Having the same problem, really – REALLY – annoying.
Have tried restarting AE and the computer, seemed to work the first time, but the next time AE f***ed me up again.
Rendering a 3 minut comp, only does 7 seconds and then *PE-BLING* AfterEffects is done – “NO YOU ARE NOT!”
Must say this has only happened after I upgraded my AE (to fix the “need more the 2 frames” render issue).
Now I have this new issue.
Who recommends going back to 5.5 ?