ajbrogan
01-01-2008, 11:52 AM
Hi MyPublisher and anyone who might be able to help,
I have finished working on my third 100-page book, and each time I try to upload it, the optimization process stalls at picture 290 out of 335. I wrote about this problem as a reply to another post on Dec 29 but haven't heard anything yet. I'm wondering if, by replying to someone else's post, it appears that the original post has been answered and is getting ignored.
More likely, I am guessing the MyPublisher folks aren't answering forum questions right now because of the holidays. That's understandable, but management must know that holidays are times their customers actually have time to work on their books. If any workers are willing, it would be nice for MyPublisher to have workers available to help customers on weekends and around holidays.
In my replies to someone else's post, I started to tell about all the things I've tried to remedy my problem. But, maybe it would be helpful to tell the story in chronological order so other readers or MyPublisher can better understand the problem and hopefully be able to help with a diagnosis and solution. Also, I am hoping my story will help other customers fix or avoid my problem.
Book 1:
I created my first book in September in the Bookmaker 2.1 software. After I finished my 100-page book, it uploaded perfectly on the first try.
Book 2:
I worked on this 100-page book in October, after the 2.2 software came out. When I went to upload that book, the optimization process got stuck (on multiple attempts) about 90% of the way through the pictures. I wrote to customer service, and they suggested the problem was with one of my pictures. I thought that was odd because ALL the pictures at the end of my book were from the exact same digital camera (used with the same settings) as the pictures in the rest of the book. So, I wrote back (on Nov 4 at 9:48PM Easten, from a different email address I'm using now) to ask about the order in which pictures are uploaded, because I wanted to be able to isolate the problem. Are they uploaded according to the order in which:
--they appear in the book
--they appear in the organizer
--they were imported into the software?
I never heard back. But, I had put so much time into the book that I didn't give up. After trying other computers with the same failed result, I decided to spend the time to find the "bad" picture. I spent 2 full Saturdays narrowing down the issue to about 4 pages of the book. If I removed those pages (and the pictures on them), the book would go through. Then, I added the pages back in (from scratch, adding the photos from my hard drive), and like magic, the whole book went through. I used the exact same pictures, so I wondered how the problem could really be with my pictures. But, I didn't wonder too hard because my book arrived and it was great!
Book 3:
I liked the first two books so much, I decided to do a third one (again 100 pages). But, I was afraid of this stalling optimization process. So, I first put all the pictures into my book with no modifications or text. I tried uploading the book, and it went through. I breathed a sigh of relief and went ahead and finished my book (zooming, cropping, removing red-eye, adding text, etc.) I didn't change any of the pictures. When I went to upload, I was so frustrated when I saw my computer stall at picture 290 of 335. I tried several times with the same result. Again, all the pictures in this area of the book are from the same camera used with the same settings. But, I figured my solution from Book 2 would work again, so I immediately set out to find the pages that were causing the problem. I narrowed it down to 7 pages. When I remove those pages, the book goes through fine. So, like before I attempted to add them back in. But this time, the book still gets stuck. I tried going back to my 93-page book that goes through and started adding the 7 pages back in one-at-a-time. Huge problem: if I add any one of the pages back in, the process stalls.
My next step was to test my 7 "bad" pages by making a small book out of just these 7 pages. Guess what - it goes through no problem. So, I'm pretty convinced the problem isn't with my pictures for two reasons:
1. My 100-page book went through with my pictures before I finished the enhancements and text.
2. My 93-page book and 7-page book both go through just fine.
I am guessing that there might be a problem with one of my pictures - CAUSED BY THE BOOKMAKER SOFTWARE OR THE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS. Furthermore, if your software is likely to stall at a "bad" picture, it would be great if
--the optimization process could count in 1's rather than in 10's for easier identification of the "bad" picture.
--you let us know the order in which pictures are uploaded,
--OR BETTER YET, have the process stop and produce a message like, "The optimization process has encountered a problem with picture "filename".
This past Saturday, I found this forum (not sure how I didn't notice it before). Other people seem to be having upload problems as well, but there were suggested fixes, so I tried tons of them.
I tried:
--A different computer with a fresh version of the 2.2 software. (To move my book, I exported, burned on a DVD, and imported).
--IE 6, IE 7, Firefox
--Turned off firewalls and pop-up blockers, and set security setting to medium
Both computers I've tried have plenty of RAM: 1.5GB and 1GB, we have PC's, and we have high-speed internet.
As a last-ditch effort, I figured maybe I needed a fresh start with my 93-page book. So, I exported it, deleted the 93-page book from the software, and then re-imported. Before trying to add my 7-pages back in, I figured I'd quickly test the upload process to make sure the book was still going through. IT GOT STUCK about 90% of the way through the optimization process. This seems to be proof that there is something in the software or optimization process that is corrupting photos. A book that uploaded perfectly now gets stuck after an export and re-import (and absolutely no other changes).
Along the way, I have investigated the files that live in
C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Application Data\MyPublisher\BookMaker
I see that there is a folder for each book full of all my pictures (renamed to very long file names). For most of the pictures, there are 7 or so files of the same picture: the original plus smaller versions with numbers like 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512 at the ends of the filename. What are these for, and is this where the problem is? Are these the files that are created during the "optimization" process?
So, now I'm giving up unless MyPublisher or another user has a good idea for me. I am so frustrated at how much time I put into creating (and trying to fix) a book that I can't buy.
MyPublisher - you can see that this is horrible for customers. Your books are WAY too expensive for us to be suffering through problems like this after spending HOURS building our books.
