.mobi file will not display

[NCRoadRunner]

A while back I converted a file over to .mobi format, and it loads and views with no problems on the Kindle, but can not be viewed on Calibre. When I try to view it the view window opens, the progress 'spinner' goes. After a few minutes the spinner starts to slow, still no document being viewed. Eventually the spinner stops (~5 minutes), and thats it. The document still has not come up. It's not a big issue for me, since it does fine on the Kindle, but something is amis that it will not display on Calibre.Thanks....... Henri

This is the error report that finally came out after 15 minutes:
calibre, version 0.8.26
ERROR: Could not open ebook:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\viewer\main.py", line 64, in run
File "threading.py", line 483, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\iterator.py", line 198, in __enter__
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 204, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\input.py", line 27, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 325, in extract_content
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 950, in add_anchors
MemoryError

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by NCRoadRunner

A while back I converted a file over to .mobi format, and it loads and views with no problems on the Kindle, but can not be viewed on Calibre.

Calibre converts the file to ePub for viewing. The conversion for this file is running out of memory so calibre's viewer will never open it. You might want to use another viewer for Mobi files, like Kindle for PC. You can turn off using the internal viewer for reading mobi files by going to Preferences - Behavior and unchecking the Mobi box in the Use internal viewer for: window.

[NCRoadRunner]

dwanthny,

While I might agree, this PC has 8GB memory, and at no time during the 'open' does the memory utilization go over 45%, and processor utilization over 28%. I have monitored that very closely over several attempts to open this file.

I must be missing something somewhere....

And yes, the file opens correctly in Kindle......

Thanks,
Henri

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by NCRoadRunner

this PC has 8GB memory, and at no time during the 'open' does the memory utilization go over 45%,
...
I must be missing something somewhere...

You aren't missing anything.

According to your numbers it throws up a memory error at around 3.6 gigs. Calibre may run on a 64 bit machine but I'm betting something internal is limited to 32bits because it always seems to error around the same point no matter how much memory you have.

Bottom line if you want to view this file on your PC use a different viewer than Calibre.

[NCRoadRunner]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

You aren't missing anything.

Walt,
Thaks for the input, so basically it's probably calibre not being 64bit capable. That I can understand.....

It was not an important thing as the file opens/operates normally with Kindle
Thanks again,
Henri

[PeterT]

But.... I hate to say it I *REALLY* doubt that even a 64 bit version of calibre would solve that issue for you. It frankly sounds more like there is an issue in the mobi markup that is making calibre upset on doing a conversion.

[NCRoadRunner]

Originally Posted by PeterT

But.... I hate to say it I *REALLY* doubt that even a 64 bit version of calibre would solve that issue for you. It frankly sounds more like there is an issue in the mobi markup that is making calibre upset on doing a conversion.

PeterT,
I posted a similar item on the 'calibre' bug site - They basically washed their hands of it.....

From: bounces@canonical.com [mailto:bounces@canonical.com] On Behalf Of Kovid Goyal
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 10:32 PM
To: henri@themonniers.com
Subject: [Bug 889870] Re: calibre bug 889870

That file is a dictionary, in order to diplay MOBI files calibre has to convert them first. Converting dictionaries requires inordinate amounts of RAM. Your computer is running out of it.

status wontfix

** Changed in: calibre
Status: New => Won't Fix

It is not a big issue for me, but I still think there is something lurking.....
Henri

[theducks]

I agree with petert
If you can open it on a handheld (usually very memory limited) device, 64bit OS RAM limits are not going to fix the problem.

There is something (recursive?) in the markup that sent Calibre deep off into left field.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by theducks

If you can open it on a handheld (usually very memory limited) device

Not to pick nits, but opening it on a handheld and converting a file from mobi to epub for viewing are two different beasts.

Originally Posted by theducks

64bit OS RAM limits are not going to fix the problem.

You are probably right, but we'll never know since even though calibre runs on a 64 bit machine it seems limited to 32 bit memory restrictions. Kovid's response to the bug report seems to indicate it might succeed with enough memory allocated to the program.

[wallcraft]

I agree with the Calibre developers. There is little point in getting dictionary conversion from MOBI to ePub working, because the resulting epub would not be usable as a dictionary anyway.