Unable to render message - me too!

[random]

I updated to PM 4.5.3.2 yesterday morning before shooting a MLB game (I know - bad idea) because I've never had any previous problems with any updates.  When injesting my first card via PM, about 1/2 of the images injested fine, but the rest were just displaying black frames and the "unable to render, unknown file variant" message displayed on each of them.  Also, the card didn't unmount automatically as it has done in the past, and any attempts to cancel the injest or eject it manually via the finder or Disk Utility didn't work either.  The only solution that would let me use PM (which I need for the IPTC and captioning) was to shut down the laptop, restart, then manually drag the files into a folder, then open up PM and they displayed fine.  I've got an NFL pre-season game coming up this Thursday, and a couple more shoots scheduled before then so I'm hoping this issue can be resolved before my next shoot where I need PM!
Spec details:
MacBook Pro
2.33 GHZ Intel core 2 duo
3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X version 10.5.4

Camera:
Nikon D3 with latest firmware updated
Files were regular .jpg large/fine.

Thanks in advance!!
-Denny

[Kirk Baker]

Denny,

I updated to PM 4.5.3.2 yesterday morning before shooting a MLB game (I know - bad idea) because I've never had any previous problems with any updates.  When injesting my first card via PM, about 1/2 of the images injested fine, but the rest were just displaying black frames and the "unable to render, unknown file variant" message displayed on each of them.  Also, the card didn't unmount automatically as it has done in the past, and any attempts to cancel the injest or eject it manually via the finder or Disk Utility didn't work either.  The only solution that would let me use PM (which I need for the IPTC and captioning) was to shut down the laptop, restart, then manually drag the files into a folder, then open up PM and they displayed fine.  I've got an NFL pre-season game coming up this Thursday, and a couple more shoots scheduled before then so I'm hoping this issue can be resolved before my next shoot where I need PM!
Spec details:
MacBook Pro
2.33 GHZ Intel core 2 duo
3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X version 10.5.4

Camera:
Nikon D3 with latest firmware updated
Files were regular .jpg large/fine.

And this is completely repeatable?  What card reader do you have?  What interface does it use?  What CF card do you have?

-Kirk

[random]

Kirk,
yes, it happened again on a second card as well.  All of those images came up with the black frames in PM with the same message.  One card was a Transcend 4GB, and the second one was a Kingston 2GB.  So, I don't think it's a card issue.  I'm using a Lexar firewire card reader, the same one I've used for a couple of years.  And the fact that the files were completely fine when dragging them over manually from card to folder leads me to believe it's not an issue with the reader.  The only variable that changed at all was updating to the new version of PM from what I did previously.

[Kirk Baker]

Kirk,
yes, it happened again on a second card as well.  All of those images came up with the black frames in PM with the same message.  One card was a Transcend 4GB, and the second one was a Kingston 2GB.  So, I don't think it's a card issue.  I'm using a Lexar firewire card reader, the same one I've used for a couple of years.  And the fact that the files were completely fine when dragging them over manually from card to folder leads me to believe it's not an issue with the reader.  The only variable that changed at all was updating to the new version of PM from what I did previously.

So if you unplug the reader from your computer, wait 20 seconds and plug it in again, and then insert the card, you can repeat this issue again and again?

Mac OS X definitely has an issue where if it thinks that the card hasn't been changed (you pull the card and insert a new one without unmounting it first) it will continue to give back stale data to applications including Photo Mechanic.

Please try my test above and report your results.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[random]

Kirk,
OK...I tried what you suggested, and now feel that it may be a card issue, or OSX not allowing the eject of the card to have been the problem.  I tried this three separate times, with two different cards, and for the most part they are all now injesting fine and applying my IPTC pad to the images.  One one card, there are 12 files that are reporting the 'unsupported' message, but in looking at those files on the card via the finder, they are all zero file size, so that's either a card issue or a camera problem.  So, I'm gonna do more testing on that specific card and see if perhaps there's a problem there.  It's been used many, many times, so it could be the issue.
The second card that the problem happened with yesterday worked fine today when doing the testing, and all of those files are fine and have the proper IPTC info applied when testing them just now.
Overall, I'm not sure what the issue was yesterday, but am now leaning toward a problem with the card, and NOT PhotoMechanic.  I certainly appreciate the quick response to this issue - as always, you guys ROCK!!

[Kirk Baker]

Kirk,
OK...I tried what you suggested, and now feel that it may be a card issue, or OSX not allowing the eject of the card to have been the problem.  I tried this three separate times, with two different cards, and for the most part they are all now injesting fine and applying my IPTC pad to the images.  One one card, there are 12 files that are reporting the 'unsupported' message, but in looking at those files on the card via the finder, they are all zero file size, so that's either a card issue or a camera problem.  So, I'm gonna do more testing on that specific card and see if perhaps there's a problem there.  It's been used many, many times, so it could be the issue.
The second card that the problem happened with yesterday worked fine today when doing the testing, and all of those files are fine and have the proper IPTC info applied when testing them just now.
Overall, I'm not sure what the issue was yesterday, but am now leaning toward a problem with the card, and NOT PhotoMechanic.  I certainly appreciate the quick response to this issue - as always, you guys ROCK!!

Just FYI, any Flash-Memory-based card whether it is a CF, SD, MMC, MemoryStick, etc. all have a finite life span.  Usually it is several years, but it depends entirely on use.  The flash memory can only be modified so many times before it cannot be modified any further without failure.

The good thing is that it takes some time for this to happen and the technology keeps getting cheaper so it costs less to replace those cards when they start to go bad.

-Kirk

[random]

Yes, I have had cards go bad in the past and become completely unuseable.  I just didn't suspect it first this time due to the fact that a seemingly similar issue happened with a second card.  But I'm running a full test on the suspect one right now using PhotoRescue and the read/write option for testing.

Thanks again!!