Ambient Flare Documentation

Setup Wizard Fails to Install CUDA

If CUDA installation fails during setup:

Ensure you have administrator privileges
Check if your NVIDIA GPU is compatible with CUDA 12.4
Try downloading and installing CUDA manually from NVIDIA's website
Rerun the setup wizard after manual installation

Setup Wizard Fails to Install Ollama

If Ollama installation fails:

Check your internet connection
Ensure you have administrator privileges
Download and install Ollama manually from ollama.ai
Verify installation by running ollama --version in a terminal

LLaVA Model Download Fails

If the LLaVA model download fails:

Check that you have at least 5GB of free disk space
Ensure your internet connection is stable
Verify Ollama is running (check system tray/task bar)
Try downloading manually: ollama pull llava in a terminal

Tag-AI Won't Launch

If Tag-AI fails to start:

Check the application logs (see Logs & Diagnostics)
Verify the database isn't corrupted (try creating a fresh one, see Database Management)
Ensure your license is valid and activated
Try reinstalling Tag-AI

License Activation Problems

If you encounter license activation issues:

Ensure you're entering the license key exactly as provided
Check your internet connection (required for activation)
If you get "License already in use" errors, you may need to deactivate on another device
For persistent issues, contact support with your license key information

Setup Wizard Appears Again After Completed Setup

If the setup wizard keeps appearing:

Your config.ini may be missing or corrupted
Ensure setup_complete=true is set in the [setup] section
Check if you have write permissions to the configuration directory

Scan Appears Frozen or Stuck

If a scan appears to stall:

For large images, processing can take time - be patient
Check the output log for error messages
Verify Ollama is running (check system tray/task bar)
Try stopping and restarting the scan
Check if your disk or GPU has run out of memory

Error: "Failed to Connect to Ollama"

If Tag-AI can't connect to Ollama:

Verify Ollama is running (check system tray/task bar)
Try restarting Ollama manually
Check if any firewall is blocking local connections to port 11434
Verify the Ollama endpoint in configuration is correct

Images Failing to Process

Some images might fail during processing for several reasons:

Corrupted or incomplete image files
Unsupported formats or very large images
RAW formats with missing library support
Files that are locked by another application

Failed images are logged to unable_to_do.txt in the Tag-AI directory.

No Results Found for Expected Search

If searches don't return expected results:

Verify the images were successfully processed (check scan logs)
Try broader search terms (fewer keywords)
Check if you're using exact phrase search unnecessarily (try without quotes)
View an image's metadata to see what tags were actually assigned
Remember that the AI may have tagged things differently than expected

Images Appearing in Unexpected Search Results

If images appear in searches that seem unrelated:

Remember that file paths are also searched, not just tags
The AI might have detected elements you didn't expect
Check the image's metadata to see what tags caused the match

Search is Very Slow

If searches take a long time to complete:

Database size might be very large (100,000+ images)
FTS virtual table might need rebuilding
Your storage device might be slow or fragmented
Try more specific search terms to reduce result size

Very Slow Processing Speed

If image processing is extremely slow (less than 1 image per minute):

You're likely in CPU-only mode without GPU acceleration
Check for GPU driver issues
Verify CUDA or ROCm installation
Ensure no other applications are using the GPU
Check the configuration for correct GPU setup

Error: "CUDA Out of Memory"

If you encounter CUDA memory errors:

Close other applications using the GPU
Reduce the target_max_size_mb value in configuration
Your GPU may have insufficient VRAM for the model
Try a smaller LLaVA model variant (e.g., llava:7b)

GPU Not Being Used

If your GPU seems to be ignored:

Check if your GPU is supported (see GPU Acceleration)
Verify CUDA or ROCm is correctly installed
Check the application logs for any GPU detection errors
Update to the latest GPU drivers

Database Locked Error

If you see "database is locked" errors:

Ensure you don't have multiple instances of Tag-AI running
Check if any other application might be accessing the database
Restart Tag-AI
In extreme cases, restart your computer

Database Corruption

Signs of database corruption include:

Error messages containing "malformed database"
Unexpected application crashes when searching or scanning
Missing data that should be present

Try restoring from a backup or creating a fresh database as described in Database Management.

Database Growing Very Large

If your database size seems excessive:

Use the Purge utility to remove references to missing files
The database should be approximately 20MB per 1000 images
Check for database fragmentation (use VACUUM command if familiar with SQLite)

Push Tags to Image Fails

If pushing tags to image files fails:

Check if the files are read-only
Verify you have write permissions for the image locations
Ensure no other applications have the files open
Check if the file format supports metadata writing (some formats have limited support)

Pushed Tags Not Visible in Other Applications

If tags don't appear in other photo applications after pushing:

Some applications may need to rescan or reload the image files
Check if the application supports XMP metadata
Verify the tags were successfully written (check logs)
Try importing the image fresh into the other application

Metadata Editor Not Saving Changes

If changes in the metadata editor aren't saving:

Ensure proper formatting (especially for date fields)
Check for database write permission issues
Verify that the database isn't locked by another process
Watch for error messages in the application output

Common Issues

On this page

Installation Issues