iMovie Quits Unexpectedly!

Try deleting iMovie's preference file. It's named "com.apple.iMovieApp.plist" and is located in your User/Library/Preferences folder. With iMovie closed, drag the file to the Desktop. Now try opening iMovie. If successful, iMovie will rebuild the .plist file with the default preference settings. If all works OK, drag the old .plist file to the Trash.

You can change the default settings to your own preference - from iMovie's menu select iMovie>Preferences and make changes in each of the tabs.

The preference file can become corrupted in some circumstances, such as when iMovie quits unexpectedly or is Force Quit. Trashing the file usually fixes any abnormal behaviour by iMovie, and will not harm your Events or Projects.

NOTE: Looking at the log you posted, you should upgrade to the latest version 9.0.2 (Build 1099) - looks like you are still on the original version 9.0 (Build 1073).

John

Message was edited by: John Cogdell - added NOTE

I have a similar problem, except that in my scenario, I don't even get a crash report I get thrown all the way out to the logon window... any thoughts?

What iMovie version are you running? Have you tried deleting the preference file as described in my earlier response to georgia96? If you are on iMovie '09, the preference file is named "com.apple.iMovie8.plist" - earlier versions have a similar name (some without a version number).

Also, try opening iMovie in a different user account. There may be a conflict with a QuickTime 3rd party plugin, such as early versions of Flip4Mac or Perian. If you have these, update to the latest versions or trash them.

John

it's iMovie '11 (or version 9.02(1099)) I started by first upgrading perian, but my system still crashed. Then I tried removing Flip4Mac, crash. Finally I removed DivX and still a crash though now it took longer it wouldn't just crash first time up. Lastly, I located all the com.apple.iLife files I had iLife08 and iLife09 files in there :-/ moved those to the desktop and restarted iMovie, so far so good. 🙂 I will let you know if I still get another crash, but I've been using it for hours and all looks well those darn plist files! 😀

Thanks for the advise.

Thanks for letting us know. Usually when iMovie is misbehaving, the very first thing to try is deleting the preference file, then move on to other things if necessary.

John

I have a similar situation. I get a different crash report, though. I am running iMovie 9.0.2 which crashes immediately upon opening. I looked for preferences and there aren't any in the user preferences folder. I tried to reinstall from the system disk and it is "grayed" out and next to it says "skipped." ??????

georgia96 wrote:

....any more suggestions?

Nothing I can think of at the moment, but did you try opening iMovie in a different user account?

In reply to seecoolguy, I said:

"Also, try opening iMovie in a different user account. There may be a conflict with a QuickTime 3rd party plugin, such as early versions of Flip4Mac or Perian. If you have these, update to the latest versions or trash them."

John

Yes, but no luck. This is the error I get:

Dyld Error Message:

Symbol not found: _kCGImagePropertyRenderingDepth

Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit

Expected in: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Application Services

in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit

I have the exact same problem except that I went so far as to wipe my hard drive clean, reinstall my OS and all the software, install all the updates, and then, BEFORE reinstalling files that I had backed up, I tried launching iMovie on the clean software...same result. My problems started about the same time as Goergia 96. Maybe the recent OS update created this problem. Sure wish someone could find a fix.

This very same thing started happening when I force quit the program while "optimizing videos" which was going to take a very long time. I've tried everything listed here and still get the same report. HELP!

I am having problems with iMovie on Lion... It was working up to yesterday at night, and today, when I tried opening it, Quitting unexpectedly all the time. I tried to delete the Preference file, but there is no preference file for iMovie in the folder.

Here are the details:

Process: iMovie [317]

Path: /Applications/iMovie.app/Contents/MacOS/iMovie

Identifier: com.apple.iMovieApp

Version: 9.0.4 (1635)

Build Info: iMovieApp-16350000~2

App Item ID: 408981434

App External ID: 3919357

Code Type: X86 (Native)

Parent Process: launchd [121]

Date/Time: 2012-01-11 13:48:00.452 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.7.2 (11C74)

Report Version: 9

Interval Since Last Report: 1654 sec

Crashes Since Last Report: 13

Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 145 sec

Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 13

DanWDW wrote:

I tried to delete the Preference file, but there is no preference file for iMovie in the folder.

The preference file is in your User (Home) folder - Library/Preferences (not in the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences folder).

As you are on Lion (10.7.2), the User/Library folder is hidden. To access it, while in Finder view Option click on Go in the menu and the Library folder will appear in the drop down list (click on the Desktop to be in Finder view).

Now that you can access the Library folder, go to the Preferences folder. Here you will find iMovie's preference file - for iMovie '11 (version 9.0.4) it is named "com.apple.iMovieApp.plist". Drag this file to the Trash, but close iMovie first if it is open. When next opened iMovie will create a fresh preference file with the default settings. The settings can be changed in the iMovie menu item iMovie>Preferences.

After doing this, if all seems OK you can empty the Trash.

John

I'm having the same problem but I definitely don't have the imovieAPP in my preferences here:

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AccountsConfigServer.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.airport.opproam.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent.launchd

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.applepushserviced.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.applepushserviced.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.BezelServices.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.BezelServices.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ByteRangeLocking.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.captive.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CoreRAIDServer.cfdb

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dockfixup.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.headerdoc.exampletocteplate.html

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.P2PSupervisor.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.pcast_integration.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.systemidentities.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.servermgrd.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist.lockfile

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist.lockfile

Is there something else I should be deleting? Thanks

I'm not sure what "localhost" refers to in your list of files, but it appears that you are looking in the Library folder at the top level (or perhaps in a shared folder), rather than in your User Library folder. See my last post for more information. As explained, there are 2 Library folders - the iMovie preference file is in your Home folder (your user name) Library>Preferences.

John