Suddenly can't import any photos into iPhoto!

Suddenly and inexplicably, I cant import any photos into my iPhoto program. iPhoto has worked fine for years. Now, all of a sudden, no matter how I try to import them (either from my desktop, or from my digital camera), I get the error message: Couldn't create: /Volumes/name of external drive/iPhoto Library/2006/08/21/name of photo. When I click "OK" on the error message dialogue box, I then get the error message "Unreadable files: 1 The following files could not be imported (they may be an unrecognized file type or the files may not contain valid data)." I am reasonably certain that of the 250 or so J-Peg photos I'm presently trying to import, from 2 different cameras, ALL of them can't be corrupt.
First, I tried repairing my disk permissions on my G4. Then, I tried reinstalling iLife 5.0.2. Then I tried reinstalling the OSX 10.3.9 combo pack, and iPhoto 5.0.4. Then I tried again repairing my disk permissions with disk utility. All proved useless to solve the problem.
I also tried dragging my iPhoto preferences to the trash. But I found to my horror that this action completely obliterates all of my iPhoto albums and photo groupings. I did not attempt to import any new photos once I discovered this, as I was fearful doing so might render my loss of my albums permanent. So I retrieved my old preferences from the trash, thus saving my albums and groupings, but also keeping the original importing problem.
What can I do to fix this importing problem without obliterating my albums and groupings? Lots of work has gone into the grouping and categorizing of my albums and photos. Though it would be easy to reimport all of my photos, I would not want to begin to take the time to recreate all of my albums and groupings from scratch. Is there any way these groupings can be preserved? If not, there should be! It's idiotic to think that Apple might not consider all of the time the grouping of albums and songlists represents to the typical user of iPhoto or iTunes.
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
Powerbook G4 (2002) Mac OS X (10.3.9) iPhoto 5.0.4
Powerbook G4 (2002) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Powerbook G4 (2002) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I've found a solution to this problem, thankfully. But it didn't come via rebuilding the iPhoto library.
I didn't want to to a manual rebuild of my original iPhoto library, since I was cautioned that it would involve losing my albums and all notations and filings I'd made concerning my photos. Before I first tinkered with the library, I made a backup copy of the original-defective library onto another external drive. Then I did one more complete "automatic rebuild" of the original/defective library, and found to my horror that the library wouldn't even open any more. It would send up an error message when I'd try to click on it's icon to open the library.
I went back to the backup copy of my iPhoto library (containing all of my albums, groupings, and etc.) and did what I hadn't thought to do in the first place: I simply attempted to import photos (my original difficulty) into this backup iPhoto library. It worked perfectly!!! All photos imported into this backed up copy as if it were the original. And now that I have trashed my "original" and totally defective former iPhoto library, this backup copy is now my new iPhoto library.
I guess whatever was wrong with the old library was shaken out just by making a backup copy. I'm afraid that's about as technical an explanation as I can offer. But maybe doing the same process will help another of you suffering from a similar problem with importing photos. Anyway, a hearty thanks to everyone who responded to this original query of mine. Mac users are truly the best!!! Cheers!

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Click to view full size
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