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Render crashes in HD using FCP…
I’m using FCP to edit 8-bit uncompressed HD. Kona 3 card, Quad G5, 8.5Gbs RAM, Sonnet Tempo SATA card hooked up to two 8 bay raid towers totaling a little over 7TBs… RAID 0. OS X (10.4.7), FCP 5.1.1. The towers have 8 Seagate 500GB drives each… all run through port multiplier into four inputs on the Tempo SATA card.
I have changed computers, Kona 3 cards, memory, reloaded software, trashed prefs, rebuilt permissions, etc. Problem persist. I guess we’ve narrowed it down to the RAID, the Sonnet card or the software. I can’t do anything about the software… and changing the storage would be VERY expensive. Any ideas or experience with this??
Is anyone successfully using a big SATA RAID w/ the Sonnet card?? I’m about to take a sledge hammer to this computer! Is anyone using an XRAID and NOT having problems with 8 or 10-bit uncompressed HD???
Please help!!
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9 Replies
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Contact AJA… the guys there might have a solution. support@aja.com Might just call them too.
There were new drivers posted this week for that capture card too.
I’d not use a SATA for HD… yeah, just what you didn’t want to hear. But if it captures and plays back OK, I don’t think that’s necessarily the problem…
Jerry
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Thanks for the info… I already have the new Kona software installed, and it didn’t fix the issue.
The SATA RAID I’m using reads at about 950Mbs sec and writes at about 550Mbs sec… so speed isn’t the issue. Not sure if something else with the storage hardware might be the problem, though.
Thanks
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I don’t think it’s storage then… I think it’s much more likely a problem with your installation of software or you have some funky RAM chips involved. All that that array is doing is reading and writing, and it works for playback and capture OK so…
All of the rendering process is handled by your CPU thru software and RAM… so likely the software isn’t up to snuff, or the RAM is a problem… Who did you buy the RAM from? Apple?
Have you tested the RAM with any software utility? Best way to check RAM is to only run with a pair at a time and see if the problem shows up with a certain pair of sticks. or is always present no matter what i.e, You don’t need more than a gig or so to run FCP so narrow down the possibly bad ram by seeing if the problem goes away when certain chips are not installed.
You did a clean install of the software right? as in Erase and Install of Tiger, then update, then install Studio, then update, repair permissions… if not that’s the more likely problem I think. I suppose there might be some problem with the array, but don’t think that the crashes during renders would be a problem if all else works with them.
Jerry
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Hey, tedjac…
Just to put your mind at rest. I’m using the Sonnet card with a ProMax 2T array and it works just fine. I’m with Jerry on this one. I’d start removing RAM and see how it reacts.
Is your array a home build or store bought? Who makes the cabinet your drives are located in?
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
The drive cases are from MacGurus and the drives are Seagate 500Gb. I’ve done fresh installs of all the software and reinstalled OS X. Had RAM in and out in various configs… so unless ALL of my RAM is bad, it isn’t the RAM. All other apps work as they should… only FCP is crashing and 98%… during a render.
Funny thing is, I can usually render small pieces by using the in and out marks and doing a render in-to-out (that has crashed, too… just not as often), but doing a Render All will crash it almost every time… usually with the grey screen kernal panic that requires a restart.
I though it might be a corrupt file, but it just crashed in a completely new and clean project… so I’m back to square one.
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Man, this one’s pretty rough… Motherboard? I just don’t think it has anything to do with the array…
Might try pushing the PMU button found on your motherboard. It resets all power system wide. UNPLUG it from power first though. Wait a few secs then repower up…
If the install is clean, and it sounds like it is.. it’s something else.
Jerry
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I actually changed computers… not just motherboards! It is something to do with either the Sonnet Tempo SATA port multiplier card, the SATA RAID itself, or something in FCP or in the way FCP talks to OS X. I am totally worn out trying to fix this and no one seems to have any idea what the problem is.
I have a new SATA card coming next week… so that will eliminate that as a possibility.
Thanks for all of your suggestions… keep ’em coming!
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I know there are very specific requirements for those SATA RAIDs. Are those drives approved?
Jeremy
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I talked to the owner of MacGurus where I got the towers and he said that the Seagates should be fine. He mentioned something about WDC Caviar drives having problems, but I’m not sure what he was implying. My drives are all identical Seagate 500Gb 7200rpm/16Mb cache drives that were all brand new when they went in the cases… I put them in the cases. The RAID seems to work fime for everything else, so I kind of doubt that it’s the problem.
I still am suspect of ther Sonnet SATA card and just ordered one of the new CalDigit cards to test and see if the problem abates.
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