every time i open iphoto it says i have 17 recovered photos. no matter what i choose, either download or delete i always get the same message and i never see any new photos

I found another link and just tried this first,, seems to have worked. the file had some old movies from my PC that maybe are not recognized by IPHOTO. Once I removed the file IMPORT the error disappeared.

The recommendation isn't to remove recovered photo folders.

Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

Look there for a Folder called 'Import' or 'Importing'.

Drag it to the Desktop. *Make no other changes*.

Start iPhoto. Does that help?

If it does then look inside that folder on your desktop. Does it contain anything you want? If not you can trash the folder