Please help!
Anita
I have finished working on my third 100-page book, and each time I try to upload it, the optimization process stalls at picture 290 out of 335. I wrote about this problem as a reply to another post on Dec 29 but haven't heard anything yet. I'm wondering if, by replying to someone else's post, it appears that the original post has been answered and is getting ignored.
More likely, I am guessing the MyPublisher folks aren't answering forum questions right now because of the holidays. That's understandable, but management must know that holidays are times their customers actually have time to work on their books. If any workers are willing, it would be nice for MyPublisher to have workers available to help customers on weekends and around holidays.
In my replies to someone else's post, I started to tell about all the things I've tried to remedy my problem. But, maybe it would be helpful to tell the story in chronological order so other readers or MyPublisher can better understand the problem and hopefully be able to help with a diagnosis and solution. Also, I am hoping my story will help other customers fix or avoid my problem.
Book 1:
I created my first book in September in the Bookmaker 2.1 software. After I finished my 100-page book, it uploaded perfectly on the first try.
Book 2:
I worked on this 100-page book in October, after the 2.2 software came out. When I went to upload that book, the optimization process got stuck (on multiple attempts) about 90% of the way through the pictures. I wrote to customer service, and they suggested the problem was with one of my pictures. I thought that was odd because ALL the pictures at the end of my book were from the exact same digital camera (used with the same settings) as the pictures in the rest of the book. So, I wrote back (on Nov 4 at 9:48PM Easten, from a different email address I'm using now) to ask about the order in which pictures are uploaded, because I wanted to be able to isolate the problem. Are they uploaded according to the order in which:
--they appear in the book
--they appear in the organizer
--they were imported into the software?
I never heard back. But, I had put so much time into the book that I didn't give up. After trying other computers with the same failed result, I decided to spend the time to find the "bad" picture. I spent 2 full Saturdays narrowing down the issue to about 4 pages of the book. If I removed those pages (and the pictures on them), the book would go through. Then, I added the pages back in (from scratch, adding the photos from my hard drive), and like magic, the whole book went through. I used the exact same pictures, so I wondered how the problem could really be with my pictures. But, I didn't wonder too hard because my book arrived and it was great!
Book 3:
I liked the first two books so much, I decided to do a third one (again 100 pages). But, I was afraid of this stalling optimization process. So, I first put all the pictures into my book with no modifications or text. I tried uploading the book, and it went through. I breathed a sigh of relief and went ahead and finished my book (zooming, cropping, removing red-eye, adding text, etc.) I didn't change any of the pictures. When I went to upload, I was so frustrated when I saw my computer stall at picture 290 of 335. I tried several times with the same result. Again, all the pictures in this area of the book are from the same camera used with the same settings. But, I figured my solution from Book 2 would work again, so I immediately set out to find the pages that were causing the problem. I narrowed it down to 7 pages. When I remove those pages, the book goes through fine. So, like before I attempted to add them back in. But this time, the book still gets stuck. I tried going back to my 93-page book that goes through and started adding the 7 pages back in one-at-a-time. Huge problem: if I add any one of the pages back in, the process stalls.
My next step was to test my 7 "bad" pages by making a small book out of just these 7 pages. Guess what - it goes through no problem. So, I'm pretty convinced the problem isn't with my pictures for two reasons:
1. My 100-page book went through with my pictures before I finished the enhancements and text.
2. My 93-page book and 7-page book both go through just fine.
I am guessing that there might be a problem with one of my pictures - CAUSED BY THE BOOKMAKER SOFTWARE OR THE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS. Furthermore, if your software is likely to stall at a "bad" picture, it would be great if
--the optimization process could count in 1's rather than in 10's for easier identification of the "bad" picture.
--you let us know the order in which pictures are uploaded,
--OR BETTER YET, have the process stop and produce a message like, "The optimization process has encountered a problem with picture "filename".
This past Saturday, I found this forum (not sure how I didn't notice it before). Other people seem to be having upload problems as well, but there were suggested fixes, so I tried tons of them.
I tried:
--A different computer with a fresh version of the 2.2 software. (To move my book, I exported, burned on a DVD, and imported).
--IE 6, IE 7, Firefox
--Turned off firewalls and pop-up blockers, and set security setting to medium
Both computers I've tried have plenty of RAM: 1.5GB and 1GB, we have PC's, and we have high-speed internet.
As a last-ditch effort, I figured maybe I needed a fresh start with my 93-page book. So, I exported it, deleted the 93-page book from the software, and then re-imported. Before trying to add my 7-pages back in, I figured I'd quickly test the upload process to make sure the book was still going through. IT GOT STUCK about 90% of the way through the optimization process. This seems to be proof that there is something in the software or optimization process that is corrupting photos. A book that uploaded perfectly now gets stuck after an export and re-import (and absolutely no other changes).
Along the way, I have investigated the files that live in
C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Application Data\MyPublisher\BookMaker
I see that there is a folder for each book full of all my pictures (renamed to very long file names). For most of the pictures, there are 7 or so files of the same picture: the original plus smaller versions with numbers like 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512 at the ends of the filename. What are these for, and is this where the problem is? Are these the files that are created during the "optimization" process?
So, now I'm giving up unless MyPublisher or another user has a good idea for me. I am so frustrated at how much time I put into creating (and trying to fix) a book that I can't buy.
MyPublisher - you can see that this is horrible for customers. Your books are WAY too expensive for us to be suffering through problems like this after spending HOURS building our books.
Please help!
Anita