Final Cut Pro freezes after a few seconds on M1 MacBook Pro (Sequoia 15.2)

I can see that there have been several crashes in the last two days. It is quite likely that they are related.

Also, you have Google Updater running in the background. This in the past has been associated with problems with video applications, due to how it at times grabbed the system videotoolbox. In the current version it appears to no longer use the "keystone" daemons (they show as "empty"), but I would not trust this. Consider uninstalling. The major raison d'être for Google software is to syphon your data, anyway.

If you haven't already, try this: start Final Cut Pro while holding down JUST the Option key.

This asks you which library to use. Create a new one. Add some files, and test for a while, then try to close it, and/or quit FCP. Same problem? If not, it is possible that problems were associated with a corrupted library or project.

You seem to have done most of the things I would have suggested.

Is your SSD more than 80% full?

Run etrecheck and post the report here. Note that etrecheck was developed by a respected member of these communities and is perfectly safe.

etrecheck

Incidentally com.apple.FinalCut.plist is what is deleted when you reset the preferences and it should automatically be regenerated after launching FCP.

As Ian recommended, please do run Etrecheck and post the report so we can look for possible issues.

Low disk space, as Ian also suggested, is a very possible cause of trouble.

A few other small notes:

1) You are running Sequoia 15.2 and FCP 11.1.1 - consider updating to the latest Sequoia (if you are not ready or able to upgrade to Tahoe), and updating FCP to the current version, 11.2

2) It may well be that there is a problem with a library - and, probably, one called "Untitled" and stored in your Movies folder (since that is what FCP opens automatically after preferences are deleted).

You could try renaming that to something else, then start FCP while holding Command and Option, and deleting preferences once again; this would have FCP creating a new "Untitled" library. Does it still crash then? If not, it would point to corruption in that particular library.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

On a whim I have just checked my preferences and I do not have com.apple.FinalCut.plist in either of my libraries (I checked both just in case . . . )

Can anyone comment on that?

Have FCP's preferences changed recently?

Good work, Ian.

I went and checked it too. I have a file there, but its modification date is from September, even though I explicitly changed settings today.

As it turns out, the location where Final Cut Pro stores its settings is in more convoluted.

It is strongly recommended to use the Command-Option at start procedure to delete preferences, instead of digging through the folder hierarchy.

In the interest of full disclosure, though, here is where I found the current plist file for Final Cut Pro:

~/Library/Containers/Final Cut Pro/Data/Library/Preferences

On a whim I have just checked my preferences and I do not have com.apple.FinalCut.plist in either of my libraries (I checked both just in case . . . )

Can anyone comment on that?

Have FCP's preferences changed recently?

Thanks Luis. I did not get a reminder email to tell me you had replied in this thread.

Plus I am fed up with the auto generated titles to these questions. I wait a minute for one to be generated only to be told that it is unable to do so!

Where is it or anything else pertaining to FCP?

Note that it's listed alphabetically.