Final Cut Pro X freezing on top spec new 27" iMac, help!

Well, update to 10.8.3 is a slight improvement. The system still stutters and hangs on exactly the same things BUT the entire system lock up now "only" lasts about 30 seconds at a time and then control comes back. It's almost as if they've put in a periodic "reset the affected processes every 30 seconds just in case they've locked up" rather than fixing the issue. It helps and means the risk and additional lost time fr having to force a system restart has gone, but the issue is far from "fixed". If it hadn't been worse before then the current situation would still be unacceptable; it just feels like blessed relief compared to how bad it was!

Your system may have other problems. I did quite a few tests yesterday with the known culprits of this problem, but apart from twice getting a short-lived beachball during rendering there was no lag or any playback problems at all. The beachball was only during render and never in any playback of any material. If you're getting stuttering or playback problems you might consider investigating your system further.

I know this thread is about the iMac, but I am having the same issues mentioned with a brand new Retina Macbook pro 15".

We use the same Nvidia 6xx card, and I think that is where the problem is.

Did a small test this morning, after installing 10.8.3 + CUDA, and a full updated FCP X (no add'ons installed):

21/03/13 08.53.19,701 Final Cut Pro[561]: *** OpenGL error 0x0506 (invalid framebuffer operation) in function "GL_CHECK_CURRENT_ERROR"

I can confirm that my school's brand new 21" iMac with 6xx Nvidia is having the same "error" with freeze --> hard reboot.

So the ball is at Apple + Nvidia to fix this, permenantly.

Sputuk, I totally agree with you

You need to take your machine to a service technician. I've been running the same machine with plugins since late summer without the crashes you're seeing.

Thanks for the suggestion. But we already did that with 2 of the iMac's on our school, comming back with 0 hardware errors. Tech support said to wait for 10.8.3 to see if that solved the issue. 10.8.3 is out and same problem on atleast 10 x 21" 2012 imac's and my 2013 Macbook Pro.

It is not a hardware issue, but a software/driver conflict.

I have this same setup as everyone else on here, minus Final Cut Pro, I use adobe. But I have the same issue in premiere pro as well as after effects. I have a program called "Stellarium" that shows me the night sky and where the stars are at. That program had the same issue until I updated to 10.8.3. I downloaded a graphics card testing program to see where my computer stands when it comes to 3d rendering and got the same issue. Every time I have to hard restart, even when I let it sit for several minutes.

I contacted apple the other day and put this thread in the message to them as well as a note that says they should fix this issue for their customers who spent thousands of dollars to get the best computer offered and now we all feel ripped off.

The apple support called me shortly after and told he has not yet heard of this problem and that because the original poster on this topic dealt with FCP he did not believe it to be the same problem. And suggested that I create a new user account on my computer and see if it runs better on there, which of course it doesn't.

After minutes of me explaining that I believe it is a software/driver issue and that I will be wasting my time bringing it in to apple so they can tell me what I already know. He finally said that I should just wait for an update. I wasn't expecting him to magically fix my problem, but I wanted to let them know that this thread exists and that multiple people are un satisfied with their recent purchases from Apple.

I think the quickest way to get a patch for this is to continually keep on apple with our issues and maybe contact some blogging websites and try to get this problem more public. It seems that when someone finds a problem in the software on the iPhone and you see multiple websites discussing it, they are more dedicated to fixing the issue.

The problem that's been discussed repatedly in this thread does not effect MBPs or 21" iMacs. It speecifically effects iMacs with the 680MX graphics card. I really suggest you need to look at something in the way your systems are set up. I teach a lot of classes with a lot of machines. I just did a conference with 27 21" iMacs, eight hours a day for four days, and did not have anything like you're reporting.

The Pixie Dust vs 680MX issue will be solved for good in the next FCPX update.

a few weeks ago i returned my top spec i mac with the 680 video card as i was having the freeze issues describe in this topic. i followed the recommendation fo the apple support tech of going with the other video card.

this morning i received a new imac 27 with the 675 videocard and so far i have no issues with any of my projects, title or effect and even my plugins from noiseindustries.

happy happy happy!

That's good to know mpx_32. Keep us updated if you run into any problems in the future. This is also my second new iMac and I think I should have done the same.

Hope it's not three months to the next fix. Mine is still stalling and stopping when rendering titles with FCPX and Motion 5. 3D rendering in CS6 is also very slow.

Your tests must have differed from mine. Yes, the stuttering/lockup (including prolonged beach balls which I'm grouping together under the "lock up" short hand description when the system stops responding to things like Magic Mouse gestures and when the CPU etc all report not being busy at the time etc) were during timeline rendering, not playback (well, no worse than ever when unrendered).

The system has passed all hardware tests and the symptoms only arrise when doing certain things and are reproducible etc, all pointing to the issue being only mitigated yet (the system manages to recover when it gets in a mess now) not "solved". NB the lock ups now don't freeze the mouse pointer, but do prevent the system responding to keyboard shortcuts or mouse clicks or rolling over the dock icons, they happen at the same points in the rendering process that locked the system completely before the update, so, I have every confidence that it is not system specific but a continued symptom which has yet to be fully resolved.

NB, its always been possible to work for hours in FCPX if you don't go near those aspects which trigger this - its just that the things I work on tend to need a lot of those things, so I've had to practice how to skirt close to causing crashes and have explored the edges of the issue well and know what to test. Pre update, I've been doing some work where ive been force rebooting 4 or 5 times in 30 mins until I find a point that didn't /quite/ cause a crash while still allowing just about what I wanted, so I feel I've got a good handle now on what will cause the problems, such that I knew exactly when in the work I've done since 10.8.3 would be likely to stutter/crash and I was exactly right...but I was delight when 30 secs later (I timed it as I knew when to expect it) the system sprang back to being fully responsive.

I have a lot of experience in systems teating and diagnostics so I haven't reached my conclusion as to the limited positive impact of the update on this issue lightly or without evidence and reasonable confidence. If your testing shows otherwise, that's great, and it might mean there is a flaw in my diagnostic testing. I am continuing testing and will happily report back if I find anything which indicates my results so far are misleading/erroneous, until then, I stand by them.

@sputuk I have the same setup as you my computer is in top shape and after installing 10.8.3 I have the same behaviour as you have. Yes I was able to render the guilty project that had Pixie Dust title but after considerable long time compared to doing it on the MBP and with freezes every minute or two for a short while then it comes back freezes, comes back freezes etc etc.

I only update because I got an email from Apple asking to do so and suggesting it might fix it and asking me to report back if I still had problems. That in itself confirmed they were guessing and that they had nothing solid to say it had been fixed for sure.

I'll spar all the details of my nasty reply!

Back to work now, I've got stuff to do on Premiere Pro.

Hi mpx_32

I got the configuration of your imac.

FCPX Have the same problem you are reporting.

- Freezing FCPX

- Blank or partionally blank media

- No performance at all

**** happens...

New imac i7 16gb ram fusion drive

FCPX new installed

Even old projects have partially blank thumbnails.

For shure a software problem !

APPLE WORK ON IT SOON !

I think you should read the thread. What you are describing is not symptomatic of what others are seeing with this machine. The issues are very specific and do not include blank thumbnails. You might want to give more details about the system and the media you're working with.