Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Navigator
Trouble finding the proper workflow for what you need to do:
Check to see if what you are trying to do is already described in detail in the Learn by Example section of the help.
If you have already located the function you need to use and just need help with that function, try the Listing of Major Functions section and see if the function you are trying to use is listed there.
If you are unable to obtain help via the above two links, it is likely that your question has already been addressed on an online forum. There are three online forums that have an archive containing a wealth of information on how to do just about everything in Qimage. All of these forums offer a search tool that allow you to search the archives, so if your question deals with a specific issue regarding printing of borderless prints for example, you can just search the archives below for the word "borderless" and you will be able to browse questions and answers regarding borderless printing.
Official Qimage Users Group forum at http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/qimage: this forum comprises thousands of Qimage users and is very active. Access to the forum and its archives requires that you sign up for the group, however, if you do not wish to receive daily email from the group and just wish to search the archives, you can set your subscription to "no email". Most likely your question has already been addressed and you'll be able to find it in the archives but even if it has not yet been addressed, you are likely to receive a response from another user in just minutes if you post your question to the group.
Forums at DPreview: Just go to DPreview and you can enter your search in the "Search Forums" entry on the main page and click "Go". You do not need to sign up to use the forums at DPreview, however, please note that these are general public forums that cover a wide range of topics so in order to find topics relating specifically to Qimage, make sure to include the word "Qimage" in your search. For example, search for "qimage borderless" to return topics regarding borderless prints in Qimage.
Qimage forum at Steve's Digicams: Just go to Steve's Digicams and click "Discussion Forums". You'll find " Printing - Qimage 2003 Support" near the bottom of the page.
Ensure that the downloaded demo is intact and that you downloaded the installation file to a folder with no other files present in that folder. Once the installation file has been downloaded, go to the folder that contains (only) the installation EXE file and run the EXE file using "Start", "Run". The most common problems related to installation are trying to run the installation file from a folder with other files (possibly leftover remnants of other installs) and trying to manually unzip the files in the EXE when you should run the EXE directly using "Start", "Run" instead. Also note that some software may interfere with InstallShield installations so try rebooting and running the installation before using any other software.
Trouble starting Qimage (errors/crashes on startup):
If an error message appears on startup or Qimage shuts down or locks up before getting to the main window, this indicates that the settings normally stored by Qimage and loaded on startup may have become corrupted. You can start Qimage in "safe" mode by holding down the Shift key as you start Qimage. This should clear the error.
If starting in safe mode did not fix the problem, have you tried starting Qimage a second time? Startup errors that cause Qimage to fail starting up are usually detected and fixed if you simply start Qimage again.
Trouble when opening certain folders:
If Qimage reports errors or crashes every time you navigate to a certain folder using the folder browser above the thumbnails, it is most likely encountering a damaged/corrupted image. Qimage has sophisticated error detection to prevent crashes even when images are corrupted, however, since there are an infinite number of ways that an image can be corrupted, it is possible that Qimage may encounter a file that causes trouble and makes it past the file format validation. Remember that Qimage builds thumbnails automatically for every image in a folder as soon as you visit that folder, so any image in that folder could be causing the problem. Try restarting Qimage and clicking "View", "Interface Options", "Thumbs or Files", "Names Only" prior to entering the folder. You will be able to enter the folder without a problem since Qimage will not try to access all images in the folder. You may then examine individual images one at a time using the space bar to display images under the mouse pointer, or simply add all images to the queue and run a slide show. Once the damaged image is located, you can delete the image or move it to a different location. Locating damaged images is much easier when you file your images in different folders. If you have one massive folder called "My Pictures" where you dump all images, locating a damaged image can be difficult.
Some causes of corrupted images:
Partial/damaged downloads: Images downloaded from the web can be prone to communication errors.
Software problem: The software used to save the image may have saved it with file formatting errors. Check the web sites for your regularly used scanning, photo editing, and image management software to see if any fixes relate to file saving.
