Upgrade StorageZotero error during start-up
Hello Zotero developers,
I hope you might be able to assist me with my issue regarding start-up errors with Zotero. Here is a description of events experienced (to the best of my ability to describe them):
1) Start Zotero.
2) Zotero main window opens, green loading bar overlay appears.
3) (10-15s later) green loading bar disappears, Zotero main window appears as follows:
3a) left-hand side: collection pane appears, last collection is highlighted and name of collection appears in the main window bar (e.g., collection is named "**start", window bar shows "**start - Zotero".
3b) center pane: "loading items" message appears.
3c) right-hand side: item pane appears blank: both the dropdown button ("no article selected is greyed out, "manage lookup engines" is clickable at first) and the "sync" button are visible and clickable, but anything within the pane itself (i.e., where the detailed information for individual items can be seen/edited) is not loaded.
4) Zotero eventually freezes, and the following is observed (either by itself or together with the other events, depending on the start-up attempt):
4a) Windows pop-up indicates the program is not working and triggers the "close program" message
4b) Zotero closes (either forced by windows or apparently by itself)
4c) Error message from Zotero pops up ("Error: Zotero was unable to load the translators and styles", with the "More information", "Report Error" and "Cancel" options)
Sometimes, I'm still able to interact with Zotero before it freezes, or after the above messages in 4c) by selecting "Cancel". I observed so far three different messages when I manage to select "Report errors" from the "Help" menu:
A) immediately after the green loading bar disappears and the main screen is loaded and before Zotero starts to become non-responsive: no error message is observed (e.g.: ID 1732053115).
B) after Zotero starts to become non-responsive, and message 4c) above is not seen: error message below is logged (e.g., ID 1375944555)
[JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Failure arg 0 [mozIStorageResultSet.getNextRow]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 768}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 506}]
version => 6.0.5, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.5, extensions => Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension), Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension, disabled)
C) after Zotero starts to become non-responsive, and after message 4c) above is shown and option "Cancel" is selected: error message below is logged (e.g., ID 192754986)
[JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Failure arg 0 [mozIStorageResultSet.getNextRow]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 768}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 506}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
version => 6.0.5, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.5, extensions => Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension), Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension, disabled)
I tried to restart Zotero with the logging enabled, but I'm not able to submit the output before the program freezes. I also tried to use the flag "-ZoteroDebug" but both times the program freezes and crashes before I can submit the output from the separate window. If I use the flag "-jsconsole", I only see blue shaded messages (which I assume are warnings) and no pink background ones (as per instructions from the documentation), before the program also freezes and crashes (therefore I'm not sure whether a pink background message is generated or not).
I used the "-ZoteroDebugText" and "-console" flags, and I managed to copy and paste the command window messages before it also eventually crashed and closed. I've saved two separate instances, once with the item pane in standard view, once when "stacked view" was selected (if that matters at all), and sent them as text files to the support email.
I don't have the expertise to troubleshoot the messages, but I noticed that the series of messages in the format "Trying to restore persist data for #zotero-items-column-XXXX but elem not found", where XXXX varies and appears to refer to different item elements for a given entry, is logged roughly when the program appears to load (i.e., when the green loading bar disappears). Other than that, I hope the logs will be useful in understanding the problem.
As far as I can recall, when I first experienced the issue with the item pane "blanking out" I was in the process of importing into Zotero a set of references using the BibTex format (.bib). At first, I thought the program had frozen due the large size of my collection/library, but upon restarting Zotero I have been experiencing the start-up issues since.
Thank you very much for your attention and hopefully this is something you might be able to diagnose and instruct me on how to fix!
I hope you might be able to assist me with my issue regarding start-up errors with Zotero. Here is a description of events experienced (to the best of my ability to describe them):
1) Start Zotero.
2) Zotero main window opens, green loading bar overlay appears.
3) (10-15s later) green loading bar disappears, Zotero main window appears as follows:
3a) left-hand side: collection pane appears, last collection is highlighted and name of collection appears in the main window bar (e.g., collection is named "**start", window bar shows "**start - Zotero".
3b) center pane: "loading items" message appears.
3c) right-hand side: item pane appears blank: both the dropdown button ("no article selected is greyed out, "manage lookup engines" is clickable at first) and the "sync" button are visible and clickable, but anything within the pane itself (i.e., where the detailed information for individual items can be seen/edited) is not loaded.
