Iphoto on yosemite crashes when trying to update old photo library

Question

Hi there,
I have a Imac 24" from 2008 with 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB memory.
I just upgraded to Yosemite 10.10.1
The iphoto library was old so I downloaded the iphoto library upgrader as instructed and ran it on Iphoto Library (made a backup of the library first)
The upgrader said it would take a while to modify the library which is 38GB big but it completed within a minute or so (that was the first sign of trouble).
When launching Iphoto it opens, says the library needs to be upgraded and then immediately crashes.
We uninstalled and reinstalled Iphoto and the library upgrader, restored the iphoto library backup and the same thing happens again.
Any ideas?
Thank you.

Answer 1

Iphoto runs if we remove the iphoto library and restart the application. At that point we can create a new library but we can't see our old photos or import them
It is a very good sign, that iPhoto can run with a new library.
That iPhoto is still crashing on your main library can mean two things - either the library has a corruption, or it contains image files, that cannot be processed.
Try, if you can rebuild your iPhoto library with iPhoto Library Manager. You can download it here:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/   (the free trial version will suffice for this).  It  will create a copy of your library and relink the original files.  Your original library will remain untouched. But rebuilding with iPhoto Library manager will not be able to save projects, like books, calendars, slideshows.
Read the help pages on the iPhoto Library Manager site:
Rebuilding a corrupted iPhoto library
And the full Help:   http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/Help/table%20of%20contents.html
Make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox  "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
If there are corrupted image files, this will not work. Then you will have to retrieve the original image files from your iPhoto library.