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Timed out, server application never registered to receive message

Hello. So, It's been a while since I last used iMovie, and now I'm having a very difficult time of it sharing to anything or even saving a version to disk. It won't even save to Theater! Each time I do, it gives me the exact same cryptic message: ""timed out, server application never registered to receive message" - and that's even when saving to disc, and not saving to ANY exterior source.


Since I can't find any mention of this message on Google or Duck Duck Go, I am calling upon alla y'all. So, the details on my system:


  • Macbook Pro, 13-inch (early 2011)
  • 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5
  • 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
  • 318 gigs of storage, and yeah, it's about 3.8 gigs left, even with an 500 gig external hard drive running concurrently..
  • Version of iMovie is 10.0.6.

Posted on Mar 19, 2015 7:57 PM

Reply
6 replies

Oct 2, 2015 6:26 AM in response to impboy

I am getting this error as well, but instead of iMovie, I'm getting it in Compressor when using Final Cut Pro X. I'm trying to encode to DVD as MPEG 2 and AC3, but it spends 2 minutes on each, then switches to the other, ultimately completely failing after 12 minutes. ("Failed: 3x Timed out…") I've tried restarting, shutting down overnight and restarting. It was working September 29, 2015. As of yesterday, it hasn't worked since.


The files create in the Finder, but never get beyond "Zero bytes" before they get purged. My deadline for making this disc is TODAY, this very morning, or I miss our airdate and will have to air a flawed episode.


  • Mac Pro (Late 2013), 2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
  • Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
  • 64 GB RAM 1866 MHz DDR3 EEC
  • AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB
  • Final Cut Pro 10.2.2
  • Compressor 4.2.1
  • Target drive has 3.37 TB free
  • Most recent Apple update was Safari 9.0
  • iPhoto 9.6.1 listed as available but won't install
  • More recent third-party updates were FxFactory and Little Snitch.

Oct 3, 2015 5:06 PM in response to leonot

I found a workaround: ⌘E to Share as Master File (default) from FCPX somewhere, then drop the resulting file into Compressor. Set up your encoding as normal and Submit Batch. That eliminates the need for communication between the applications at the cost of creating a large intermediary file that shouldn't have been necessary.


This allowed me to get my episode transcoded and submitted for air in time. But the underlying problem is serious, especially as it survives a cold restart.

Feb 10, 2016 11:37 AM in response to G. James

This fixed my issues as well. Had an outstanding update for FX Factory. As soon as I shut down FCPX and ran the update, I was able to export again. So either quitting the app and restarting it fixed the problem, or installing the FX Factory update fixed the issue. I'm thinking it's the latter. Thanks for the tip!

Timed out, server application never registered to receive message

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