Photos won't open on MacBook Pro

Question

I have been setting up my new MacBook Pro 13" with TouchBar this week, and have come across a snag.  A bit of backstory first in case its relevant:I had problems importing my files from my old laptop via Migration Assistant (tried twice, both times it failed midway through an estimated 40 hour transfer), so I decided to transfer the files using a TimeMachine backup I had of the laptop instead.  The laptop is 8 years old and does not run on any of the recent Mac OS releases- it still uses iPhoto.  The TimeMachine backup transfer (via Migration Assistant) was successful (I have 90 GBs of music, much from CDs, so I definitely needed it transferred over).  Once it was complete, I opened Photos (I had opened it before and it worked fine prior to this transition).  It said it would have to import the photos, and gave a percentage bar.  When it was at 34% I clicked the "take a tour" button on the screen, and went through the tour.  About 5 minutes after I was done with the tour (I had clicked over to Safari to do some things and then came back) the percentage bar was gone, and the photos were there.  I scrolled through them quickly, everything looked fine, and then I quit the app.Later, after I&#x27;d tested my iTunes and adjusted some Safari bookmarks, etc, I went back and tried to open Photos.  It came up with a window saying some of the files were incomplete and would need to be deleted in order to use my iCloud Photo Library instead.  I said OK, as my photos are all backed up to iCloud.  It closed the app.  Now, whenever I try to open the app, it launches, I get a brief flash of my photos (yes, I still see the thumbnails in that brief flash!), and the app crashes.  I cannot open Photos anymore- very much NOT ok with me!  I have tried to open it many times since, and the same thing happens.  I have submitted the reports to Apple, and written comments there.  I have restarted the machine, and no difference, no change.  Still crashes after opening.Can anyone help?!?!

Jessica Hunter · Accepted Answer

I&#x27;ve "fixed" the problem! (at least it all works, so I&#x27;m assuming its fixed)I tried to create a new library, and Photos would not let me do that, but kept just flash-opening, despite holding down the options key and even the keys to repair a library.  However, in looking at the links Leonie provided above to Apple- how to create a new library- it took me down a thread of how to restore a library from a TimeMachine Backup.  As my existing library was from such a backup (though I have not yet set up TimeMachine on my new computer, becuase I will be overwriting the external HD used for my old backups, so I need to be extra-sure everything is up and running and correct).  By following those steps, I was able to restore the photo library from the same TimeMachine backup that I originally used, and when I opened the iPhoto library that had transferred over, it opened in Photos and began converting the images the same as it had the first time.  I let it run without any interference this time, and just did some low-level web browsing in the background to keep an eye on everything.The photos fully converted, and everything was fine.  I closed and reopened the app, and still fine.  I restarted, and fine.  Then I went to the preferences, and began to load them into iCloud (this library has some of my old photos that predate smartphones, and if possible I wanted to preserve them however I could).  That was an decent amount of data (28 GB) so I let that run on its own- though apparently my computer went to sleep overnight and paused the process.  I resumed the process this morning, paused to transport my computer to work with me, and re-resumed upon arrival.  Result:  SUCCESS!All of my photos are now backed up to iCloud, and Photos is still working fine.  I have deleted both of the old iPhoto libraries (as the correct one converted) and the old Photos library that was corrupted, and emptied the trash- still no bad events :-)I did set up a test user account to try and see if the problem was just my user or was system wide, but I never got to test it- I had already begun restoring from the TimeMachine backup when I was ready to try, and couldn&#x27;t log out at that point.I think my problem was that I most likely closed or otherwise interrupted the conversion process from iPhotos to Photos the first time, and that corrupted the files.  Though, I&#x27;m massively far from being a software engineer or computer scientist, so I really have nothing but my own opinion there.Now on to further testing and fixing the next problems that come up, like why TouchID isn&#x27;t working.

léonie · Answer

Crashing on exception: *** -[NSArray indexOfObject:inSortedRange:options:usingComparator:]: range {61, 1} extends beyond bounds [0 .. 60]That is no good news. Photos is crashing because of a program error. This can be caused by corrupted image files or a corruption of the Photos Library.Make a test and check, if Photos can be launched correctly, if you create a new Photos Library.See this Help page on how to create a new Photos Library I your Pictures folder: Create additional photo libraries - Apple SupportDoes Photos work, if you create a new library and import a few photos for testing?If Photos should still crash, even on a new library, make the same test in another user account. This will tell us, if the problem is system wide or we just need to clear some caches and preferences files in your current user account.The procedure is described here:  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443

léonie · Answer

I have submitted the reports to Apple, and written comments there. Can you post the first 50 lines or so of the crashlog - you can see it in the panel, that asks you to reportage crash  to Apple. Click the "Details" button and copy and paste the crash log.Does your new Mac run macOS 10.13.1 High Sierra?Which system has been running on your old Mac?

