DaVinci Lite No Database hell

[Dwaine Maggart]

First, be aware that installing PostgreSQL on a Lion system will add a new postgres user. That user needs to be left intact. If you attempt to remove the postgres user, it will prevent PostgreSQL from working. Also note that you should install Resolve as a user with Admin privileges.

Below is the standard info we send to folks with database issues after an initial Resolve installation. If this doesn’t help, please contact us at davincihelp (at) blackmagic-design.com so we can go into more detail on the issue.

When you install Resolve, the PostgreSQL database application is also installed, and this is what Resolve uses to store project data. Sometimes, PostgreSQL does not install properly, and then you see the database could not connect message.

Look in your Mac Applications folder, and see if you have a PostgreSQL 8.4 folder there. If you do, open the folder and run the Stop Server app. It will likely give you an error message, but that’s OK. Now run the Start Server app. It will either start the server, or give you an error message. If it DOES start the server, then launch Resolve, and see if its happy now. If you see a guest and admin user login icon, then everything is good. If you get an error message when you run Start Server, grab a screen shot and send it to us.

If you don’t have a PostgreSQL 8.4 folder in your Mac Applications folder, then open a Finder window and select the /Library folder. In there, you should see a PostgreSQL folder. Using Finder, rename the PostgreSQL folder to PostgreSQL.bad and then reinstall the Resolve dmg file. You do not need to do an uninstall first, just install Resolve again. After your system restarts, look again in your Mac Applications folder. If you now have a PostgreSQL 8.4 folder in the Applications folder, things are probably good. If you don’t have a PostgreSQL 8.4 folder in the Mac Applications folder, let us know, and we’ll send you a more comprehensive fix for getting PostgreSQL installed. Otherwise, continue below.

Launch Resolve, and see if it has a guest and admin user now. If so, you are good to go. If not, follow the process above to manually run the Start Server app (run Stop Server first). If that’s happy, and launching Resolve still does not show the guest and admin user login icons, then open the Database Manager on the Resolve login page, and see if there is a database listed. If there is, highlight it, and click Select. If that works, it should close the window, and you should see a guest and admin user login icon. If clicking Select does not work, it may tell you the database is not compatible. If so, click Upgrade. After that’s done, then highlight the database in the list, and then click Select. If you don’t have a database in the list at all or you can’t make a database that is listed work, click Create. Take all the defaults shown except the Label and DB Name. Use something like resolve in both those areas. It can be any name you want, but the DB Name must be lower case, and not contain spaces or special characters. Once it’s created, highlight the database in the list, then click Select. Now you should have a guest and admin user.

Dwaine Maggart
Blackmagic Design DaVinci Support

[Dennys Bisogno]

ran the stop app

message: pg_ctl: PID file”/Library/PostGreSQL/8.4?data/Postmaster.pid” does not exist Is server running

Ran Start app and get the following error: waiting for server to start……………could not start server

And of course, if I start resolve – I do not get a link database/

Hope you can help, I like to move to resolve and perhaps your Cinema camera 🙂

[Andrew Smith]

I know this is an old post but it comes near the top in google search for ‘davinici resolve no database’.

Fix is to do with user accounts on OSX, I think an OSX update broke postgres.

Mine was the same problem as above, fixed by creating a new user account in OSX called ‘postgres’ gave it a blank password. Opened up the folder in apps ‘PostgreSQL 8.4’ ran ‘Stop Server’ app (had an error doing this until I created new ‘postgres’ account). Now opened ‘Start Server’ in same folder, came back with a server started message. Opened Resolve lite and everything OK.

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