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User profile for user: mrweckel
mrweckel Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

FCP7 Constant Crashing

Ok, there’s a lot to cover here, so bear with me.


The Set-Up:

-Three Mac Pro work stations- all operating OSX10.6.8 Snow Leopard, FCP 7.0.3, timelines are 1920x1080 XDCAMEX 1080p24

-Station 1- Late 2008, Mac 3,1, 10GB Ram, NVDIA GeForce 8800 GT, 2 x 2.8Ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon

-Station 2- Late 2008, Mac 3,1, 6GB Ram, NVDIA GeForce 8800 GT, 2 x 2.8Ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon

-Station 3- Early 2008, Mac 1,1, 6GB Ram, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, 2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

-EonStor Raid System connected with fiber optic cables through QLogic 1400 switch



The Problem: FCP7 is consistently crashing when the real memory the application is using gets close to the 2.56 gb max. When this happens, we get blue and green flashes, and other glitches before we go down. We have ordered more RAM, reduced project size, got rid of thumbnails, and reduced the number of sequences we have open and this has helped but not completely kept us from crashing.


In the past week, FCP is crashing on stations 1 & 2 randomly, without warning, and without the real memory usage even getting above 2gb (we watch it using activity monitor). We created all new projects and sequences for what we were working on for fear of corrupt files or media. Still no luck.


Additional Notes on Problem:

- We understand that our set-up is dated, but we cannot upgrade to Lion or Mountain Lion because our Raid and QLogic do not work with it (we have tried!)

. We would have to upgrade firmware on the raid, which is potentially dangerous for our drives. The QLogic does not even have a firmware upgrade which means we would have to buy a new one and we don’t have the budget for that.

- The graphics card in station 3, the station that does not crash randomly, is different than the other two (and I think more powerful). Could a graphics card issue be to blame? Any way to test that?

- We have used XDCAM files for storage purposes. We have over 700 hours of footage and cannot turn it all in to prores.

- On that note, we occasionally get Media Not Optimized for Final Cut Pro warnings on random XDCAM files, which we have researched and find that people say should just be ignored.

- Lastly, in the past week when opening certain projects something strange is occurring in regards to reconnecting media. When the reconnect box appears, it shows two drives (that are online) but no actual media to reconnect. Hard to explain. We have stopped opening those projects for fear of them being corrupt.


Solutions We Have Tried:

- Clearing preferences

- Complete reinstall of FCP

- Complete reinstall of OSX

- Cleaning out the towers with canned air

- Deleting excess autosaves, renders, duplicate projects

- Emptied thumbnail cache

- Reducing project file size to below 100mb

- Reducing number of projects open at one time

- Reducing number of sequences open


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Final Cut Pro 7, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 25, 2012 8:42 AM

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11 replies
User profile for user: Michael Grenadier
Michael Grenadier
User level: Level 7
20,374 points

Oct 25, 2012 8:51 AM in response to mrweckel

First of all, I'm working with the same OS and FCP version without any problems. I think this is the ideal combo. Anything newer is probably not ideal even if it is usable.


Did you use preference manager to delete preferences? www.digitalrebellion.com

It makes sure you're doing it properly.


Have you tried creating a new user in system preferences: accounts?


Do you have any 3rd party plugins installed. Digital rebellion also has a plug in manager. Also, they have a crash analyzer that can be very useful.


Have you tried disconnecting your systems via ethernet and airport?


Do you have any antivirus software installed.


Have you tried disconnecting all external devices including the raids? I know your media is there, but try copying some to your startup drive to see if it stops the crashing.

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User profile for user: mrweckel
mrweckel Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 25, 2012 10:24 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thanks for the quick reply!


-We have looked in to pro maintenance pack from digital rebellion. Especially for analyzing crashes. Were never really sure if it was worth the $139 price. I'm leaning towards that it's worth a shot though now.


- We have created new user accounts.


- The only third party plug in we have is the one that allows FCP to log BPAV files in to XDCAM files.


- Airport is always off on our machines.


- No antivirus.


- I guess we're gonn have to test working off the raid to see if that stops the crashing. Obviously a pain, but gonna have to troubleshoot that.


