iPhoto quits unexpectedly while editing photos

When you have no backup, it really limits what we can do. At this point we have determined you have a corrupt iPhoto Library, as it does not happen in a new library. You have done all of iPhoto's built in first aid, yet the issue persists. From here, you can try one of two things:

1. - Try a 3rd party application entitled "iPhoto Library Manager" to attempt to rebuild the iPhoto library
2. - attempt a Manual rebuild. Note the manual rebuild will loose any slideshows, albums, keepsakes etc. you have in your iPhoto Library, but it will retain all the original images. We would then need to re-create albums and slideshows etc. in iPhoto.

Try option one first, as it will not loose your created data from your library.

Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library

2. Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.

3. Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option

4. In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.

5. Click on the Create button.

Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

If this does not work, let me know, and I can give instructions for the manual rebuild.

Why does not Apple issue an update to fix this bug as I, as well as others seem to have this problem. Currently iPhoto is unusable as I keep getting the error iPhoto quit unexpectedly. Trouble is I DO expect it now!!

I cannot seem to paste in my error message here and it's too long to type. Help!!

This seems to be a recent problem. I have the latest software (iPhoto 9.4.2 and Lion 10.7.5 on an iMAC). Is it to do with:

a) The cloud

b) Exporting photos?

Would reinstalling iPhoto 9.4.1 help??

Help again!

Why - because it is not a bug - it is an error in the users database - apple can not do that - the user must do it

Post the first 50 or so lines of the crash log in a new thread

LN

0 com.apple.CoreImage 0x942e0205 CoreImage_crashed_because_it_could_not_allocate_memory(void const*) + 17

1 com.apple.CoreImage 0x942e0090 FEVirtualMemory::allocate(unsigned long&, signed char&, FEVirtualMemoryUsage) + 288

Carley,

all your crash logs are showing that iPhoto is crashing, because it is running out of memory. This discussion is now so long, that it is hard to tell, what you already tried.

CoreImage_crashed_because_it_could_not_allocate_memory

This error may have several probable reasons -

• you simply may have insufficient memory (RAM) to process very large images
• one of the media files (photos, videos) in your library may be corrupted
• You may have installed incompatible start up items, helper applications, fontss, video codecs, printer drivers, etc. in your user account.

When you made the test TD suggested - a new library in a new account - it worked. But have you already tried a new library in your current account? This would tell us, if your account settings are problematic or your library. And how much RAM does your mac have? Are you running other applications at the same time?

To check, if non-standard system extensions launched by your start-up items are causing problems, you could try to boot into safe mode. This will disable all non-standard start-up items. Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?

Regards

Léonie

Message was edited by: leonieDF

Let's start with creating a new library in your current account.

• Launch iPhoto with the alt/options key ⌥ held down and press the "Create New" button on the opening panel. Then import some photos into this library. Can you work with this library without problems?
• If you can work in your own account using a different library, then we can be sure that your account settings are o.k. and concentrate on rescuing your library. Otherwise we will have to tackle your account settings.

Report back, when you know if a new library in your current account does work.

I tried the iPhoto Library Manager rebuild, and I'm still getting the same error. What's the next suggestion? I've got the photos all already on CDs from previous efforts to fix the problem, and a prior rebuild attempt wiped out my projects (just photo albums I'd previously made/ordered), so no need to worry about that.

created a new library and imported some pictures from my iPod; while editing these (30+), I didn't get the error. I assume that means my account settings are OK, so how do we transfer the contents of my damaged library to the new one?

If not even iPhoto Library Manager could reconstruct the broken library, I have little hope, that you can save more then the original image files from within the library. Backup the library, before you proceed.

Unless TD or Larry have a better suggestion, open the iPhoto Library package: Ctrl-Click the Library in the Finder and select "Show Package Contents". You will see a folder named "Masters" inside, and in this folder a nested set of folders grouped by date. The dates correspond to the time.

• I'd try first to find out, if one of your most recently imported image files is causing the problem, by trying to open them in Preview - and if that succeeds - importing the most recently added events from the "Masters" folder in small installments into the library, that is working. Does that work, or is one of the images crashing the new library?
• If you have a backup of the library from the time time before the crashes occured, I'd restore that library from backup and import the missing images by copying from the Masters folder, but again in small batches.
• If you cannot find a working backup, import all of your images from the "Masters" folder, event by event into your new library.

All of my old photos seem to be fine, but, when I started importing the more recent ones, the error started to happen again.

Try to import in smaller batches.

Create one new library with the older photos that seem to be o.k.

Is there some way to back up--delete the event that caused the error, then go back and look at each one and figure out exactly where the problem starts?

You need to identify the images that are causing this. It may be a single image file or video that you need to remove.

the error re-emerged with the first batch of photos I took after we moved to China about a year and a half ago,

Can you import new photos taken with your current camera a into a new library and work with those?

If yes, then import the older images into smaller, separate libraries, perhaps only two month of images per library. If you are lucky, all libraries will work but one and you can isolate the problematic photos and find out what is special about them.

One quick question before I start re-checking--how exactly do I identify the problematic images? Will they not open in Preview or something? Thanks!

First of all, iPhoto should crash again, when you import only those items into a new library.

So if you import one half of the photos and iPhoto crashes, you know, the culprits are with that lot. Then try the other half in another library. If all is well, move them to a folder of cleared photos.

Then proceed to split the set of suspects images again and test by importing, until only a few are left over.

Try the last few images in Preview or Photoshop, try ro zoom, to edit, ...

Look closely at the filenames or file extensions, all properties you can see in the info panel in Preview. Is there something different?

If there are videos included, try the videos first.