Double-Click on photo = Black Screen

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the apple and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. - Be sure to include the option to repair permissions in the Library.

Regards

TD

Does your camera (or the one they were taken on) have an automatic orientation sensor? This would mean that imported photos are the right orientation without touching them. Those photos, given that they are being edited (note I don't agree with this behavior), are copied to the Modified folder of your iPhoto Library. It could be that the Originals folder is damaged yet the Modified folder is alright.
You can check by browsing through the iPhoto Library file (actually package) by right clicking it and choosing Show Package Contents. Obviously, don't start moving files or editing anything in there, as it could very well damage your library.
If the photos that show up fine are in the Modified, then more library maintenance may be necessary.
This happens to be similar to an issue with mine, but I'm using a referenced library (files are not copied by iPhoto).

I am afraid I don't have the answer (yet) but I can say that this isn't peculiar to iPhoto 09. It was happening to me with 08 as well, and I was kinda hoping 09 would fix it!

I'll report back if I find a solution.

Okay, a bit more googling, and I have found this thread on MacRumors: http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-222411.html

The tail end of the thread would indicate that the fix it mentions works. I'm off to try it!

Here's an update.

I have tried setting up a new account on the problem machine (a G5) and it still fails, so it obviously at the system level.

The thread that I mentioned suggested replacing the AppleAppSupport.framework with a later version. I took the one from my MacBook, on which iPhoto is working, but this doesn't seem to help.

So, time to get technical. Every time I click Edit in iPhoto on the G5, the following message appears in the Console:
iPhoto[1473] Error: Could not CGLChoosePixelFormat!

This is obviously the problem, so focussing attention on the error message and how to fix it! I will keep this thread posted.

The problem isn't just iPhoto. I'll bet that it occurred shortly after upgrading to iLife '09, that's when it started on my system. Seems that the toolbar buttons in MS Office '08 are also gone and iTunes Store no longer displays (a system level issue with drawing images).

Obviously it's a rather new issue as there is almost nothing on the support forums about it yet.

Archive and Install isn't a viable option as there is no guarantee that it won't occur again (I think it's related to having a certain combination of products installed).

Hi Guys,

I have read with interest all your posts on this issue but unfortunately, for all your suggestions my problem is not resolved. I have done the following:

1. Rebuilt the iPhoto Library (both the small thumbnails, all thumbnails and file permissions)
2. Examined the version of 'AppleAppSupport.framework' which is at 1.5 in my machine
3. Downloaded and reinstalled 'Mac OS X 10.5.6 Combo Update'
4. Examined the Console log to determine if any error messages appear when I double-click a photo (there are none)
5. Examined the color-profile and other properties of some photos which exhibit the problem (they are the same as the other photos in the event taken with the same camera)
6. I even tried editing the photo (which is the only time I can see it) and saving it but with no change

I hope that someone here can shed some light on this most strange issue which only started after upgrade to iLife '09.

Regards,
Michael

Hi Terence,

As I mentioned before there are no messages in the console (with the exception of accessing obsolete X509Anchors, but this is normal until apps change to the new keychain storage). What I have found which fixes the problem consistently is to revert to the original photo and then re-editing the photo. Now while you can copy your colour adjustments into memory to then paste them onto the reverted original, the bad thing is that you have to re-crop and re-straighten your photo if you had previously made other adjustments outside of colour, hue, etc...

Hopefully there will be an easier solution soon.

Regards,
Michael

I encountered the same problem last week too using i-photo 08.
I noticed that only photos in landscape mode, stored as Jpeg from PHOTOSHOP CS3 present the default. All the photos in portrait mode are fine as well as the ones in landscape mode wich were stored as Bmp or Jpeg from PHOTOSOP CS.
So, I reverted to the original file and converted each photo, one by one, on Bmp format. Then re-loaded them into i-photo. Of course, I deleted the corrupted photos.

I also have this problem, my photo's are stored on a NAS (QNAP). I did none of the solutions above, but I hoped update 8.0.1 would fix the problem, but it doesn't. I have a Intel mac mini... I also have sync problems with Flickr (new photo's are not synced (especially when the are shown up in black)). Since the update to ILife '09, IPhoto has problems getting the original photo. This ***** 🙂.

I am having a similar problem that seems to be getting worse.
If I open an event all is well and I see the thumbnails. If I now click on an individual photo I get a black photo with a white exclamation mark.
Now strangely if I stretch the window the photo becomes visible again until I release the mouse when it reverts to black with the exclamation mark. If i export to flickr I get no photos at all showing up in flickr

Does anyone have any ideas how to overcome this. I have tries some of the solutions presented earlier with No change.

Incidentally I think I had this problem with the last version of iPhoto but only on a couple of events.

Thanks

Phil Worrall

Okay the Archive and Reinstall DID resolve the issue. For about a month. I am now back with the same problem.

I use the machine as a server / kiosk, so the good news is not a lot of applications are installed, so finding the root cause may be a little easier.

I have the following apps installed and regularly used:
- iTunes
- iLife 09 (minus iMovie as it is a G5)
- Spykee Console
- Temperature Monitor
- HP Imagezone Scanning Software
- Sync 'Em
- Synk Standard

Does anyone else have any of these installed? Perhaps we can spot a common theme?

My suspicions currently lie with:
- Synk Standard : This backs up the hard disk on which the iPhoto Library sits, and it interrogates the contents of the iPhoto Library package. Perhaps it is corrupting files on its way through?

Further to this, I have just done a bit more googling around the topic, which led me to choose the Graphics/Display option in System Profiler. Guess what, System Profiler bombs out! Looking like there is something very wrong with my Graphics, so Synk Standard has so far been bailed to return! (Apologies if that only means something in the UK)

Here's the dying words of System Profiler:
13/03/2009 09:10:12 [0x0-0xa50a5].com.apple.SystemProfiler[1372] Assertion failed: (KERN_SUCCESS == kr), function -[SPDisplaysDevice initI2C:], file /SourceCache/SPDisplaysReporter/SPDisplaysReporter-116/SPDisplaysDevice.m, line 72.

So, have just redone the Archive and Reinstall, then added everything that Software Update recommends, and iPhoto and System Profiler have sprung back to life.

Having thought about it, Synk Standard can't be the culprit as the iPhoto Library hasn't been touched as a result of this process, so it appears to be something that happens over time. Great. Still no closer to finding the root cause, but for now at least I can add faces to the photos I imported two days ago!