Delays: Calibre selectbooks (not responding)

johnelle · 01-22-2019, 09:20 AM

For the last month or so I am getting a long lag (15-30 sec.) when I am doing an add book operation inside a folder. I long suspected some helper app was involved but I noticed that I have a get a little DOS icon in the tray for a few seconds and if I hover over it it shows a Calibre icon/image and "selectbooks (not responding) on the title bar.

Just curious if there is something I can do to get back to something like a 1 sec. delay on popping inside a folder(?) I did use a helper analyzer a while ago to trim some of the "helpers."

kovidgoyal · 01-22-2019, 09:29 AM

calibre does not have any helper program named selectbooks. Its likely coming from something else on our syste, Try running in safe mode and see if it goes away.

johnelle · 02-08-2019, 05:57 AM

I am more convinced that this is in Calibre. My machine is aging but this delay came on in the last few months fairly suddenly and gets slightly longer as the weeks move on...

1) It happens inside the Add Books open file dialog when I am clicking down one level into a folder that contains the actual file I want to load

2) It is clearly context sensitive. If the book is a "new" book it takes 10 sec+ to get into the folder and then select and open the book file. If the book actually exists in the db already its almost instant.

Its as if there is some pre-querying going on in the open file. Also my DB is fairly large and access via share on another local node.

BetterRed · 02-08-2019, 06:10 AM

Did you try running in Safe Mode as previously suggested?

BR

theducks · 02-08-2019, 06:12 AM

Calibre is NOT designed to work on a Network Share or NAS Library.
You might get away for a while, then things happen. Some of them BAD.

Please read the FAQ's at the Calibre help site.

johnelle · 02-10-2019, 11:33 AM

Yeah well thanks for the (unsolicited) advice but I have been running that way for many years. My book files are safely backed up on the NAS and at worst I have to rebuild the DB (never happened).

Virtual storage is current practice and I'm not going backwards for the sake of a single (albeit very useful) program.

Since this is about a local process opening a local file I am pretty sure it has NOTHING to do with the net unless Calibre is hitting the database before the open occurs (i.e. I am still just browsing through local folders at this point).

kovidgoyal · 02-10-2019, 11:35 AM

The add books dialog is implemented in windows (a stndard indows file chooser dialog), there is no calibre code involved at all.

BetterRed · 02-10-2019, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Did you try running in Safe Mode as previously suggested?

BR

Well?

The reason it was suggested is because this sort of problem is often caused by third party applets (which have been known to update themselves silently

). Running in Safe Mode is a quick way to eliminate some of those factors. If the problem doesn't manifest in Safe Mode then you can use something like CCleaner to selectively disable Startup Tasks, Scheduled Tasks and Context Menu items until you find the culprit(s)

BR

DaltonST · 02-11-2019, 09:59 AM

Have you run Calibre in DEBUG mode, then saved and reviewed the log it produces? It may show nothing even if it should (false negative), but doing so is part of due-diligence.

Have you looked in the Windows 10 'Event Viewer' application on the Start Menu for anything suspicious or possibly correlated?

Have you run Task Manager prior to running Calibre and then performing the actions that you described while taking careful note of any DOS Tasks that appear suddenly?

johnelle · 02-13-2019, 06:59 AM

I have run event viewer etc. (I always suspect windows first). I can try calibre debug mode. Never tried that one. I have always suspect that it is one of those "right click" apps (forget their name) and one of the first things I did was prune them.

It is getting worse (up to 20 secs and multiple clicks to open a file). I have a machine upgrade in process so maybe that will help.

theducks · 02-13-2019, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnelle

(I always suspect windows first).

Ain't that the truth.
I have an older XP (Celeron. 1G RAM) machine (I keep it away from the WWW), that runs stuff that won't run in emulation. (same goes for my W7 Laptop), a lot of external hardware is 'not supported' on the newer OS (or Linux)

It now runs as a snail, with only the tiniest of official M$ security updates being applied. I've stripped it down (app wise), cleaned the Registry of broken linkages, and (Not Responding) frequently appears on the titlebar, while there is lots of disk activity.

Do I trust M$ (or any other major), to not 'help convince' me to upgrade my machines/ hardware.

