Catalog won't open, Organiz won't launch

[Gitchie]

I keep my current catalog on an external USB drive. I open and close that catalog file several times a week. Suddenly, the file will not open and the Organizer does not launch. The Editor will open, and when I hit the Organize icon I get a msg that the Organizer is not responding or waiting for an input from me. I can peruse the external hard drive with Windows just fine, so the drive is working and all the files are present. The catalog file is 56 Mb. In the directory with the catalog there is a new file (never saw it before and I'm in that directory a lot) that has a type of "Microsoft Office Access Record-locking Information". Windows does not recognize it, even with an online search. I am logged in as an administrator (always am). Norton anti-virus runs all the time.

My computer recently did a Windows update. That is the only thing that has changed since my last access to the file.

I've now been out of business for 10 days, including a trip to see family during which I couldn't show them pics on the laptop! I could restore from a 1 May backup but it could just get 'locked' tomorrow and I'd have lost all May's work for nothing.

Does anybody have a clue?

[lizardsoup]

Can you do a restore to an earlier point in Windows System Restore? You wouldn't lose any files that way. It would just return your computer to its previous configuration. Or is that what you were referring to in your post?

[troush]

Try hitting "Ctrl" as you launch the organizer. It will ask you if you want to recover the catalog, say yes.

If that doesn't work, try reseting the organizer preferences. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<your login>\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements [replacing <your login> with your login name], and rename 5.0 to 5.0.old if you are using PSE 5.0, or 4.0 to 4.0.old if you are using the organizer.

You will need to show hidden files to do this. You can go to windows explorer, and then pick tools->options, and then on the Folder tab check "Show Hidden Files and Folders".

-Trish

[Gitchie]

OK. When I held down ctl while launching the organizer, it did something new. I got a dialog box asking if OK to restore the catalog. I said OK. Then the Organizer aborted just like before. The PSA file had been renamed to .tmp.

So I unhid the files and went to the directory 5.0 and renamed it to 5.0 old. No change. The organizer will not launch. If attempted from the editor, I get a window that says the organizer is not responding or waiting for a response from me. I think another dialog box flashes up for an instant, but dissapears as soon as the organizer aborts so I can never see it.

I'm sunk without any organizer. The pics are all still on the disk, butI use tons of tags and collections. I have a backup from 29 Apr, but there is no way to restore a backup if you can't get the organizer running. I could try reinstalling Elements on both the desktop and laptop - hoping that will make the organizer 'forget' about the catalog file. Then restore the catalog - but after all that it might just incapacitate the organizer again.

You are obviously a very knowing bunch. Any other ideas?

[troush]

My other thought is that your thumbnail cache is corrupted. In C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalog Folders\ you will have a folder for each catalog you created. And, in that folder is a file named thumb.5.cache or tn.5.cache (check the dates for the latest). This is a cache of the thumbnails in the organizer. Try renaming it to .old or .tmp and then start the organizer. This should force the organizer to rebuild it (which could take a while).

-Trish

[Gitchie]

I REALLY appreciate the help, but it didn't work. Same exact symptoms.

Do you see a risk if I reinstall photoshop? I can't do a formal 'backup' first because that runs from the organizer. I do have the actual picture files copied off onto DVD.

Thx,

[troush]

Organizer doesn't hold your pictures, it just points to them. An uninstall and reinstall will not touch your pictures or Organizer database file. Just make sure you disable your anti-virus software. Here is what I would do:

1. Disable anti-virus software.
2. Uninstall PSE.
3. Reboot.
4. Disable anti-virus software.
5. Install PSE.
6. Reboot.

I only suggest the "Reboots" because sometimes that seems to keep windows happy.

If a reinstall doesn't work, I would post over at Adobe.com's PSE forums and see if someone else there has any ideas. If you do post there, make sure you post your system specs, which version of PSE, and the steps you've done so far.

-Trish

[Gitchie]

I finally got my printer working again (long story) now back to the catalog.

I wanted to share with you what the tech spport folks responded with. Much of it is the same as your advice. You must really know your stuff. I'll give it all a try tonight and let you know, but in the bigger picture...what the heck happened that let to all this trouble...and will it happen again tomorrow?

Adobe Technical Support

05/25/2007 18:34:17
Thank you for contacting Adobe® Web Support for assistance with Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0® I understand that when you try and open the Organizer portion of Photoshop Elements you get a message that says #Photoshop Elements is not responding or is waiting for input#.
The first thing we need to do here is try recreating the preference file for the Organizer and the Editor. This may help with the error when opening the application. To do this
you will need to follow these steps:
1. Quit Photoshop Elements.
2. Locate the Adobe Photoshop Elements preferences files. In Photoshop Elements 5.0, there are two preferences files, one for Organizer and one for Editor:
o Documents and Settings\[ user ]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Organizer\psa.prf
o Documents and Settings\[ user ]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Editor\Photoshop Elements 5 Prefs.psp
3. Rename the extension for the files (for example, to psa.old).
4. Start Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements creates a new preferences file.
The next thing to try is to troubleshoot the catalog. On occasion the database information may not be totally correct which can then result is some unexpected behavior in the application.
The first step is to do a recovery of the catalog.
1. Hold down the Ctrl key while you start Photoshop Elements. When Photoshop Elements returns the message "Attempt to compact and recover this catalog, then open again? #click OK. The next thing would be to delete the thumbnail cache for the catalog by Deleting the tn.5.cache located in Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalog
Folders\[ catalog name].
We can also delete the status.dat file which is located at C:\Documents and Settings\ [user name]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Organizer\.
Perform each of these steps separately and launch Photoshop Elements after completing each step to see if that has resolved the issue. Make sure to note any messages or different behavior when launching the application.
I hope this information helps to resolve your issue.
If you require further assistance with this issue, please update your
web case with complete details, including what steps you have applied and any error messages you are
receiving.

[Gitchie]

I went thru all their steps and was finally able to get the Organizer to launch from the button in the Editor. But the catalog file was hopelessly corrupted. I had to reimport and retag everything.

Thanks for all your help.

[troush]

Gitchie,

Sorry that your catalog was corrupted. When you import images, make sure you import in small batches (like a folder at a time). And, after you've imported and tagged, do a File->Catalog->Recover. I would do a Recover after any import, tagging session, or where you've edited several pictures.

Another thing you can do is select all (ctrl-A) your images in the organizer, and choose Write Tags to Files (not sure exactly where this option is). This will work for most images, except RAW files and .png files. So, if you catalog got hopelessly corrupted again, at least you wouldn't have to re-tag everything. Again, after you do any major operation like this, do a File->Catalog->Recover. (It does some clean up and compresses the database file.)

-Trish