PM 4.5.2 stops...everthing hangs...

[Del]

Hi,
On a variety of occasions, PM 4.5.2 just stops, the pointer turns to an hourglass, but nothing functions, including Ctl-Alt-Del.  I have to hard turn off/on the PC to go again and it may repeat, or not.  Just a minute ago, I started PM opened the folder, selected an image to view larger, looked at a couple, then began to roll the slides looking for a particular image.  At some point, the slides stopped having an image above the file name and nothing but hard turn off/on would get things going again.  Another typical freeze is opening Capture NX from clicking on the Edit button...things can hang in between with the same symptoms.
I did notice from looking at a couple of post subject lines that 4.5.3 is released and I'll install that tomorrow.
Any help would be appreciated.  I run Windows XP SP2 on P4/Alienware machine, a bit long in tooth...
Thx//Del

[Kirk Baker]

Del,

On a variety of occasions, PM 4.5.2 just stops, the pointer turns to an hourglass, but nothing functions, including Ctl-Alt-Del.  I have to hard turn off/on the PC to go again and it may repeat, or not.  Just a minute ago, I started PM opened the folder, selected an image to view larger, looked at a couple, then began to roll the slides looking for a particular image.  At some point, the slides stopped having an image above the file name and nothing but hard turn off/on would get things going again.  Another typical freeze is opening Capture NX from clicking on the Edit button...things can hang in between with the same symptoms.
I did notice from looking at a couple of post subject lines that 4.5.3 is released and I'll install that tomorrow.
Any help would be appreciated.  I run Windows XP SP2 on P4/Alienware machine, a bit long in tooth...

It would be helpful to know what all of the filetypes you're working with.  From your description I would guess NEF and JPEG, but what about other filetypes like PSD, TIFF, or others?

-Kirk

[Del]

Hi Kirk,
All of the "freezes" are associated with NEF/RAW files.
//Del

[Kirk Baker]

Del,

All of the "freezes" are associated with NEF/RAW files.

How can you tell for certain?  Does the folder contain nothing but NEF files?

-Kirk

[Del]

The folder I last had the problem with was mostly NEF with a few JPG's.  There were no TIF images in that particular folder.  I'll pay attention to this the next time.  Should I go ahead and install 4.5.3 or wait?
Thx//Del

[Kirk Baker]

Del,

The folder I last had the problem with was mostly NEF with a few JPG's.  There were no TIF images in that particular folder.  I'll pay attention to this the next time.  Should I go ahead and install 4.5.3 or wait?

Photo Mechanic 4.5.3 is the most stable version that we have at this time.  Yes, please install it.

One thing: you mentioned that sometimes things lock up such that you have to hard-reset your computer which would indicate some kind of hardware problem (bad RAM, motherboard issue, driver issue).  User level applications on Windows are not supposed to be able to stop Windows in its tracks like that.  You said that the computer is older.  Have you checked for updated drivers?  Does anything else cause your computer to lock up?  Photo Mechanic will definitely tax your system more than many other apps and can reveal deficiencies in a system's setup.

-Kirk

[FVlcek]

Hi, if you are experiencing complete hangs with programs, which result in locked up system, as Kirk said, Windows XP generally shields well itself from the programs so they shouldn't crash completely the system.

Common cause for hanging with high system load (which, loading hundreds of photos in PM or Capture NX can be) is either aging, bad or badly seated memory, or overheating of components on the motherboard/cpu.

I suggest, if the issues persist, that you try to run memtest (memtest.org)  and cpuburnin (separately, with nothing else running, perhaps in safemode), these two programs test the memory and cpu for errors which are common when things are going bad. The reasons for this could be either bad memory (which commonly exhibits itself only under heavy load such as graphics programs which do a lot of writes/reads to memory), badly seated memory, hot cpu, badly seated cpu. Or even a bad power supply which fluctuates when the cpu draws too much power (ie running at 100%). Or something system-level such as old graphics card driver.

I have quite a few times mysterious problems when running system intensive programs which I later traced to bad cpu cooler.

Hope this helps, Frantisek

[Del]

Kirk,
I'll look into the hardware thing and will also load 4.5.3.  The only other program that has done this is Capture NX.  Thanks!  It's starting to make sense.


Frantisek,
You have a point, I remember replacing the power supplyearlier this year (it had literallyy smoked) and noting that the adhesive seal had broken loose between the CPU and the heat sink.  I'll reseat the RAM (RDRAM) and get some new "stuff" for the CPU/Heat sink.  Thanks for the details, I appreciate it.

//Del

[Hayo Baan]

You have a point, I remember replacing the power supplyearlier this year (it had literallyy smoked) and noting that the adhesive seal had broken loose between the CPU and the heat sink.  I'll reseat the RAM (RDRAM) and get some new "stuff" for the CPU/Heat sink.  Thanks for the details, I appreciate it.

Del, based on the information you just provided, I'm actually quite certain you hangs are caused by your CPU overheating.  That or your memory is not as stable as it should be anymore, as Frantisek also pointed out.

Hope this helps you solving the problems,

[Del]

HB,
Thx...I'll open the box tomorrow.
//Del

[Del]

Hi,
I did open the box, blow out the dust with carbontet, remove and reseat anything that I could, moved a ribbon drive cable to improve air flow to the ram...and things have been working fine.
Thx for suggesting I look at the hardware.
//Del

[Rich Gibson]

Yesterday I encountered a full system freeze on my MacPro. I was using Lepoard and PM 4.5.2.  I was moving some photos from my archives to the Smugmug upload box. Suddenly nothing responded to mouse or key board clicking. I had to power down and reboot.

After returning to my work I encountered it again doing the same thing. After several cycles I am able to repeat the phenomenon.

What I was doing was looking through folders of very old photographs (pre 1940). Each folder only contained a few images so I had opened 20-30 folders in the process. As users of PM know each folder you open adds to the list on the top of the screen extending it to the right. I was popping through the folders quickly one after another. That's when the freeze happened each time.

I'm not sure whether it's the number of folders open or how quickly I was running the cursor back and forward that did it but there was no mistaking it. Eventually I gave up and rebooted the MacPro and it ran for hours by itself without problem. My hunch is the rapidity of the cursor movement did it rather than the number of open folders. I say that because when I click on the tiny triangle next to the main folder on my drive it takes sometimes 4-5 seconds for it to display the complete list of folders (I have almost 1000 folder of individual day's shoots). It might the memory management in Photo Mechanic.

I have 6GB or Ram and the computer is in a basement and well ventilated.  This phenomenon happens only when using Photo Mechanic and always when I'm  copying or moving files within it.

Thanks, Rich
__________________

[Kirk Baker]

Rich,

Yesterday I encountered a full system freeze on my MacPro. I was using Lepoard and PM 4.5.2.  I was moving some photos from my archives to the Smugmug upload box. Suddenly nothing responded to mouse or key board clicking. I had to power down and reboot.

After returning to my work I encountered it again doing the same thing. After several cycles I am able to repeat the phenomenon.

What I was doing was looking through folders of very old photographs (pre 1940). Each folder only contained a few images so I had opened 20-30 folders in the process. As users of PM know each folder you open adds to the list on the top of the screen extending it to the right. I was popping through the folders quickly one after another. That's when the freeze happened each time.

I'm not sure whether it's the number of folders open or how quickly I was running the cursor back and forward that did it but there was no mistaking it. Eventually I gave up and rebooted the MacPro and it ran for hours by itself without problem. My hunch is the rapidity of the cursor movement did it rather than the number of open folders. I say that because when I click on the tiny triangle next to the main folder on my drive it takes sometimes 4-5 seconds for it to display the complete list of folders (I have almost 1000 folder of individual day's shoots). It might the memory management in Photo Mechanic.

I have 6GB or Ram and the computer is in a basement and well ventilated.  This phenomenon happens only when using Photo Mechanic and always when I'm  copying or moving files within it.

Well I don't think there is any memory management issue in Photo Mechanic, but I can tell you for certain that Photo Mechanic 4.5.2 is not fully compatible with Leopard.  Please download version 4.5.3 which is a free upgrade for all Photo Mechanic 4.5.x users:

http://www.camerabits.com/download/index.html

-Kirk