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Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 consistently crashing on brand new computer
Hi All,
Just wanted to know if anyone may be able to give me some advice on a current dilemma I’m in. I’ve already spent a lot of time on the phone with Apple support and ProApps support and they still haven’t been able to fix my problem (I admit my post is a bit out of desperation because I really can’t figure out what the problem is, this issue has been going on since last year and the computer I have is already a replacement from Apple as they couldn’t figure out the issue so they just threw a brand new computer our way, unfortunately issue STILL not resolved).
I just got a brand new 8-core MacPro a few weeks ago, specs:
- 2 x 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
- 12 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
- 2x ATI Radeon HD 5770
- Blackmagicdesign DeckLink HD Extreme 3D
All the software (OS X and Final Cut Studio) are updated. Hard drive isn’t full and the only software installed is FCS3, Adobe CS5 and MPEG Streamclip (also all the default OSX software).
Now the main issue is that I’m getting “Out of Memory”(I’ve checked the Activity Monitor in Utilities and I am NOT out of memory) warnings from FCP, weird jitter and flashes of black (sometimes it flashes with random colors as well) during playback, and CONSTANT crashing.
The project I’m currently working on is just a 14 minute video, it has 3 different codecs in the timeline (Animation with Alpha layers, Apple ProRes 422 and DV PAL), it’s a bit heavy to render because of all the Alpha layers but I don’t imagine that should cause FCP to perform so poorly.
This EXACT project came from a Quad-Core work station (my initial work station) and I transferred it to this 8-Core which has more than 2x the specs.This issue isn’t only confined to the current project I’m working on, ever since we got the new 8-Core the stability of FCP is very poor for every project that we’ve done on it.
We’ve tried removing the blackmagic card, or trying to use only one of the graphics cards, we’ve done all the basic trouble shooting Apple could throw at us (zero out re-install, disk repair, apple hardware test) and still nothing.
Thanks for reading this far, if you have any ideas or know of any similar situations that you may have resolved, please let me know, I’d really appreciate any help.
Cheers,
DennisDennis Noel Gomez
Video Editor
Motion Graphics Designer
Take One Productions -
11 Replies
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Hi,
I would have singled out the dual Graphics cards but you tried that… so that leaves pictures sizes for stills and perhaps the animation codecs. I know my fcp does not like them. does not crash every time but deifinitely has trouble digesting some of them. You mention “the hard drive”. Surely you are not operating on one single drive (system + apps + media) are you?
patrice
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Bad RAM.
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Hi Patrice,
Thanks for the reply, what I did before with the dual graphics card was basically only plug one in, but both of them are still connected to the machine. I’ll actually try taking one of the graphics cards out (I read in a few forums that mention FCP not liking 2 graphics cards) and see how I go.
As for the picture sizes and animation codec, that was also something that ProApps support kept on mentioning, the thing is the project works fine on a computer that’s even slower but with exact same software which makes me think more and more that the problem isn’t with the project itself or with the codecs being used, but rather with hardware. Only thing is this is a brand new mac, and the unit that was sent back to be replaced by this one had identical specs but it repeated the EXACT same glitches (I don’t know what the odds are of Apple actually sending 2 faulty computers).
As for the hard drive, it actually isn’t partitioned, there’s only one 1TB hard drive installed in the machine, does it make the station work better if 2 hard drives are to be installed? Or do you mean just partitioning the 1 drive?
Thanks again for the feedback.
Cheers,
DennisDennis Noel Gomez
Video Editor
Motion Graphics Designer
Take One Productions -
Hi Martin,
I’ll try the graphics card out first (fingers crossed, taking out one of the 2 graphics cards will fix the problem), otherwise I’ll have to check RAM chips to see if one (or more) of them is faulty.
Before the machine was replaced, I also went through the RAM troubleshooting taking out each RAM chip and seeing if the machine started working better and a technician actually replaced ALL the chips with brand new ones but the problem wasn’t resolved.
I really hope it’s the graphics card, although I tested plugging only 1 graphics card at a time, I never physically removed the graphics card. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you heard of this issues about FCP not liking multiple graphics cards? I only read it recently on a few forums.
Thanks again!
DennisDennis Noel Gomez
Video Editor
Motion Graphics Designer
Take One Productions -
You should get a second hard drive to use for media. You should not be using media and the application from the same drive.
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just for the heck of it, try converting that non pro res footage to pro res.
It’s all the same frame rate right?
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Hi Chris,
I’ll give it a shot with a sequence in this project, the only reason I used the animation codec is because I needed Alpha layers.
Yes they’re all the same frame rate.Thanks for the input!
Dennis
Dennis Noel Gomez
Video Editor
Motion Graphics Designer
Take One Productions -
Hi Mike,
I’ll look into getting another hard drive installed in this computer so all project media are separate from software and OS.
Out of curiosity, does this just make the station more stable? Or does it speed up performance?
Thanks!
Dennis
Dennis Noel Gomez
Video Editor
Motion Graphics Designer
Take One Productions -
Prores 4444 = alpha channel !
Patrice
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Hi Dennis,
I am having the exact same issue as you and have yet to determine what the issue is. I run a post house and have 5 Mac Pros but the ONLY machine that is consistently crashing is my new 2 x 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon. Just like you, I have a 5770 graphics card, ample RAM, and a BlackMagic Multibridge Eclipse card. It doesn’t seem to be a codec issue, as the same thing happens with ProRes, XD, or animation.
Bottom line – something seems to be wrong with this machine and I can’t figure it out. It crashes all the time, preceded by flickering footage. Have you had any luck with this? Anyone else? This is driving me crazy!
Thanks,
Josh Cramer
House of Trim
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