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FCP won’t open
MacPro 2×3 GHz Intel, 9 GB ram, HDOne RAID, OS X 10.6.5; FCS 3, FCP 7–(have upgraded regularly but not recently)
I haven’t added anything to the system except PluralEyes and the Trapcode Suite 10 in the last month, and have not added anything at all in several weeks of reliable editing. Don’t have any fancy plug-ins in the current projects, just in off-line phase.
Sequence of events:
1. was editing large, mainly HD project
2. opened additional project (old SD project)
3. crash
4. tried restart; FCP wouldn’t open.
5. removed the SD project that seemed to cause the crash
6. trashed prefs
7. reset PRAM
8. repaired permissions on boot drive
9. tried reloading FCS software, but the installation list grayed out all but some small extras that I’d never installed beforeFCP still won’t open. The next thing I can think of is to uninstall FCS and reinstall it. How do I do the uninstall, and should I do something else first?
Deadline today, so would appreciate any advice.
EDIT: I have a recent clone of my system drive via Carbon Copy Cloner. I’ve never used a clone before; would you recommend trying to use that before uninstalling and reinstalling FCS?
Bob C
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9 Replies
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[Bob Cole] “I have a recent clone of my system drive via Carbon Copy Cloner. I’ve never used a clone before”
Thats probably your safest bet. Backup any files you have added or changed since the clone and then boot from the clone and clone it back into the main system drive.
One other thing you could test first is to set up a test user account on the computer and try and open FCP. If it opens there then there is something messed up in your user account. If it still does not open up then it is system wide.
**Hindsight is always 1080p**
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Wait a minute. What happens when you try and open FCP?
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Nothing happened when I clicked on the FCP alias on the desktop; the icon seems to expand momentarily, as usual, but that was it.
But I’m back in business. Thanks to your kind advice, along with an emergency phone consult with David Roth Weiss, here is what happened:
I made a copy on another computer, and then deleted (and emptied trash) the project that I thought may have caused the problem, as well as my Important Current Projects.
I tried various emergency remedies from Digital Rebellion. They didn’t have any effect but it’s nice to know they exist. (NOTE: I’m not certain that the Plug-in Manager was irrelevant to the final fix. I’ll test that when I have time, by reactivating the plug-ins that I deactivated with Plug-in Manager. But it didn’t solve the problem by itself, anyway.)
I tried my most recent Carbon Copy Clone. It didn’t work. (LESSON, from D.R.W.: always TEST your clone! LESSON from me: make at least two clones!)
I tried the drive with the older CCC – it worked. I opened my FCP project. It worked. I then Carbon-copy-cloned the clone back onto the system drive. I restarted with the system drive. I looked into restoring files from the Time Capsule but it wasn’t necessary.All is well. Except that I will have to pull an almost-all-nighter to make my deadline. But next time, I will know exactly what to do, and will lose a lot less time as a result. And at least weekly, I’ll be making those Carbon Copy Clones!!!! and testing them.
Thanks all. I really appreciate the support, especially D.R.W.’s patience and expertise.
Bob C.
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Did you try removing your scratch disk and then opening fcp?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Did you try removing your scratch disk”
No. And since FCP is now opening, I don’t know whether I can test that.
But tell me more. By “scratch disk” do you mean the RAID to which the software captures media?
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Yes, exactly. Simply eject/turn off the disk that houses your media before launching FCP. Its a down and dirty way to test for errors.
If fcp still doesn’t open, then you can move on to other trouble shooting tactics.
If it does, it usually means a piece of media went south or is disgruntling fcp.
Working backups are always good, though, as you learned.
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Thanks. Great ideas. I’m going to make myself a list. And a LOT of clones.
btw – a suggestion from David Weiss that bears repeating: if you, like me, have an old RAID inside your MacPro, superseded by a nice big external box, break up that old RAID and turn it into a fleet of Carbon Copy Cloner drives. That’s my next move. It is so great to have clones.
Another question: What is your opinion of Digital Rebellion’s Maintenance Pack? Worth the price? I already have their Preference Manager, which is quite nice.
Thanks again.
Bob C
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Digital rebellion makes great utilities.
It’s one of those things, like Disk Warrior. You don’t need it until you really need it. Know what I mean?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “You don’t need it until you really need it. Know what I mean?”
Oooooh, yes I do.
The thought that keeps running through my mind as I finish off this edit: I don’t really care about Final Cut Studio 4 or XL or whatever they call it; I just want it to be STABLE.
I think I’ll spring for Digital Rebellion’s Final Cut Maintenance Pack. Not that I could really understand what it all meant, but if it helps keep my system healthy, it sounds good to me.
btw – had another crash a few minutes ago. Something about AJA Video Output. But do I worry?
No, I clone.
Bob C
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