Jessica Hunter · Answer

Thanks for the quick reply Leonie-My new MacBook Pro is running MacOS 10.12.6 Sierra currently (its what it shipped with, and I wanted to get it up and running before upgrading to High Sierra).  My old MacBook pro is running MacOS 10.9.5, and it is not compatible to upgrade beyond that.Here are the first lines of the crashlog- I can post more if needed, but its quite long:Process:               Photos [1081]Path:                  /Applications/Photos.app/Contents/MacOS/PhotosIdentifier:            com.apple.PhotosVersion:               2.0 (3161.4.140)Build Info:            PhotoApp-3161004140000000~1Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)Parent Process:        ??? [1]Responsible:           Photos [1081]User ID:               501Date/Time:             2017-11-30 06:27:42.182 -0600OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.12.6 (16G1036)Report Version:        12Anonymous UUID:        C24D1FD5-3A84-0348-C21A-9630E2D01265Sleep/Wake UUID:       9C1E4B80-5A94-4889-BCDF-A3A71196C30CTime Awake Since Boot: 17000 secondsTime Since Wake:       39 secondsSystem Integrity Protection: enabledCrashed Thread:        0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-threadException Type:        EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFYTermination Signal:    Illegal instruction: 4Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4Terminating Process:   exc handler [0]Application Specific Information:Crashing on exception: *** -[NSArray indexOfObject:inSortedRange:options:usingComparator:]: range {61, 1} extends beyond bounds [0 .. 60]Application Specific Backtrace 1:0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff7cfd42cb __exceptionPreprocess + 1711   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fff91dea48d objc_exception_throw + 482   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff7cf6e27f -[NSArray indexOfObject:inSortedRange:options:usingComparator:] + 9913   Photos                              0x000000010e0ce649 -[IPXMomentsScrubberDataSource identifierForVersion:] + 11964   Photos                              0x000000010ded4e3f -[IPXScrubberController setSectionsCollection:animate:newSelection:] + 5985   Photos                              0x000000010e086248 __52-[IPXMomentsScrubberViewController updateDataSource]_block_invoke.209 + 1036   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff926a3524 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 127   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff9269a8fc _dispatch_client_callout + 88   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff926a7aac _dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF + 9259   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff7cf89bc9 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__ + 910  CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff7cf4ac0d __CFRunLoopRun + 220511  CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff7cf4a114 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 42012  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff7c4aaebc RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 24013  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff7c4aacf1 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 43214  HIToolbox                           0x00007fff7c4aab26 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 7115  AppKit                              0x00007fff7aa41a54 _DPSNextEvent + 112016  AppKit                              0x00007fff7b1bd7ee -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 279617  AppKit                              0x00007fff7aa363db -[NSApplication run] + 92618  AppKit                              0x00007fff7aa00e0e NSApplicationMain + 123719  libdyld.dylib                       0x00007fff926d0235 start + 1Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread0   com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7ada044e -[NSApplication _crashOnException:] + 1091   com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7ada0382 -[NSApplication reportException:] + 8872   com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7ae76457 uncaughtErrorProc + 1503   com.apple.CoreFoundation       0x00007fff7d052ffa __handleUncaughtException + 7464   libobjc.A.dylib               0x00007fff91dec6f5 _objc_terminate() + 945   libc++abi.dylib               0x00007fff912d9d49 std::__terminate(void (*)()) + 86   libc++abi.dylib               0x00007fff912d9dc3 std::terminate() + 517   libdispatch.dylib             0x00007fff9269a910 _dispatch_client_callout + 288   libdispatch.dylib             0x00007fff926a7aac _dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF + 9259   com.apple.CoreFoundation       0x00007fff7cf89bc9 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__ + 910  com.apple.CoreFoundation       0x00007fff7cf4ac0d __CFRunLoopRun + 220511  com.apple.CoreFoundation       0x00007fff7cf4a114 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 42012  com.apple.HIToolbox           0x00007fff7c4aaebc RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 24013  com.apple.HIToolbox           0x00007fff7c4aacf1 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 43214  com.apple.HIToolbox           0x00007fff7c4aab26 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 7115  com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7aa41a54 _DPSNextEvent + 112016  com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7b1bd7ee -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 279617  com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7aa363db -[NSApplication run] + 92618  com.apple.AppKit               0x00007fff7aa00e0e NSApplicationMain + 123719  libdyld.dylib                 0x00007fff926d0235 start + 1Thread 1:0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff927ff44e __workq_kernreturn + 101   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff928e9621 _pthread_wqthread + 14262   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff928e907d start_wqthread + 13Thread 2:0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff927ff44e __workq_kernreturn + 101   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff928e9621 _pthread_wqthread + 14262   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff928e907d start_wqthread + 13

LarryHN · Answer

All of my photos are now backed up to iCloud, and Photos is still working fine. There is no iCloud backup for your Mac - there are many iCloud services but none of them is a Mac backup serviceYou must always have local backupsLN

Jessica Hunter · Answer

Correct, the whole mac is not backed up to iCloud, but the Photos are backed up to the iCloud Library, so now I am not in danger of losing a decade worth of memories.  However, I will still be setting up TimeMachine with my external HD to backup the rest of the mac (including my thousands of songs from CDs that are not protected any other way).Thanks!

LarryHN · Answer

No - iCloud Photo Library is not a backup - again it is a syncing service - it is not a backup serviceYou need local backupsiCloud Photo Library - Apple SupportBack up your photos and videosWhen you turn on iCloud Photo Library, your photos and videos automatically upload to iCloud. They&#x27;re not duplicated in your iCloud backup. But we always recommend that you keep back up copies of your library. You can download your photos and videos from iCloud.com to your computer and store them as a separate library, transfer them to another computer with Image Capture or Photos, or store them on a separate drive.LN

léonie · Answer

Jessica, iCloud is storing your photos in iCloud Photo Library, but if you accidentally delete photos from your Photos Library, they will be deleted in iCloud as well, because it is continually syncing iCloud with your Mac. You cannot use iCloud Photo Library  to recover from user errors, because it does not keep a history like Time Machine. Keep a local backup of your Photos Library as well.Your good backup practice just saved your library - keep it up!