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Level 1

25 points

spinning beachball suddenly every time now at launch

iPhoto has always been quite fast and reliable for me - until recently. Now the iPhoto window opens straightaway but I get the spinning beachball virtually every time at launch - for about 15 - 20 seconds. After that, all is normal.

I've repaired permissions, run all the routine maintenance scripts (with Onyx), and done a full rebuild of the iPhoto library 3 times, with no real improvement. I think the symptoms started shortly after upgrading to 10.6.7 (and Aperture 3.0.2) - but that may well be just a co-incidence.

Anyone having the same experience - or better still, able to suggest a cause/fix?

The iPhoto library is not especially big - about 12,500 pixs. And my external backup - still running 10.6.6 - is as fast as ever. But I've not added pixs I've imported to the MBP in recent days.

MBP 15", Mac OS X (10.6.7), 2.53 GHz, 320GB, 7200rpm

Posted on Mar 29, 2011 5:36 AM

27 replies

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

Apr 4, 2011 10:55 AM in response to conran

Yes. 100 GB is a wee bit too large to just duplicate and move to the other account. You might post your problem in the Airport forum as there may be some changes to its setup that might solve the problem, like a different channel, etc.

conran Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 4, 2011 1:00 PM in response to Old Toad

I can't see an Airport forum that looks relevant to the in-built wi-fi, but have posted in Snow Leopard.

Any more ideas - from any iPhoto experts - very much appreciated.

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

Apr 4, 2011 1:10 PM in response to conran

I would try either the AirPort Extreme (802.11n) or AirPort Extreme forum depending on what model you're using.

Apr 7, 2011 5:27 PM in response to conran

Same thing started happening for me recently..... Spinning beachball when I launch iPhoto 09 and Wifi Airport Express on.

If I turn off the Airport Express, and launch iPhoto, it doesn't beachball and is fast... very confusing.... hmmmm...

anyone else having this issue?

IAN...

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

Apr 8, 2011 10:58 AM in response to houseboats

Open the Console application and watch the All Messages window while you launch iPhoto. See if there are any messages that might indicate what's causing iPhoto to spin/search for a bit?

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

Apr 8, 2011 1:25 PM in response to houseboats

I am getting exactly the same effect. Turn Airport off or log into another user account and iPhoto opens briskly with no hesitation or spinning cursor. Otherwise I get about a 10-15 second freeze before iPhoto begins working again.

I've been checking the Console messages with no success.

Let's all remember to report this issue to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html.

Apr 8, 2011 5:31 PM in response to Old Toad

I just called Apple Support for the same problem, and it is now working great.

He had me delete my SystemConfiguration folder and reboot... pure magic after 🙂

The folder in question controls your network settings etc....

It is found.... Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Macintosh HD being your computer root... not the user.

Let me know how it works for you... 🙂

IAN.

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

Apr 9, 2011 9:20 AM in response to houseboats

Thanks! Followed your fix and iPhoto launches quickly and without issue. There will be many users anxious to hear about this. Maybe you should start a new topic: Fix for spinning cursor each time iPhoto launches and post what you learned. It would get it out to more users than stuck down in this topic.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

conran Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 10, 2011 2:57 AM in response to houseboats

Tried this yesterday, and iPhoto was back to normal for the whole day - if anything, now zippier than ever.

Feeling confident enough to tick 'question solved'.

Many thanks indeed for the feedback, Ian!

(And to you, Old Toad, for helpful suggestions along the way.)

iLee

Level 2

396 points

May 6, 2011 2:59 PM in response to houseboats

What happens by deleting that Folder?

There are network settings in there, will I lose all of those?

Old Toad

Level 10

207,493 points

May 6, 2011 7:34 PM in response to iLee

See my reply to you in the other discussion on this subject.

Dave_K.

Level 3

660 points

Jun 5, 2011 4:01 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad wrote:

I am getting exactly the same effect. Turn Airport off or log into another user account and iPhoto opens briskly with no hesitation or spinning cursor. Otherwise I get about a 10-15 second freeze before iPhoto begins working again.

I've been checking the Console messages with no success.

Hey gang-

I came across this thread while researching a different issue, but I too am having slow launch times with iPhoto 11 9.1.3 and Snow Leopard 10.6.7. From this thread, I tried turning off my Airport and voila- launch times became less that half as long (14 seconds vs 34 seconds).

I did notice something interesting on Console, so thought it worth adding. At exactly 14 seconds after clicking iPhoto in the dock, the following Console message appears every time:

mDNSResponder[18] Requested addition of domain xyz.members.mac.com. already in list

iPhoto remains frozen with a beachball for exactly 20 more seconds after that message appears, and then my photos appear. Total 34 seconds. But if I turn Airport off before launching iPhoto, my photos appear at exactly 14 seconds- the point at which iPhoto appears to start trying to communicate with Mobile Me.

I tried the fix here of deleting the SystemConfiguration folder, and alas, no help. The only thing it did do was cause a strange volume to appear in my Finder Sidebar under Bonjour Shared with a long string of numbers for its name. (Any ideas how to get rid of that?)

This definitely seems to be a stall while waiting for something from Mobile Me. If only I knew what!

Dave

spinning beachball suddenly every time now at launch