Progressive JPEG's: If you have been saving JPEG images in your photo software, ensure that "progressive" encoding is not checked in the JPEG options. Some software uses progressive encoding that is not compatible with Qimage.
Trouble when viewing/editing images on screen:
If you get an error message such as "bitmap not valid", "parameter is incorrect", or "error in imagelib.dll", you may be opening an image that is too large for your available memory. If you are opening large images, make sure you have enough RAM installed and also check your Windows virtual memory settings and try increasing virtual memory. If you are running Windows 98 SE and you are encountering these errors often, even when opening images that do not appear too large for the available memory, upgrading the operating system often resolves the issue.
Note that corrupted images can also cause errors when viewing/editing so be sure to check the information on corrupted images above.
Thumbnails appear smudged or do not update properly:
- Your video board may not be able to support video acceleration when set to the high setting. Check http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/notice.htm for details on how to reduce video acceleration.
- A video driver bug could also cause this problem. If the above fails, you will need to download a new driver for your video board. Download the video driver from the manufacturer of your video board, NOT the manufacturer of your computer.
Qimage locks up or is unresponsive when applying a filter:
If there is simply no response and you still have the hour glass showing on screen, Qimage is just not finished running your filter. There are many filters available that are time-intensive and these can be combined to create filters that take several minutes (if not longer) to run. For example, running a plugin along with the D1 ISO filter will take about 30 seconds on a 1.0 GHZ Pentium. Adding the shadow noise filter or other filters can double or triple this figure. Just be aware that the more complex you make your filter (the more parameters you change), the longer the filter will take to apply. In addition to complexity, you may have told Qimage to apply the filter to 100 images in the queue, at which point it could be hours before control returns to Qimage.
When applying filters using the batch filter, the "parameter is incorrect" error appears:
- First ensure that you are not asking Qimage to perform a ridiculous task like interpolating to very high resolutions that are beyond what your PC can handle.
- Finally, if you get the "parameter is incorrect" error and you are running Windows 98 SE, you may be low on resources before even running Qimage. Many programs have trouble running under Win98SE and use memory without "giving it back" when you exit. If you are having trouble and you are running Win98SE, we recommend checking out several programs that are designed to clean up your memory as you use Windows. Some good (and free) programs to do this are:MemTurbo and RamBooster. Note that these programs usually only provide a benefit if you are running an older version of Windows.
An error appears as you move the mouse pointer over the thumbnail or file area:
One or more of the images in the current folder could be corrupted or unreadable for some reason. When you move the mouse over the thumbs/filenames, the EXIF Hotbar attempts to display EXIF information on the bottom status bar. If an error occurs, try turning off the hotbar using "View", "Interface Options", "EXIF Hotbar" and uncheck the option. When starting Qimage, make sure not to move the mouse pointer over the thumbnails until you turn off the EXIF Hotbar. If you are unable to start the program, try starting Qimage in safe mode by holding the shift key as you start the program. You can then turn off the EXIF hotbar and reset the interface to thumbs if you like.
Trouble that includes an error message could indicate problems with corrupted images or memory: see above. Trouble like partial prints, not all prints printing, blank pages, or anything that deals with missing information in prints (with no error message) is usually related to a data bottleneck in the operating system. Due to its print optimization, Qimage sends more data to your printer than most software, so you may or may not see issues with other software while at the same time experiencing trouble with Qimage. The suggestions below will help eliminate printing problems caused by improper Windows configuration:
In Qimage, click "Edit", "Preferences", "Printing Options" and set the spool "Format" to "Raw - Large Prints".
If your printer is on a network and has a print queue, make sure that the queue size limit is large enough to accommodate the data being sent by Qimage.
If problems are still present, try increasing your Windows virtual memory to at least 2 GB.
Printed color or contrast is incorrect when printing large prints:
If your prints appear to have good color for smaller sizes but get too light/dark when you print the same prints at larger sizes, the print driver may be having trouble with its automatic contrast/color feature. Some printers have "enhancement" or "digital photography" features that attempt to auto-adjust contrast and color, however, these automatic enhancement features may fail when printing large prints. Click "File", "Printer Setup" and "Properties" for your printer and browse through all the tabs/features, turning off (unchecking) any features that are described as "auto" or "enhance". With some poorly designed print drivers, auto-adjustment features may not work properly when printing large prints because the driver cannot handle the automatic adjustment when presented with the large amount of data needed for large prints.
