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FCP Crashes — Unsolvable Mystery?!
Hello!
I’ve recently come across a very strange issue in Final Cut. I’ve done all the trouble shooting I can think of and I realize it might be long shot since I’m not sure where to even start. I am working on a 90 minute feature. It is edited and has come to me to be color graded. When I am prepping my timelines, or even just rendering for playback, final cut crashes. I’ve reinstalled both Final Cut Studio and Leopard, which leads me to believe it’s a hardware conflict issue.
With that in mind, here is my current configuration.
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
2.8 Quad-Core x 2
8 Gb RAM (2 GB Factory, 6 GB from OWC)
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT (slot 1)
Decklink HD Extreme 2 (slot 3)
G-Tech 4-Port, PCIe x4 RAID Controller (slot 4)My hard drive configuration is as follows:
Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB (OSX + Applications)
Seagate ST3750640AS P 750GB (stock HD) – (/Users files)
Samsung Spinpoint HD103UJ 1TB (Scratch drive)
Seagte ST3500630AS 500GB (File Storage)G-Speed Es 2 TB Raid 0 (Capture + Edit Drive)
Software:
Leopard 10.5.3
Final Cut 6.0.3
Decklink 6.7.1
Quicktime 7.5
G-Speed Es 1.6.4The Rundown:
Initially, I had both my OS and everything else on the 750 Gb stock seagate drive. I used an FW800 external drive as my scratch drive. I assumed my crashes were coming from a bottleneck on that drive. So I bought the two Samsung drives, installing nothing but leopard and my applications on one and leaving the other for a scratch drive. While the project loads much faster now, I still have crashes quite often. I used Migration assistant to bring my applications (only) to new install of Leopard.
The feature was shot on the F900 with some additional footage shot on RED. Currently, the timelines have some 1k Proxy files from the RED which are being stored on the 500GB Seagate Drive. Occasionally (not always), when I am scrubbing the 1k Red proxies the crash will specifically mention the redcode plugin. I have the latest version.
I’ve repaired my permissions. When I uninstalled Final Cut Studio to re-install it, I used the FCSRemover. Interestingly
As for as what I am doing when the crash occurs, other then with the RED footage, it feels pretty random. In general, it seems that when I am trying to access date to quickly (i.e. clicking on different parts of a 30 minute timelime rapidly) it crashes. But it also sometimes crashes in the middle of rendering.
My Theory:
Both the eSATA card and the Decklink HD Extreme 2 card want to be in slot 4. However, in the manual it says that you can put the Decklink card in slot 3, which is what I did. I am using the Decklink card to view the footage via HD-SDI at 1080p 23.98 – 8bit.I believe that there might be some sort of conflict between the eSATA card and the Decklink. But I’m afraid that I might have additionally issues if I put the eSATA card in slot 3 when the manual for that specifically says it must be in slot 4.
My other theory is that the something is potentially overheating, but I am not convinced about that.
What I Plan to do next:
I’m going to convert the RED footage to ProRes so I can eliminate that issue. I will then try reinstalling FCP Studio again, deleting all related files by hand as recommended by Apple rather than using the FCPRemover.And finally, taking the sage of advice of the people who have been kind enough to read my tale of woe and bewilderment.
Thanks in advance!
BelalBelal Hibri
Seattle-based Colorist/Video Artist -
1 Reply
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Do you have any 3rd party FX packages installed?
I’ve been having a bunch of problems with BCC 5, on the systems at work. Pretty much any timeline with Boris in it is prone to random crashes, especially while scrubbing and rendering.
Just a thought.
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