I have a strange problem with Aperture 3 (latest as of today). I usually switch to full screen mode after an import to make adjustments. Almost every time I cannot switch to the next image. When I click the right arrow nothing happens and the image bar at the bottom won't appear when the mouse is moved to the bottom. When I switch out of full screen mode I can see that the next image was indeed selected by typing the right arrow in full screen mode. This only happens the first time I go into full screen. The 2nd and subsequent times it works fine.
It seems to happen every time after importing an image from a memory card. I've been waiting until the “processing” message stops to see if it matters and it doesn't.
Has anyone else seen this? I couldn't find anything on the Apple forums.
Thomas,
Interesting problem. Do you by any chance have a dual display setup (two screens)?
Try trashing the Aperture preferences. Usually a good place to start for something like this. It’s in your user folder’s preferences, so ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist.
Let’s start with that and go from there.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Joseph,
Here’s an update. I have a single screen on my Mac Pro. I tried trashing Aperture’s preferences today before importing another shoot. The problem remains. The image bar at the bottom does appear when you put the mouse near the bottom of the screen and you can select different images and the highlight changes, but the full screen image stays frozen on the first image - until I jump out and back into fullscreen when it then works normally. I’m stumped.
Thomas
Thomas
Try holding down the option & command keys when you start Aperture. This will give you a screen
Reads.
Aperture Library First Aid
then you have three options.
1. Repair Permissions
2. Repair Database
3. Rebuild database
Try repair Permissions first then if still having the same problem go down the list.
Let me know if this helped.
George
Thomas,
I don’t think this is a library issue, but of course I could be wrong. An easy way to test that is to create an entirely new library by going to menu File > Switch to Library > Other/New… and clicking the Create New… button. Just drop it on your desktop and call it something like “Test Library” so you know which one it is. Once you’re running your new library, repeat your test and see if it happens again. If it does, we have another issue. If not, then it’s a library issue and so I’d suggest following G Vivanco’s advice above and doing a rebuild, starting with Permissions.
If the problem does persist, I’m thinking graphics card related—and hopefully just driver related.
The next thing to test is to create a new User on your computer. If you’re unfamiliar with how to do that, let me know and I’ll walk you through it. So create a new user, log in as that user and launch Aperture (it’ll create a new Library for you) and test again.
If the problem goes away, it’s simply a case of finding the right preference file to trash back in your main user account. If the problem is still there, then you may want to consider reinstalling the OS. Fortunately that’s easy to do these days.
Let us know how you progress,
@PhotoJoseph
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Not sure that this is exactly the same problem but I used to have aperture just completely stop recognizing the use of the arrow keys all together. It seemed to happen a lot of the time while I was in full screen mode too. The only solution at the time was to quit aperture and re-open it. I have reinstalled aperture since I had to revert back to 10.6.3 while apple was fixing their goof up with the graphics cards in the 10.6.4 update. After the reinstall I have no had a problem yet. I know that I am not offering a fix here but I just wanted to let you know that there is some sort of bug involved with full screen mode.
I have since updated back to 10.6.4 and installed the graphics update and everything is ROCK solid!
Thanks for the advice Nathan, Joseph and George. I’m working the suggestions now. Some more info:
I keep my library on a data only disk in my Mac Pro so that I can share it with my wife. The disk has “Ignore ownership” enabled. This is not the boot disk.
I created a new library on my desktop and did 2 imports in 2 sessions and the problem did not occur.
I copied the new library to my data disk (where the main library is I’m having the problem with) and did a single import and the problem did not occur.
I skipped the repair permissions advice (because I’m thinking ignore ownership should negate the need) but maybe I’ll have to rethink that one. I did do the 2nd option (repair database) and on a subsequent session it froze again after import.
Nathan, I don’t think I have the same problem as you because I can move the mouse to the bottom of the screen in fullscreen mode and select a different photo but the fullscreen image doesn’t change.
I’m going to try the other options now.
Thanks again everyone and keep the idea’s coming.