Color of prints does not match other software:
Unless you are using PIM, EXIF Print, or some other proprietary printing technology, Qimage can match printed color to any other application. The key in matching printed color is to ensure that the print driver settings are the same in both programs and that ICC profiles are being utilized in the same way. As long as you use the same print driver settings, you load the image using the same color space for the image, and your printer ICC profile is the same (labeled "Prtr ICC" or "Print Space), the color of your prints should be identical in Qimage compared to other "high end" imaging software. For example, both Qimage and PhotoShop render identical printed color as long as the print driver settings and color management settings (ICC profiles) are the same. If there is a difference, your settings are different either in the print driver or in the color management settings, so you will need to recheck all settings carefully.
Print resolution listed above preview page does not match DPI selected in driver:
This is actually not an indication of a problem. The resolution (DPI) selected in the print driver properties indicates the resolution of the printer itself. Qimage reports the native resolution of the print driver, i.e. the PPI that the driver suggests using when passing information to the driver. You may, for example, select 2880 DPI resolution but Qimage reports 720 x 720 over the small preview page on the main window. This is normal since Qimage will send the data to the driver at 720 x 720 and the driver is then responsible for placing the actual dot patterns at 2880 DPI. Simply put, your actual prints will be printed with the DPI selected in the driver.
Trouble selecting a page size other than 8.5 x 11:
The page size in Qimage is selected via the print driver. Click "File", "Printer Setup" and change the size of the page from the properties of your printer.
"Stream write error" or "unable to create {q}work.{q}":
Error messages such as "stream write error" or "unable to create {q}work.{q}" may indicate a problem writing to your hard drive.
Qimage uses the installation folder (normally \program files\qimage) to cache data, so the drive where Qimage is installed should have plenty of free space. If you are running low on drive space, you may want to think about reinstalling Qimage on a different disk drive.
Some real time virus scanning utilities, tape backup utilities, third party firewalls, and other software that tries to "intercept" writing of information to the hard drive may be interfering with normal operation of your computer. Some "buggy" utilities might interfere with Qimage's caching of files to the hard drive. Try temporarily disabling such utilities to see if disabling them fixes the problem. If so, check the web site for the utility in question to determine if a fix is available for that utility.
Also ensure that you have write privileges to the folder where you installed Qimage. If the installation folder is read-only, Qimage will not operate properly.
Finally, if you copied any files or restored Qimage from a backup on CD ROM, some files may have been saved in the installation folder as read-only. Ensure that all files in the Qimage installation folder are not marked with the read-only attribute; there should be no files marked read-only in that folder.
"Spool one page at a time" option does not work under Windows NT/2000/XP:
If you are trying to limit the size of print jobs, using the option to "Spool one page at a time" located under "Edit", "Preferences", "Printing Options" can prevent crashes caused by the operating system or print driver not being able to handle large jobs.
Unfortunately, the "Spool one page at a time" option will not work under Windows NT/2000/XP unless you tell the operating system to stop "squelching" print spooler messages. We do this by setting the registry entry named "EnableBroadcastSpoolerStatus" to a value of 1 instead of 0. This can be done by using "RegEdit" to change the value of the registry entry. Please note that if you are unfamiliar with using RegEdit, it can be dangerous to play with values stored there unless you know exactly what they do. Perform the following steps at your own risk!
To configure Windows NT/2000/XP so that "Spool one page
at a time" will work, follow these steps:
- Click "Start", "Run" and type "Regedit" and click "OK"
- Double click to open HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE
- Double click System
- Double click CurrentControlSet
- Double click Control
- Double click Print
- On the right half of the window, you should see an entry
for EnableBroadcastSpoolerStatus.
