12-21-2011, 02:47 AM

I have iPhoto version 9.2.1 and OS 10.7.2. Ever since upgrading to Lion, I cannot edit any photos anymore. I can see the thumbnails, but when I try to edit the photo there is just a blank black screen, even though the thumbnails are still visible at the bottom of the screen. I have my photo library on an additional drive installed in the main box. I have the MacPro. I have not fiddled at all with the photo library. I have tried to create a new library on the internal drive and imported photos into the new library, but I have the same problem. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

12-21-2011, 09:00 AM

As suggested elsewhere, launch iPhoto with the option and command keys held down, which brings up a repair dialogue. Check every option, go make yourself some tea -- it will take a while.

12-21-2011, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by chas_m

As suggested elsewhere, launch iPhoto with the option and command keys held down, which brings up a repair dialogue. Check every option, go make yourself some tea -- it will take a while.

Yes, I read this before and have tried it, but I still get the blank screen. Any other suggestions please?

12-22-2011, 01:50 AM

If that didn't fix it, then:

a. Your library is severely corrupted, or
b. You or someone has been mucking about with the iPhoto Library package, or
c. Your graphics card/chipset is having issues. I have seen this latter problem on some early MacBooks.

12-22-2011, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by chas_m

If that didn't fix it, then:

a. Your library is severely corrupted, or
b. You or someone has been mucking about with the iPhoto Library package, or
c. Your graphics card/chipset is having issues. I have seen this latter problem on some early MacBooks.

If the library is corrupt or has been tampered with then that can explain this issue with my main library. But when I create a totally new library on the internal drive, I still get the same problem. If it is the the graphics card/chipset, how will other programs be affected? I am not having any issues with any other program. Could this be linked to Lion? I am still running Snow Leopard on my Mac Book Pro with the latest iPhoto and do not have any issues there......

12-22-2011, 07:32 PM

The graphics possibility is not really a possibility if the machine you're having trouble with is the Mac Pro, as it has its own discrete video card which generally precludes the issue.

You say the issue persists if you create a completely new library and import pictures to it. To me that suggests only two possibilities: the picture files themselves have some corrupted pixels, or there's something in your user profile that is causing this.

Have you tried creating an entirely new user account and seeing if the problem also appears there?

As for the former option, I have found that JPEGs I can download from the net with some bad pixels in them will show up anyway in some programs (like Preview and Graphic Converter) but will not display at all in iPhoto. An image like this for example: