Digital Light & Color

Hello,

I hope someone can suggest a cause and easy fix for an issue that has recently developed.

Up until fairly recently (within two/three weeks) I have been running PWP (version 5.0) with no problems encountered. However, I have recently noticed that when opening an image (16 bit TIFF), the image will not open and I get an "Unable to open TIFF file" message. When I first noticed this issue, the occurrence was fairly rare and if I pressed the "OK" button and tried again, the image opened. More recently, however, the problem is becoming more frequent and it sometimes takes 6 - 7 tries before the image finally opens, if at all. Occasionally, when I unsuccessfully try to open by double-clicking, I can drag the thumbnail onto the working area and open with success or if initially trying the drag method and it won't open, I can usually double-click with success. Sometimes, the only resolution is to close the program and re-open, where it usually operates fine (for awhile anyway). The problem occurs at anytime (after just opening the program or after the program is open for some time) and sometimes I can use the program for hours with no issues at all and sometimes I have to close and re-open the program for it to work.

Since initially purchasing and downloading version 5.0, I have changed nothing with my computer and am able to open the same images with two other programs with absolutely no problem. I expect, as a result, the problem is PWP specific.

I was hoping to ignore this problem until the next version release, but the issue seems to be getting more frequent and I am also starting to encounter a "Cannot open file while current operation is in progress" even when the program is freshly opened and no operation has been invoked.

I'm hoping the resolution is easy and does not involve uninstalling and re-installing PWP as this particular computer is not hooked to the net and this operation becomes a bit of a task.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Marv

This sounds like it might be a hardware problem with your disk drive. You could try moving the file to another drive or to a thumb drive and opening it from there to check.

Jonathan,

When I first encountered the problem, my first thought was that it might be hardware related, however, I presumed that, because I can open the same images in two other programs and the problem only occurs when using PWP, that it was PWP specific, rather than hardware.

I also don't think I was clear enough in my first post. This isn't related to a single image. Sometimes I can open all images through PWP and everything is OK. Sometimes I can open most images but one or two will not open unless I continue to retry anywhere up to 6 or 7 times and sometimes I can't open any image even when retrying multiple times and I close and re-open PWP and all works well again....for awhile.

If it was hardware related, wouldn't I have the same problem in the other two programs?

I will give your suggestion a try and place a bunch of images on a thumb drive and open them in PWP to see what happens.

Thanks

Marv

Marv,

check your disk space and specifically your swap space. It may be a case of running out of resources on the machine. If you are not sure what I am talking about let me know and I will take you through the swap file etc.

Another problem could be memory. Download a memory check program and run it to do a full check on RAM. These programs normally require you to make a bootable CD to run from. RAM problems can give very eratic problems and some programs use different areas of memory and it may be that PWP is using the bad sections (if RAM is an issue).

Keith,

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have checked and still have plenty of free hard drive space (116 GB on C drive and 322 GB on D drive) and Windows has allocated 2046 MB to the swap space. I also have 3.25 GB of RAM. Having said all that, after multiple operations, does the swap file automatically purge itself or is it possible that it gets full and causes things (like my problem) to occur??

As it seems I have sufficient resources, I will likely run a memory check program, as you suggest, to see how efficient the RAM is that I do have. Hopefully, that will help resolve, or at least identify, the issue.

Thanks again.

Marv

Hi Marv,
Are you saying Tiff images saved with PWP won't open later in PWP? Or were the Tiff images saved by one of your other programs? I'm wondering whether one of your other programs is saving a slightly different type of Tiff file that PWP doesn't recognize.
Cliff

Hi Marv,

as you have plenty of resources I would suggest a RAM check as RAM problems generally announce themselves as in-consistent problems similar to what you are experiencing.

Cliff,

Actually, both. I have been converting RAW images with NX2 into 16 bit TIFFs, opening same in PWP and doing further editing and saving. As well, I have converted some images from RAW with PWP into a 16 bit TIFF and later continued editing the TIFF image in PWP. I have been doing the aforementioned for at least a few years (at least since PWP version 5.0 came onto the scene) with absolutely no issues until a couple weeks ago. Since that time, PWP has difficulty opening 16 bit TIFFs, 8 bit TIFFs and even 8 bit B and W masks, regardless from whence they came, so it does not appear to be related to a variant of TIFF.

Keith,

Yes, I am about to try that option and hopefully the problem can be identified and solved , or the computer is going in the bin.

Marv

Testing computer memory (why chuck out a computer if it's just bad memory chips?):

I suggest using the most recent version of Memtest86+ available at http://www.memtest.org/

I've used the bootable CD version in the past, but I see they also now have an installer to create a bootable USB key, which may be more useful for some people.

Allow plenty of time for it to run (the defaults are fine), I think it took something like 1 hr/GB the last time I ran it. In fact, just let it run overnight (it displays how many times it has tested the full memory).

The advantage of using it, rather than the built-in bootable memory test on Microsoft Vista/7, is that Memtest86+ has continual feedback on progress and any hardware errors discovered, rather than the Microsoft progress meter being stuck at a particular percentage for hours on end with no feedback about what's going on.

I originally ran it to verify that a new pair of memory upgrade SODIMMs were in fact substandard and the cause of system crashes, and it worked well; I now run Memtest once a year just as a safety measure to catch any hardware deterioration--maybe that's a useless caution, but I feel safer.

mjdl,

Thanks for the info. I will take a look at the link.

BTW, the "or the computer is going in the bin" comment was a bit tongue in cheek!!

Marv