G5 Tiger never crashed this much

[Blake Porter]

OK Jon, after I get this project out I’ll run AHT.
Thanks

[Matt Lyon]

I would for sure ditch the UPS. I’ve definitely witnessed almost the exact same symptoms on a machine with an underpowered UPS. This seems especially likely since your problems got “less worse” when you switched drives … which was probably lower powered and therefore the UPS was slightly less taxed.

Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto

[Ben Holmes]

Interesting to see these replies – my second thought was bad RAM.

If you have a good vendor, try new RAM, or a replacement Mac Pro – see if you get the same issues in your exact same setup. Try the system without the UPS as suggested (we had an underpowered one here kill the only thing it was connected to in a very short power cut, everything else not on the UPS was fine – but it was a temp UPS bought in because the permanent one had failed…)

If your vendor is not willing to do this, get a better one.

Addressing two points above: I’m working right now with a mixture of HDCAM as ProRes, DVCProHD and XDCAM. I see no more instability with XDCAM than the others (ie. nothing really – although these systems have an inexplicable issue with unrendered text in timelines).

Lastly – large stills in FCP? Bad idea all round. Either convert them to a size approximate to your sequence frame size (allowing for some zooming) or use AE or even Motion to export them as video. FCP is VERY unstable with large stills – it cannot manage the memory required well at all. A music piece I cut recently had to have each still resized to something more suitable so I could work with them (it was sort of a collage effect). I ‘cheated’ and did this quickly in preview.

Let us know how you got on…

Edit Out Ltd
—————————-
FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/casestudies/detail.asp?case=therydercup

[Larry Asbell]

Yes, stills larger than 4000 px in either dimension have caused crashes for me but also stills in Greyscale mode will crash FCP almost everytime in my experience. Bring them in to Photoshop and convert them to RGB.

[Larry Asbell]

There is no point in keeping a UPS in your system if doesn’t perform in this test:

Save all your work then pull the UPS’s AC cable out of the wall. If your computer cuts off, then your UPS is not doing anything for you and should be out of your system. You’re better off with a simple power strip until you can replace the battery and confirm that the UPS will supply back-up for at least a few minutes when the mains power goes.

Last week I saw something very strange. In the system I was using, the computer would instantly cut off when the power strip to VTRs and monitors was turned on. I could think of no logical cause until I tried the above test on the computer’s UPS. The test showed that UPS battery was dead. I replaced it, let it charge up and not only did the UPS now supply back up power, but the computer was no longer bothered by switching on the other gear.

Hope this helps.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

If you are using Snow Leopard 10.6.6 and have therefore updated to the current ProKit 6.0.2., read this:

https://www.lafcpug.org/phorum/read.php?1,261655,261655#msg-261655

My crashes stopped IMMEDIATELY on taking this advice.

Best

Harry.

[Rafael Amador]

10.6.6 here. No problems with Pro-Kits or whatever.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Blake Porter]

Got some time – so I ran Apple Hardware Test. I did not select “extended testing”.
Test results: “No trouble found” This test took about 1 min. 15sec.

I have now launched the “Perform extended testing”. I will update you all when complete.

[Blake Porter]

RESULTS ARE IN: The “extended” Apple Hardware Test results: No Trouble Found (50min)

[Ken Jones]

My last guess: Did you install any of the old internal PCI cards from your old G5 into your new Mac Pro?