nguryev

Q: QuickTime X doesn't work after El Capitan update 10.11.5

QuickTime X stoped working after El Capitan update 10.11.5. It doesn't play any file whpitch were played before normally. None. Just black screen. Also it sees the files and it is possible to go forward through the file. Due to this iMovie doesn't work as well. None of the project which was made by it cannot play. It doesn't show any error message it doesn't just work.

QT makes a screenshot movie and shows it normally. VLC works well in the same time.

I have fixed permissions and uninstalled and installed again iMovie. It didn't help.  Nowhere in the internet I haven't find the same problem.

The system is El Capitan 10.11.5 on MacBook Pro 13 (mid 14).

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on May 24, 2016 5:59 AM

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Q: QuickTime X doesn't work after El Capitan update 10.11.5

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  • by RJTUK,

    RJTUK RJTUK May 24, 2016 7:50 AM in response to nguryev
    Level 2 (185 points)
    Notebooks
    May 24, 2016 7:50 AM in response to nguryev

    This is a strange one, though hopefully one that is easy to fix, to test you'll need to switch into another user account on your Mac.

     

    If you don't have another user account enabled follow the steps at OS X El Capitan: Set up users on your Mac or if you have the Guest user enabled you can log into this.

     

    When logged into another account on your machine, try to open QuckTime and check if you have the same problem, if it works we just need to clear the preference files for QuickTime from your account to fix the issue. If the other user account is affected then it may require a re-install of QuickTime which as far as I know can only be done by re-installing OS X now.

     

    To delete QuickTime preferences follow the steps below:

     

    1. Make sure that Quicktime is not running.

     

    2. From your desktop select the Go menu while holding the Option key on your keyboard and select Library open the Preferences folder and drag the following files to your trash:

     

    com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist

    com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX.LSSharedFileList.plist

     

    Restart your Mac and try again.

  • by Snow8,

    Snow8 Snow8 May 29, 2016 7:41 AM in response to RJTUK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 29, 2016 7:41 AM in response to RJTUK

    The same thing happened to me. After the most recent El Capitan 10.11.5. update I can no longer watch quicktime movies in safari. When logged onto another account the same thing happens. I deleted my preferences files as you suggested but the problem remains.

  • by mg2468,

    mg2468 mg2468 Jun 4, 2016 7:57 PM in response to RJTUK
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Quicktime
    Jun 4, 2016 7:57 PM in response to RJTUK

    El Capitan 10.11.5

     

    QuickTime Player can no longer record system sound in new screen recordings.  Video seems fine, but no sound can be reproduced.


    When logged with other user accounts:  same problem.

  • by rpyle,

    rpyle rpyle Jun 27, 2016 12:58 PM in response to nguryev
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 27, 2016 12:58 PM in response to nguryev

    I'm having the same problem. All after updating to 10.11.5. Tried trashing preferences to no avail. Yesterday out of the blue, I forgot that QT was not working an I tried a file and it opened. Today the same files won't open. I can open them in Roxio and MPEG Streamclip.

  • by limvo05,

    limvo05 limvo05 Jun 28, 2016 9:10 PM in response to rpyle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Quicktime
    Jun 28, 2016 9:10 PM in response to rpyle

    I have the same problem. I believe there is something wrong with this version of El Cap as Quicktime is working fine with El Cap build 10.11.3.

     

    Please have the developer fix this problem ASAP!

  • by bdransf1,

    bdransf1 bdransf1 Aug 17, 2016 6:48 PM in response to nguryev
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 17, 2016 6:48 PM in response to nguryev

    So is there any headway with this from Apple?  I decided to upgrade to Cap today and, what do you know, Screen Capture, a feature I use EVERY DAY for work, no longer works.  Suggested fix above does nothing.  Man.... this *****.

  • by Jon Walker,

    Jon Walker Jon Walker Aug 18, 2016 12:01 PM in response to bdransf1
    Level 6 (18,603 points)
    Aug 18, 2016 12:01 PM in response to bdransf1

    So is there any headway with this from Apple?

