Exporting from FCP shuts down computer

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Level 1

54 points

Exporting from FCP shuts down computer

I am working with an HDV sequence. When I try to export to a self-contained ProRes sequence, the machine shuts down. The shutdown usually occurs as I hit 'save', sometimes it waits until the stopwatch turns a while, but the shutdown seems tied to that action. This is a reproducable problem, and occurs with a cold machine after startup just as it does with a machine that has been running for a while. When I export a DV sequence, everything proceeds correctly for a few minutes, and then shutdown happens. If I export an unchanged sequence, ie HDV to an HDV output, then no shutdown occurs.

During the process of trying to fix this, I found that when I put the machine to sleep, it will not wake up except by pressing the power button. I then get a grey screen, followed by a blurred display of the pre-sleep screen, followed by a return to the correct pre-sleep screen, with an added warning that the external drive had been incorrectly disconnected. I am able to use the machine for other things since this problem first occurred with no problem so far. I have tried to reproduce the condition in other applications, without any result.

What changed just before the problem: I added a firewire external drive, a total of ten now daisychained, and was exporting to this new drive for the first time when the problem first occurred. I removed the drive and reverted to the drive setup I had previously, but shutdown still occurs whenever I try to export, to whichever of the existing drives. I removed all external drives, and the problem continues. I reset the SMU with no improvement.

Hardware details: MacPro 3,1; external LaCie d2 hard drives, external WD Passport hard drive

OS 10.5.8

FCP 6.0.6

No new software has been added recently. This has been a very stable setup so far.

MacPro 2.8Ghz 8-core, MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Nov 15, 2013 3:22 AM

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Answer 1

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Nov 15, 2013 4:40 AM in response to John Howarth

Sounds like a hardware issue but the part about being able to successfully export using "current settings" & "self contained" suggests something being compromised in the conversion process.

I don't have an answer other than use "current settings" when you export and then emply Compressor for any transcoding to alternative codecs. This is what I do as a matter of course. It doesn't tie up FCP for nealy as long and Compressor with quickclusters can convert it in the background while I go on to other tasks.

Also, 10 firewire drives on a Mac Pro sounds like trouble. Put some 3 TB drives in the Pro and use the firewire drives for archiving purposes only. Internal drives will be 2 - 3x faster than firewire.

Good luck,

x

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Answer 2

John Howarth Author

Level 1

54 points

Nov 15, 2013 5:40 AM in response to Studio X

Thanks for your input, Studio X.

Since my first post, I've discovered that exporting from FCP via Compressor also causes shutdown. Using your suggestion to use a "current settings" exported file in Compressor, outside of FCP, also causes shutdown (but at least you"ve shown me that I can in fact use Compressor outside of FCP, which I hadn't realised previously...).

I already use the 10 firewire drives for archiving and media library storage - active editing happens on internal drives.

Something tells me this may well be a hardware problem.

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Answer 3

Nov 15, 2013 8:59 AM in response to John Howarth

have you done ANY software updates? People have been reporting some issues with hdv after doing a software update. I think (but you'll have to do some searching to confirm) that it was ProApps Quicktime Codecs.

If that is the source of the problem, you may need to reinstall OS and FCP unless someone has a way to revert this. I strongly recommend that you create a bootable clone of your startup drive so if things go south, you can get back to work quickly. Here's a user tip that explains why this is a good idea and how to do it.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2494

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Answer 4

John Howarth Author

Level 1

54 points

Nov 15, 2013 10:25 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

Hi Michael,

I'm still running 10.5.8 with FCP6 on the problem machine, so there have been no recent updates. It's been nice and stable for a long time, and I've had no need to fix it.

I have a Carbon Copy Clone, but that by now will also contain any software glitches that may be causing my problem. I'm presently installing a new 10.5.8 onto a secondary internal hard drive, along with a new installation of FCP. This way I can exclude all the original software and see if the machine performs or if it still fails. That should tell me whether it's soft- or hardware related

Regarding the update issues you referred to: I did recently update my mobile machine to 10.6.8, primarily so I could run Handbrake, and that update did screw up FCS apps, which started to crash on save, amongst other things - the ProKit update was the culprit, and I had to find an earlier version and replace the updated one. In the end, infuriatingly, I'm not sure how I solved the problem, it seemed to follow from a subsequent Software Update after I'd removed the offending ProKit update.

QuickTime was another problem, as the installation update removed QT7, and the QTPro components. Yes, it's possible to avoid that on the installation if you know in advance what can go wrong, but I didn't know that, so it took a bit of work to get it back.

I've no plans yet to update the Leopard on my currently problematic machine.

BTW, regarding your user tip about CCC, it's no longer a free app!

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Answer 5

Nov 19, 2013 8:50 AM in response to John Howarth

I actually changed the user tip about 4 months ago to reflect this, but apparently the revision has to be approved by someone at apple and ... they've apparently got bigger fish to fry. They've got a nerve.

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