Thomas
Another update: I tried all three options in Aperture Library First Aid. The issue remains. I also tried a 2nd library from my vacation in June and it also freezes the fullscreen on first try.
Still need to attempt a 2nd account (when I get some more time).
I wonder if library size has anything to do with it. I didn’t see the problem with the new library I created which is small but the other two are large (one is 98GB and the other is 27GB). The new test library is only 3GB.
One other small change is the browser sometimes will popup at the bottom of the screen when you move the mouse there while in fullscreen mode. Tonight it didn’t.
Thomas
Thomas,
Very interested to see what happens with the new user account, but you’ll need to open one of your existing libraries in there to test it since you’ve already verified that this does NOT happen with a new library, but DOES with two existing ones.
Permissions in the Library are different than permissions on the disk, but you’ve already tried repairing to no avail.
When you created the new test libraries, did you happen to create them on your data hard drive, or did you put it on your boot drive? Be sure not to change more than one thing at a time while testing—try the new library created on the data drive for your testing. If the problem goes away when you move the library to your boot drive, then you know that’s where the problem lies. Perhaps turning permissions back on on that drive, although I have a hard time thinking of why it could make a difference.
@PhotoJoseph
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More results today. I tried running from my wife’s account and I created a new account. Same libraries used for all testing on the data drive. I have a total of 7 libraries. 2 are larger (27GB and 98GB). The other 4 are 3GB or less. I have the freeze issue only with the two larger libraries and it doesn’t matter which account I use to run Aperture.
I discovered that the freeze is not related to import. For the libraries affected, it always happens the first time fullscreen mode is activated after starting Aperture. All subsequent times it works fine. To re-iterate, the screen freezes but Aperture is switching to different images underneath from arrow key presses which you can see when canceling fullscreen mode (i.e. the next image is selected in the browser).
Thomas
Thomas,
This is starting to smell really familiar. Do me a favor and post your exact hardware configuration here, and I’ll see if I can get one of the Apple guys to look at this and make a suggestion.
thanks
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks Joseph. I was having some kernel panics about 6 months ago. In the process of troubleshooting using the Apple Hardware Test on the boot DVD, I was swapping RAM around and never could isolate a problem. After putting everything back together the way it was, the problem never returned. All I did was swap RAM and run the HW tests.
I wasn’t sure how much info you needed so I grabbed the below from the System Profiler. Let me know if I’m missing anything:
System Software Overview:
System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.4 (10F569)
Kernel Version: Darwin 10.4.0
Secure Virtual Memory: Not Enabled
64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
Aperture:
Version: 3.0.3
Last Modified: 5/7/10 2:59 PM
Kind: Intel
64-Bit (Intel): Yes
Hardware:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 10 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT:
Name: NVDA,Display-B
Type: display
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x0611
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x10de
Subsystem ID: 0x0010
ROM Revision: 3233
Revision ID: 0x00a2
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
Thomas
Hi Joseph,
I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything about my problem? Thanks.
Thomas
Thomas
Thomas,
No… but thanks for the reminder, I just asked again.
@PhotoJoseph
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I may have solved my problem, we’ll see. I ran the Applejack utility after seeing it suggested in the Apple forum for Aperture. The suggestion was for another problem but I thought I’d give it a try. This is a command line utility that must be run in Single User Mode. It cleans out system caches, virtual memory, checks preference files for problems, etc.
Since I’ve run Applejack, I haven’t seen the freeze come back. But I’m not entirely sold yet until I’ve tried it for a few weeks.
Thomas
Thomas,
That’s great news. Please do keep us posted here. I’d forgotten about the issue, which means that no one responded to my requests for help from Apple :(
@PhotoJoseph
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It’s been three weeks and I haven’t encountered the freezing problem since I cleared system caches using Applejack. I’m going to claim this issue is solved. (crossing fingers behind my back)
Thomas
Thomas,
That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting us know!
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks Thomas. Investigating.
@PhotoJoseph
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