Let you know how these work out. Also, while doing a little analyzing of the most recent crash report, we found a repeated error=code 12 message. People are saying this can be caused by long file names over 32 characters. We have a bunch of those. Any one know anything about that?


The other error code we see repeated is Error: MPEG2Decompressor[0xd8c0b6c0]: failed to initialize AppleVA decoder (-3)

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User profile for user: Michael Grenadier
Michael Grenadier
User level: Level 7
20,374 points

Oct 25, 2012 11:23 AM in response to mrweckel

Yeah, you found my email (I can run but I can't hide). Out of curiousity, where did you find the email address. It used to be available in my profile here, but for some reason or other, it's not anymore.


This is what I get


Graphics Card

This crash appears to have been caused by an issue with your graphics card or graphics drivers.

Common causes:

  • Using a large number of layered tracks.
  • Putting lots of filters on a single clip, especially if that clip is a long-GOP format such as XDCAM or H.264.
  • Running Final Cut Studio on an underpowered graphics card.
  • Running out of graphics memory.

Suggested Actions

  • Render your sequence.
  • Resize any large images in your project to keep them below 4000 x 4000 pixels.
  • Try switching off clip thumbnails in your sequence to improve stability.
  • Update your operating system, as Apple includes new graphics drivers with each OS X point update.
  • Consider purchasing a more powerful graphics card.
  • Since this crash is often caused by overworking the computer, consider the following to minimize the strain on your system:
    • Don't edit MPEG-2, H.264, XDCAM or HDV in the timeline - set your sequence codec to ProRes or else convert it to the ProRes codec.
    • Convert Motion projects to QuickTime movies. If you must have embedded Motion projects in your timeline, make sure they are not too complex.
    • Don't use your system drive as a scratch disk.
    • Make sure your scratch disk has enough throughput to playback the video format you are using plus 20% for overhead. Also make sure it has at least 20% free disk space on it.
    • If you are using multiclips, remember that each camera angle plays back simultaneously, so you need fast enough disks to play back all of your multiclip angles at once.
    • If you are using any third-party filters in your sequence, make sure they are compatible with your version of Final Cut Pro. It's worth checking with the manufacturer for an update.

More Information

This crash is related to OpenGL. Consider updating your operating system or upgrading to a card that supports a later version of OpenGL.

Relevant Line

10/25/12 9:58:22 AM [0x0-0x1e61e6].com.google.Chrome[3369] [3369:-1603762880:139345677376827:ERROR:notification_promo.cc(239)] Malformed JSON: not ntp_notification_promo


Report generated by Crash Analyzer in Pro Maintenance Tools

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User profile for user: mrweckel
mrweckel Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 25, 2012 12:00 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thanks Michael!


This is amazingly helpful and is beginning to confirm a suspicion that I had for a long time: The Graphics Card. The one station that crashes less has a better (non-factory installed) card.


We will do everything else is suggests to minimize strain, and hopefully it helps. If not, maybe its time to look at new graphics cards...



Got the email just by finding your site though google search!

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User profile for user: Luxuriousz
Luxuriousz
User level: Level 1
8 points

Mar 18, 2013 7:47 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

Hi Mchael,


I seem to have something as mentioned above. I created a project and finished it and then wanted to go back and make an edit to the FCP7 file but when reconnecting fcp 7.0.3 does not reconnect with media files. I found 1 or 2 files and then gets stuck. FCP keep searching for the file and in the Activity Monitor I can see that FCP is not responding. I have a Mac Pro and run OSX 10.8.2. I have moved the files from a remote disk to an internal HD on my MacPro, which I have done in the past on other projects and never had this issue.


Any chance you could help out?


Thank you


Suresh


PsUser uploaded file


I have also downloaded Digital Rebellion and have copied the error message in the Crash Analyzer and got the following result:


Invalid Crash Log

Crash Analyzer could not determine the cause of the crash because OS X did not generate a meaningful crash log. Please submit a bug report to Apple to resolve this issue.

Suggested Actions

Submit a bug report to Apple

Report generated by Crash Analyzer in Pro Maintenance Tools

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FCP7 Constant Crashing

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