Error on Mac: An error occurred when attempting to change modules

**Littleluk** · 30 Jan 2008, 9:57 pm

Hi there,
I had to reinstall MacOS X Leopard on my MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz Laptop. It was a clean installation, everything was deleted from the HDD. Now the program doesn't work at all. After startup the interface isn't loaded, and I cannot change between modules (an error occured when attempting to change modules). I reinstalled it already a couple of times and deleted the Adobe Files in the Application Support folder in the Library. Additionally I deleted the Lightroom Package from the Receipts folder, so Lightroom should be entirely off my harddrive.

What can I do? It is a brand new catalog, I tried to make a new one, nothing helps. After I launched Lightroom, I cannot even go into the preferences panel.

I am lost. A lot of other people seem to have this problem, but I just wonder why it worked before? I didn't find a solution and the Adobe Support is just terrible.

Thanks,
Luka

**Mick Seymour** · 31 Jan 2008, 1:15 am

Originally Posted by Littleluk;7'78

After startup the interface isn't loaded, and I cannot change between modules (an error occured when attempting to change modules)

Hi Luka

What does "the interface isn't loaded" mean? Which interface? I thought you meant Lightroom's GUI but then you say you get an error changing modules so Lightroom must be displaying somehow.

What version of Lightroom are you trying to reinstall?

**Littleluk** · 31 Jan 2008, 1:18 am

Hi,
I'm talking about 1.31. The interface looks like that, I took a screenshot:

I am glad you answered, I appreciate every single line of help here...

**Mick Seymour** · 31 Jan 2008, 1:30 am

Hmm. I see what you mean.

I don't know the Mac OS so we'll have to wait for a Mac user to come along.

In the meantime, because it might help, why did you have to reinstall OSX Leopard? Was the original installation causing problems?

**Littleluk** · 31 Jan 2008, 1:31 am

I dropped my laptop and the harddrive died, thats why I had to reinstall it... And I had no backup of the OS, just the important data. I have absolutely no idea what to do now since a few other people have the same problem here.

**DonRicklin** · 31 Jan 2008, 5:50 am

You may have more damage than a hard drive on your laptop if you dropped it. I dropped mine and the controller board for the HD died to and even with a new drive it never ran properly agai. You may just need a new Laptop. That is what I ended up doing.

Is LR the only app you are having troubles with on the Laptop now?

Don

**Littleluk** · 31 Jan 2008, 4:15 pm

Oh no, my laptop is working perfectly fine, everything works really great, its just Lightroom that doesn't load the modules, which is really annoying to be honest.

Thanks for replying to the thread, I appreciate your help.

**Victoria Bampton** · 31 Jan 2008, 5:12 pm

When you reinstalled, did you redownload? I'm wondering if there's any chance you could have a dodgy download.

Have you tried starting a fresh catalog? Have you installed any presets or anything like that?

**justindpearson** · 10 Apr 2008, 7:31 pm

Well I've got the same problem. "An error occurred when attempting to change modules." pops up when I switch to print module. On the Adobe forum is says that it Lightroom just has that error with OSX 1'.5

**Victoria Bampton** · 11 Apr 2008, 2:35 am

Hi Justin, welcome to the forum!

You'll be pleased to know that whilst Lightroom DID have that problem with 1'.5 when 1'.5 was first released, they have since fixed it! It was just an incompatibility with a brand new operating system, and it was fixed in the following LR update.

So let's figure out what's going on with your machine.

For a start, which version are you using? 1.4.1 was released last night, so you are probably best to update to that before we go any further.

Once you've done that, let's try a few other things... has the print module ever worked on that machine? Was 1'.5 an upgrade installation or a fresh installation? Is everything else working as you'd expect?

**KED** · 11 Apr 2008, 5:28 pm

Originally Posted by justindpearson;127'2

Well I've got the same problem. "An error occurred when attempting to change modules." pops up when I switch to print module. On the Adobe forum is says that it Lightroom just has that error with OSX 1'.5

I use 1'.5, and get that error message maybe one time in 2' when switching from Library to Develop, but all I have to do is close out the error message and switch again and it has been OK every time. Is your problem more persistent than that?

**garyts** · 11 Apr 2008, 6:27 pm

I just upgraded to 1.4.1 and now I get the "An error occurred when attempting to change modules". I'm on Mac OSX 1'.4.11 (Tiger) on an iMac G5. Everything worked alright before the upgrade. In fact sometimes Lightroom just exits without an error notification after displaying its splash page. It is able to open a Lightroom catalog I copied a month ago without error.

**Victoria Bampton** · 12 Apr 2008, 3:27 am

Sorry to hear you're having trouble Gary. First things first, try the usual troubleshooting steps: http://www.lightroomforums.net/showthread.php?t=1645

And if that doesn't work, we'll see what we can do!

PS. Before doing that, I'd try redownloading and reinstalling - most often this is a result of a corrupted installation, or something not installing properly.

**garyts** · 15 Apr 2008, 9:37 pm

OK, Lightroom mysteriously healed itself. I again accessed the corrupt catalog from a different MAC running Lightroom 1.3. When I accessed the catalog Lightroom didn't do anything. No panels were displayed just the Lightroom bar on the top. I couldn't open another catalog nor create a new one. Lightroom just sat there, unresponsive or so I thought. I finally shut down the Mac and came home.

Much to my surprise when I started Lightroom thinking that I would have to start piecing together my catalog from all the DNG files sprinkled around the drive, Lightroom came to life. What a pleasant surprise. Except it's annoying to wonder what I did to fix it. I did nothing. So if this happens again to anyone I guess my advice is to keep trying to access the catalog. This is not a good testament to the quality of Lightroom.

**Victoria Bampton** · 16 Apr 2008, 3:31 am

Well I'm glad to hear it's working!

Initial thoughts - you said you accessed it from a different Mac? Might be a corrupt installation? Restarting the computer can fix a lot of weird issues too, so it could have even been that!

**Redrie** · 18 Apr 2008, 5:08 pm

Basically, I am having the same problem as Justin - just installed Lightroom 1.1 on my iMac OS X 1'.5.2 (new) and everything works fine except it says "an error occurred when attempting to change modules" when I go to the print module. - I have updated everything on my mac, downloaded updates off of adobe lightroom - still no luck! What do I do?

**Brad Snyder** · 18 Apr 2008, 6:13 pm

Version 1.1 ? is that correct or a typo? 1.4.1 is current

Did you follow the steps in the linked thread in Victoria's 4/12/'8 post?

**anastasia blades** · 2 Jun 2009, 6:10 am

I have tried to use my trial of lightroom 2.3 on my mac os x 1'.4.11 and it keeps saying an 'error occurred' when i try to change modules!
can some one please help? i need to know this programme inside out and not being able to do anything is driving me nuts!

**Kiwigeoff** · 2 Jun 2009, 3:50 pm

Welcome Anastasia, to help us help you could you please take a moment to fill in your signature in the "userCP' that is found in the nav-bar at the top left of the page - thanks.

Look in the troubleshooting and tips forum, but first try renaming or deleting the preferences.

**Victoria Bampton** · 2 Jun 2009, 3:53 pm

Hi anastasia, does this happen trying to switch to ALL modules, or just specific modules? Can you try creating a new user account on your mac, and see if it'll install properly in that account?