BetterRed · 02-13-2019, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnelle

I have run event viewer etc. (I always suspect windows first). I can try calibre debug mode. Never tried that one. I have always suspect that it is one of those "right click" apps (forget their name) and one of the first things I did was prune them.

It is getting worse (up to 20 secs and multiple clicks to open a file). I have a machine upgrade in process so maybe that will help.

Have you tried Safe Mode yet! As suggested by Kovid Goyal in post #2!

Kovid is the creator of calibre, it's thanks to him that you even have it to complain about - you could at least pay him the courtesy of accepting his advice.

And if you don't trust Microsoft, make sure your new computer comes with MacOS or Linux.

BR

01-22-2019, 09:20 AM	#1
johnelle Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 2137668 Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Groton, MA Device: Kindle app on Samsung Tab	Delays: Calibre selectbooks (not responding) For the last month or so I am getting a long lag (15-30 sec.) when I am doing an add book operation inside a folder. I long suspected some helper app was involved but I noticed that I have a get a little DOS icon in the tray for a few seconds and if I hover over it it shows a Calibre icon/image and "selectbooks (not responding) on the title bar. Just curious if there is something I can do to get back to something like a 1 sec. delay on popping inside a folder(?) I did use a helper analyzer a while ago to trim some of the "helpers."

02-10-2019, 11:33 AM	#6
johnelle Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 2137668 Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Groton, MA Device: Kindle app on Samsung Tab	Aw shucks Yeah well thanks for the (unsolicited) advice but I have been running that way for many years. My book files are safely backed up on the NAS and at worst I have to rebuild the DB (never happened). Virtual storage is current practice and I'm not going backwards for the sake of a single (albeit very useful) program. Since this is about a local process opening a local file I am pretty sure it has NOTHING to do with the net unless Calibre is hitting the database before the open occurs (i.e. I am still just browsing through local folders at this point).

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01-22-2019, 09:29 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,231 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre does not have any helper program named selectbooks. Its likely coming from something else on our syste, Try running in safe mode and see if it goes away.

02-08-2019, 05:57 AM	#3
johnelle Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 2137668 Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Groton, MA Device: Kindle app on Samsung Tab	I am more convinced that this is in Calibre. My machine is aging but this delay came on in the last few months fairly suddenly and gets slightly longer as the weeks move on... 1) It happens inside the Add Books open file dialog when I am clicking down one level into a folder that contains the actual file I want to load 2) It is clearly context sensitive. If the book is a "new" book it takes 10 sec+ to get into the folder and then select and open the book file. If the book actually exists in the db already its almost instant. Its as if there is some pre-querying going on in the open file. Also my DB is fairly large and access via share on another local node.

02-08-2019, 06:10 AM	#4
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,646 Karma: 29710510 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Did you try running in Safe Mode as previously suggested? BR

02-08-2019, 06:12 AM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,923 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre is NOT designed to work on a Network Share or NAS Library. You might get away for a while, then things happen. Some of them BAD. Please read the FAQ's at the Calibre help site.

02-10-2019, 11:35 AM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,231 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The add books dialog is implemented in windows (a stndard indows file chooser dialog), there is no calibre code involved at all.

02-11-2019, 09:59 AM	#9
DaltonST Deviser Posts: 2,265 Karma: 2090983 Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Texas Device: none	Have you run Calibre in DEBUG mode, then saved and reviewed the log it produces? It may show nothing even if it should (false negative), but doing so is part of due-diligence. Have you looked in the Windows 10 'Event Viewer' application on the Start Menu for anything suspicious or possibly correlated? Have you run Task Manager prior to running Calibre and then performing the actions that you described while taking careful note of any DOS Tasks that appear suddenly?

02-13-2019, 06:59 AM	#10
johnelle Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 2137668 Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Groton, MA Device: Kindle app on Samsung Tab	I have run event viewer etc. (I always suspect windows first). I can try calibre debug mode. Never tried that one. I have always suspect that it is one of those "right click" apps (forget their name) and one of the first things I did was prune them. It is getting worse (up to 20 secs and multiple clicks to open a file). I have a machine upgrade in process so maybe that will help.