Ableton Forum

Today I got this error message:
Database Error: database diskimage is malformed
after searching a plugin (cmd+f).

System: Mac OsX.6.8 Live 9.03b3 32bit

What should I do???
Search function isn't working anymore.
Is it the beta??

I have no database errors with Live 9.02.

Hi,

the problem is not really specific to the beta. It can basically happen with any Live version, even with Live 8. We assume that the database can become corrupt e.g. after a hardware crash (blue screen / kernel panic) or a sudden power loss while Live was attempting to write something into the database. But there may be other, yet unknown reasons for this. It's relatively unlikely that searching for a plug-in has caused the actual corruption. It might just have triggered a database query on an already faulty region. But that's pure speculation.

If your database is not too large, it would be nice if you could send us a copy of the faulty files to our Support Team, so that we can analyze them here. The database files are located in:

~/your username/library/application support/ableton/live 9.0.3b3/database/

Once you've sent us the files, you can solve the problem by deleting all files that are located in the aforementioned folder. Make sure that Live is NOT running when you do this. Then launch 9.0.3b3 and wait until it has rescanned your library. You could also try to search for the plug-in again, just to see if the problem reoccurs or not.

Best,
Nico


edit: Please also send us the "log.txt" file, which is located here:

~/your username/library/preferences/ableton/live 9.0.3b3/

I also had this problem today just after a cmd-f, while typing for a Live device (filter delay if I remember well). With 9.0.1 on OSX 6.8.
After the error message box, the browser was empty, I couldn't enter any entry or select any folder...
The bug was resolved after a double cmb-alt-b to close and re-open the browser (I'm not sure if I tried to close it with the little arrow though as I never use it, but except this I'm 100% sure nothing browser-related was reacting to clicking).

[nis] wrote:Hi,

the problem is not really specific to the beta. It can basically happen with any Live version, even with Live 8. We assume that the database can become corrupt e.g. after a hardware crash (blue screen / kernel panic) or a sudden power loss while Live was attempting to write something into the database. But there may be other, yet unknown reasons for this. It's relatively unlikely that searching for a plug-in has caused the actual corruption. It might just have triggered a database query on an already faulty region. But that's pure speculation.

If your database is not too large, it would be nice if you could send us a copy of the faulty files to our Support Team, so that we can analyze them here. The database files are located in:

~/your username/library/application support/ableton/live 9.0.3b3/database/

Once you've sent us the files, you can solve the problem by deleting all files that are located in the aforementioned folder. Make sure that Live is NOT running when you do this. Then launch 9.0.3b3 and wait until it has rescanned your library. You could also try to search for the plug-in again, just to see if the problem reoccurs or not.

Best,
Nico


edit: Please also send us the "log.txt" file, which is located here:

~/your username/library/preferences/ableton/live 9.0.3b3/

Hi Nico!

My database is about 400mb. A bit large to send... but I will upload it to sendspace today (incl. the log.txt file).
BTW. I don't have any problems with 9.02...

best,
Marcus

Still no database error with 903b4!!

best,
Marcus