    This is a user-to-user forum. If you want to report the problem to Apple formally, then use the Product Feedback or Apple Developer Bug Reporter forms as needed. While Apple may monitor these forums on a periodic basis, it rarely participates in these forums once they are up and running on their own.

     

    The problem as stated by the original poster (OP), as well as most follow up posters, provides insufficient information to  provide a specific solution to the stated "issue." That is to say, there could be several different issues at work here for different users. For instance, the above users indicated the problem began following the Mac OS X v10.11.5 upgrade but only one individual indicated that the upgrade was from v10.11.3 to v10.11.5 version of the Mac OS. Thus, if any of the other users were upgrading from a pre-Mavericks version of Mac OS X to El Capitan for the first time, then their problem could be associated with the codecs used to create their files. So the first step in solving the problems here is to determine if the problem is associated with the files themselves, the operating system (embedded QT structures), the QT Player GUI in use, support files associated with the QT Player GUI in use, a system security issue, etc.

     

    Since I have none of the issues mentioned, it appears that only a small percentage of users are affected, and the issues appear to vary widely, I suspect the problem for most of the users here is some sort of corruption introduced during the upgrade (download and installation) process. While rare, this has happened to me on more than occasion over the last several years since Apple switched to software distribution via the internet. In cases where I had a problem, running the installer a second time corrected the problem. If you are uncomfortable performing specific diagnostic actions to locate and fix specific issues, you might try this "general solution" approach.

     

    For more detail oriented users, the following addition information might be of interest...

     

    1. With regard to the use of alternative user accounts mentioned above, this tests whether or not the system and app is working correctly. E.g., if the QT Player works correctly under one user account but not another, then the system/app is probably working correctly but a support file associated with the specific user account has become corrupted. On the other hand, if the problem exists under all user accounts, then the problem is global in nature and is most likely in the app or operating system.

     

    2. If the problem is global, then the next step is to determine if the issue is associated with the app itself or your OS. In this case, you might try reinstalling the app (and all of its associated files) to see if this fixes your issue. If this fixes the problem, then you are done. If not, then you can still try reinstalling the OS as previously mentioned. Unfortunately, the QT X Player is not available as an independent download since it can only be installed on a matching compatible OS version. Further, since many post-Mountain Lion users were actually deleting the QT X GUI (by accident or on purpose) and, thus, self-inflicting QT problems, Apple has currently trapped the OS to prevent user removal and, once again, we are left with using TimeMachine to restore the app or re-installing the entire OS if that doesn't work.

     

    3. Security problems can be more difficult to analyze. Basically they can be associated with the creation of a file using older software apps or hardware devices that create a container file that more recent software/hardware versions now consider a security risk that "could" allow your system to be infected with malware. In most cases there's nothing really wrong with your files and, if you have the ability to do so, simply copying the data from the old file container to a new one will satisfy error trapping and allow the new file to play correctly.

     

    4. If the original files employ legacy or third-part codecs that are no longer compatible with post-Mountain Lion QT X AV structure embeds, then the normal solution is to either transcode content to currently supported compression formats or use a media player that remains playback compatible with your specific content. Luckily, most Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan users should already be familiar with this issue and have taken steps to remedy their individual problems by this time and it is only included here for those switching from older operating systems for the first time.

     

    I personally recommend keeping an external hard drive docking station on hand for various troubleshooting workflows. (I.e., such devices are available from Amazon for as little as $30.) Using such devices can allow a user to "drop in" any available bare SATA HDD and get it up and running in moments with alternate installations of the same or different Mac X operating systems for analysis and testing. I also use it to switch between multi-TB data HDDs to access project files not kept stored on RAID. In any case, this workflow makes it easy to cross connect files and apps under the same or different operating systems to logically troubleshoot issues—particularly after operating system updates.

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