thinking I'd lost about 100 photos. Someone told me to try the "back door" LOL Going through the Pictures folder will take you to the iPhoto Library without having to open iPhoto. When you double click on the iPhoto Library, the next window should have the dates: 2005 ...
I'll bet your photos are in there!

Now, I know I messed on something. Disk Utility is in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. So follow this path:
MacintoshHD>Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions and you should be able to access your Imported photos from iPhoto. Repairing Permissions corrects the way you can read and or write in a program on a Mac. That's why when you tried to access the photos via Photoshop, the labels were greyed out. Access = permissions. Permissions must be repaired at least weekly. If you don't want to hassle with Disk Utility, you can go here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ties/onyx.html
Download and install (FREEware) Onyx. It's the greatest little maintenance and clean utility for Mac!!! Unless you leave your Mac on 24/7, it can't run the cron tasks (deleting caches/logs files etc), so download and install Onyx. Takes about 5 minutes on dial up. Launch Onyx, it will ask for your password. Run the Maintenance and Cleaning scripts about once a week. ONyx will keep your Mac running stable.

Keep me posted!
Carolyn :-)