4) Zotero eventually freezes, and the following is observed (either by itself or together with the other events, depending on the start-up attempt):
4a) Windows pop-up indicates the program is not working and triggers the "close program" message
4b) Zotero closes (either forced by windows or apparently by itself)
4c) Error message from Zotero pops up ("Error: Zotero was unable to load the translators and styles", with the "More information", "Report Error" and "Cancel" options)
Sometimes, I'm still able to interact with Zotero before it freezes, or after the above messages in 4c) by selecting "Cancel". I observed so far three different messages when I manage to select "Report errors" from the "Help" menu:
A) immediately after the green loading bar disappears and the main screen is loaded and before Zotero starts to become non-responsive: no error message is observed (e.g.: ID 1732053115).
B) after Zotero starts to become non-responsive, and message 4c) above is not seen: error message below is logged (e.g., ID 1375944555)
[JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Failure arg 0 [mozIStorageResultSet.getNextRow]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 768}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 506}]
version => 6.0.5, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.5, extensions => Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension), Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension, disabled)
C) after Zotero starts to become non-responsive, and after message 4c) above is shown and option "Cancel" is selected: error message below is logged (e.g., ID 192754986)
[JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Failure arg 0 [mozIStorageResultSet.getNextRow]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 768}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 506}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncStatement.executeAsync]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 764}]
version => 6.0.5, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.5, extensions => Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension), Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.0.SA.6.0.5, extension, disabled)
I tried to restart Zotero with the logging enabled, but I'm not able to submit the output before the program freezes. I also tried to use the flag "-ZoteroDebug" but both times the program freezes and crashes before I can submit the output from the separate window. If I use the flag "-jsconsole", I only see blue shaded messages (which I assume are warnings) and no pink background ones (as per instructions from the documentation), before the program also freezes and crashes (therefore I'm not sure whether a pink background message is generated or not).
I used the "-ZoteroDebugText" and "-console" flags, and I managed to copy and paste the command window messages before it also eventually crashed and closed. I've saved two separate instances, once with the item pane in standard view, once when "stacked view" was selected (if that matters at all), and sent them as text files to the support email.
I don't have the expertise to troubleshoot the messages, but I noticed that the series of messages in the format "Trying to restore persist data for #zotero-items-column-XXXX but elem not found", where XXXX varies and appears to refer to different item elements for a given entry, is logged roughly when the program appears to load (i.e., when the green loading bar disappears). Other than that, I hope the logs will be useful in understanding the problem.
As far as I can recall, when I first experienced the issue with the item pane "blanking out" I was in the process of importing into Zotero a set of references using the BibTex format (.bib). At first, I thought the program had frozen due the large size of my collection/library, but upon restarting Zotero I have been experiencing the start-up issues since.
Thank you very much for your attention and hopefully this is something you might be able to diagnose and instruct me on how to fix!
If you open Task Manager, how much memory is Zotero as it loads?
It's likely the only fix at the moment is deleting some items or using another OS. It also might work a little better immediately after restarting your computer, but no guarantees there.
Loading Zotero, according to the task manager, it reaches around 700MB by the time the green loading bar pop-up disappears, then steadily climbs to as high as +3200MB (during which time it may show as "not responding" intermittently), eventually decreasing and oscillating around 2600-2700MB in a "limbo" state (which, depending on the start-up attempt, may or may not allow me to interact with the interface, as mentioned in the 4a,4b,4c scenarios above). If the 4c message appears and I manage to interact with the interface, it stays oscillating in the 1200-1500MB range from then onward. I'm currently leaving Zotero open in the background to see if there are any changes.
As you mention the memory limitations associated with the Windows version, is it perhaps connected to the Zotero program being 32-bit in the Win OS version (i.e., program start-up memory requirements + inherent Zotero database loading being greater than the usable memory in the 3-4 GB range limit)? With the current machine I'm unfortunately OS-restricted, so deletion of some items seems to be my only option.
To your second recommendation, If I were to aggressively prune the number of entries in my library, do you happen to have a "rule-of-thumb"/"max live library size" I should have in mind before performance becomes an issue? As you mentioned, the current library is quite large (the .sqlite file is 3.12GB, and the storage folder sits at 66.6GB).
Thank you once again for your feedback and instructions!