If the entry does not exist, right click on "Print" on
the left side of the window and select "New",
"DWORD Value". Then type the name:
EnableBroadcastSpoolerStatus. Once this entry has
been located or added, Double click on
EnableBroadcastSpoolerStatus in the right window to
change its value data.- Under "Value data", replace the 0 with a 1
- Click "OK" and close RegEdit
Once the above steps have been performed, Qimage's "Spool one page at a time" should work properly. If you still have trouble spooling with a time delay may be the only option that your system will allow.
Print output is blocky or "pixelated":
You may have print interpolation turned off. Check "Edit", "Preferences", "Printing Options" and make sure that you have the "Hybrid" interpolation method selected and a print interpolation setting of "Max" for maximum quality prints. Also ensure that your print driver settings under "File", "Printer Setup" are set for the proper media type and the highest quality.
Print output is blurry or soft:
Inappropriate print interpolation settings can cause this. Check "Edit", "Preferences", "Printing Options" and make sure that you have the "Hybrid" interpolation method selected and a print interpolation setting of "Max" for maximum quality prints. Also check the sharpening settings on that same window.
Print output has horizontal lines:
This is most likely due to a bad or empty print cartridge. Run your printer through it's nozzle check to determine if the cartridge needs to be replaced.
The size of the print is not what you selected:
The aspect ratio of your image may not agree with the print size you selected. For example, you are printing an image that has an aspect ratio of 4:3 such as an image produced by most consumer level cameras, however, you selected a print size of 4x6 (which is a 3:2 aspect ratio). Qimage will shrink the print to fit within a 4x6 frame so you end up with a 4 x 5.33 inch print. Your image must be cropped to print 4x6 so in order to give Qimage permission to crop the images to obtain an exact print size, simply press the crop button (scissors icon on the "Size" tab) and ensure that the button is down before adding images to the queue.
Your print driver may be modifying the size of your prints. If you have "borderless", "fit to page", or "no margins" selected in your print driver properties, your print driver will resize images and you may not get the size selected. To eliminate this problem, always disable "borderless", "fit to page", and "no margins" under "File", "Printer Setup", "Properties" prior to printing if you need to ensure exact sizes.
Unable to print borderless prints:
Below are the proper steps for creating borderless prints:
Click "File", "Printer Setup", click the "Properties" for your printer and check the borderless option (sometimes called "no margins").
Click the crop button (scissors icon in the "Prints" group) and make sure that the button is in the down position.
Highlight a thumbnail that you wish to print borderless.
Click "Custom" near the lower right of the main window.
Click "Full Page".
The highlighted image will be added to the queue in borderless mode.
If you do not get a borderless print after performing the above steps, the limitation is with your printer/driver. Make sure that the borderless option is available for the type of paper you are using as some paper types do not support borderless printing. Also, if your print driver offers an "amount of extension" under the borderless option, try increasing the amount of extension as there simply may not be enough overspray to cover the entire page.
Prints are not centered on the page even when "Center" positioning is selected:
Qimage works within the printable area defined by your printer. The printable area is the area on the paper that the printer is able to address. Due to limitations in paper loading accuracy, type of paper advance, print head design, and other factors, your printer is most likely not capable of printing on the entire page (unless borderless printing is enabled). Instead, most printers print within a defined (smaller) rectangle on the page. This printable rectangle is usually not centered on the paper. Qimage normally centers images within the printable area on the page, thus ensuring that the entire printable area is used. If you would like to center images on the paper itself, compensating for the fact that your printer doesn't print in the center of the page, there are two options:
Click "File", "Printer Setup" and click "Properties" for your printer. If there is an option called "Printable area" with selections like "Maximum" and "Centered", try switching to the "Centered" mode. This will force your printer to center its printable area and will therefore allow Qimage to print images centered on the physical paper.
Many print drivers do not offer a "centered" printable area option. In this case, you can tell Qimage that you would like to compensate for your printer's off-center printable area. Simply click "Page Formatting", "Margins" and then click the "Center on physical page" button. This will ensure that prints are centered, however, note that the printable area will be slightly reduced.