Calibre mysterious crashing on launch - cannot run

[Merischino]

Not sure what else to say, except that clean reinstall does not solve the problem, but does appear to permit the launch to last long enough to establish the desired location of the calibre library and showing the contents of the library prior to the first crash of that installation. All subsequent crashes happen after the calibre logo splash page appears and (sometimes) after the split-second appearance of the app window/library.

Anyone have any ideas, either on what's the solution, or what you need me to supply in additional information to help diagnose and resolve the issue?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Merischino

Not sure what else to say, except that clean reinstall does not solve the problem, but does appear to permit the launch to last long enough to establish the desired location of the calibre library and showing the contents of the library prior to the first crash of that installation. All subsequent crashes happen after the calibre logo splash page appears and (sometimes) after the split-second appearance of the app window/library.

Anyone have any ideas, either on what's the solution, or what you need me to supply in additional information to help diagnose and resolve the issue?

I'm not the one to solve this, but those that might have an idea need more information. Consider supplying the following information to start.

What's your Operating System
What version of calibre are you running?
Did this happen just after the last upgrade?
If so, what version did you upgrade from?
If not, what software or upgrades have you recently installed?
Did you notice any other errors on your system?

Add any other info that comes to mind.

I wish you luck.

[qwerty57]

I've got the same problem. I installed Calibre this morning and am unable to get it to boot! I get as far as the screen that asks me where I want to put my library and then it crashes.

My OS is Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope.

Any suggestions?

[kovidgoyal]

http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...ing-on-windows

[Merischino]

I am running an Apple Mac Mini with Snow Leopard version 10.6.4 and upgraded to the latest version of calibre (0.7.18) when it came out with no fuss or errors beyond an ongoing issue with the library which I have not been able to resolve but did not keep me from 99% of the functionality of the program. I have been using Calibre now long enough that I have upgraded it faithfully upon release several times, in order of those upgrades' releases.

I have not made any significant (that I can think of) other changes to my operating system or application setup recently that I can recall.

The only thing I can think of that could remotely have affected something with my calibre installation is that a few days ago I imported a few new books (free public domain downloadable pdf files of the Holy Bible) into Calibre. At the time, calibre was functioning normally, I was able to start the content server, change/download metadata, insert covers for versions, began converting the pdfs to epub (which stanza, which I use on my iphone 3gs, prefers over pdf). Although the conversion process was laboriously slow in a way that I did not expect, eventually the conversion jobs were done and I was successful at transferring the files over wifi into Stanza for iphone.

That was my last experience with Calibre prior to the mysterious failures/crashes, and was all done after the latest upgrade so I do not believe the upgrade itself is the culprit though I could be wrong....

I do not have assistive devices enabled in my universal access, I did not find the mentioned result in my Console.app output so do not believe corrupt fonts are the problem. I do not use Voice Over.

M-

[Merischino]

Well I have good news and weird news... the good news is, calibre is now not crashing. the weird news is, I didn't change or do anything to make that happen. So, it would appear that it fixed itself? Sorry Qwerty57 I wish I knew why so I could suggest a fix for you.

M-

[qwerty57]

I'll try starting up again when I get home, maybe it will have fixed itself! I already tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, but that didn't help. If I can't get it to work on Ubuntu, I will try installing it on my laptop, which runs Windows 7.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...ing-on-windows

From the link
# Look inside the folder you chose for your calibre library. If you see a file named metadata.db, delete it."

I just looked inside mine and that file is there. Should I delete it? Or is that only for those having problems?

[itimpi]

The metadata.db file is used by Calibre to both track what books are in your library, and also holds all the metadata changes you make. Therefore if you delete this file you are effectively setting Calibre to a 'virgin' state with an empty library so deleting this file is very much a last resort.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

# Look inside the folder you chose for your calibre library. If you see a file named metadata.db, delete it."

I just looked inside mine and that file is there. Should I delete it?

NO, this is the heart of calibre and should only be deleted by folks looking to start over from scratch.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by itimpi

The metadata.db file is used by Calibre to both track what books are in your library, and also holds all the metadata changes you make. Therefore if you delete this file you are effectively setting Calibre to a 'virgin' state with an empty library so deleting this file is very much a last resort.

Originally Posted by dwanthny

NO, this is the heart of calibre and should only be deleted by folks looking to start over from scratch.

Gotcha.

[qwerty57]

Well, I finally got around to installing it on my laptop, which uses windows 7. It works great! I still couldn't get it to work on my desktop's Ubuntu OS though.