If Photo Mechanic will start up, then go to the Preferences option at the bottom of the Edit menu. Click the Export button at the bottom of the page. After a few seconds a list of selected items will appear. I recommend deselecting the Preferences:Caching entry. This entry will be near the top of the list. Just hold down the Control key and click it to deselect it. Click the Export button at the bottom of the list to save this to your Desktop. Call it something like PM-prefs-<date>.PMX and choose Save. Close the preferences and quit Photo Mechanic.
For Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 go to the following location:
C:\Users\<your_account_name>\AppData\Roaming\Camera Bits, Inc\Photo Mechanic
***** Note : If the AppData folder is not visible, then go to the Explorer Window's Tools menu and select Folder Options. This can also be accessed by entering Folder Options in the Control Panel's search field. Click the View tab and set the option to display Hidden Files and Folders. Apply the changes and then open a new Explorer window.
- Click on the Photo Mechanic folder name on the left side of the Explorer window. This will show all of the files and folders in the right panel. Delete the files starting with "com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic". They are preferences files. Close the Explorer window and then restart your PC.
- When it's done starting up, check the amount of RAM in your system by going to the System Control Panel. The RAM memory size will be listed by the CPU info. Make a note of the size.
- Now start Photo Mechanic. Go to the Edit menu and select Preferences. Click the Import button at the bottom of the dialog and locate the PM-prefs-<date>.PMX file on your Desktop and Open it. A list of items will appear in a few seconds. Click the Import button to continue. Photo Mechanic will open a message box. Just continue with the import.
- Next go to the Caching preference page and double check the Memory Cache Size at the bottom. This should be set to approximately 20% of the total system ram size up to 600 MB. Here is a basic guide for PM's Memory Cache size:
System Ram PM Memory Cache size
< 1 GB 128 MB
1 GB 200 MB
2 GB 400 MB
4 GB+ 600 - 800 MB
OK the preference dialog. Quit Photo Mechanic.
- Start Photo Mechanic again. Hopefully the problem is fixed.
