FCP 6.04 won't open on new MBP

I've been working with the MCB for a few months with FCS 2. No problems.
I was on a new project, overloaded with tabs (about 10) above the timeline. Then I imported
a .jpg or two to build a map, and the program crashed. I ran disk utilities, trashed the preferences, turned off the external FW hard drive (Gtech 500G, which has 43 gig free), renamed the project on the desktop, cleaned the desktop, to no avail. Program starts to open, then crashes, asks me to ignore, report, view report. Long string of data in the report. I'm stuck. Any advice would be welcome. As a rule you guys are a great help. I read that the new graphics cards
are giving problems, but don't know if the one I have is problematic.
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 512 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1

Here are the details in the About Mac file

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version: 1.27f1
Serial Number: W88160Z4YJY
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Thanks again

How are your backups and/or Autosave Vault?

That sounds like a project corruption. That file might be useless.

I'd go spelunking for your Autosave Vault while (hopefully) someone else chimes in to say, "nope, not corruption! Here's what to do!"

deb

Well, I'd usually run Console to take a look whenever I have reoccuring problems... But yea, Deb's probably right. Since you trashed preferences, the project may have gotten corrupted.



www.strypesinpost.com

where were those jpeg's stored ? if they were what crashed your app (for whatever reason) and if they were on your main drive, then one possibility is that no amount of unmounting / switching off your external drive will help you, as those same jpeg files will keep loading (and crashing) the system again. if that is the case then try moving/renaming/deleting those jpegs in order to fool FCP into losing track of them, and then try to restart FCP again.

and again, if thats the case then take a look at Digital Heaven's slick new Loader app. a great tool that will help keep media where it ought to be ... drop your ad hoc media imports onto the Loader and it will automatically copy your file into your chosen media directory (on your external one would hope) and import that copy into the selected FCP project. way cool.

Go into the Attic & open the last saved project before the JPEG was imported.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I'm with Andy.
It happens quite often that PSDs or JPEGs corrupt a file. This will lead to an initial crash when you open them in FCP.
Easiest thing is to copy them to an external disk and trash the originals. This way FCP makes them offline and doesn't read the bad data.

In most cases this works - hopefully in yours too.

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

> Deb E:
> How are your backups and/or Autosave Vault?
> That sounds like a project corruption. That file might be useless.
> Andy Mees:
> if that is the case then try moving/renaming/deleting those jpegs in order to fool FCP into
> losing track of them, and then try to restart FCP again.

Deb and Andy's troubleshooting steps are sound, but I think they may be jumping ahead a bit. Let's try to implement some simpler things first.

First step to do before you troubleshoot anything is to backup your project file and put it in a safe place -- ie. not anywhere your computer can access them while you troubleshoot. I usually recommend a USB flash drive for that purpose. Date- and time-stamp the backup project file to preserve it.

Now, does FCP launch? If you open it just from Applications or the Dock, without double-clicking on your project file, does FCP launch? Did you have the User Preference "Open last project upon launch" checked? That's an option you never want to use -- if your last open project has been corrupted, as Deb suspects, that option prevents FCP from opening. If your FCP launches fine without that project file, then it's a problem with the file; if FCP crashes even without accessing the file, then it's a software issue and you should dump preferences.

If your system crashed while working with that JPEG, then I'm with Andy -- it's likely something's wrong with the JPEG. However, it's also possible that a corrupt render file created while you were working with the JPEG is causing problems. So first thing I'd do is dump your render files.

If that doesn't help, take a look at the JPEGs outside of FCP, eg. using Photoshop. How large are they? What's the dpi? Overly large still files can crash FCP in a flash. So if you find that your stills are 8000x6000px at 500dpi, for example, you should make smaller versions of them for editing purposes (always preserve the large originals; just don't use them for editing). I tend to recommend no larger than double your Sequence frame size at 72dpi. Also, make sure they are in RGB mode, not CMYK. If that still doesn't help, move ahead with Andy's test by resaving those image files as TIFF/TGA, and then moving them from their original location and out of reach of the project file, see if your project file comes back okay.

Run through the above steps and get back to us.


www.derekmok.com

grafixjoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Go into the Attic & open the last saved project
> before the JPEG was imported.

The Attic?

As usual, without sounding like a sycophant, you guys are terrific.

1.) I found an entry on the Apple discussion forum that suggested opening a new user account and then open FCP in that new account. This worked. Even opened up the project file I was using when the application stopped opening. The suggestion was only to use that account for editing, and leave all other stuff, e-mails, photoshop, etc., in the main user account. The workaround is okay except it requires tailoring the new account to some degree.

2.) The FCP quit before it fully opened. Just tried to stick it's head out of the folder and got stuck, then ducked back in. Once I get it to open, again, in the main user account, I'll uncheck the open last project box.

3.) I'll also try to open an archive project, see if that allows the program to open.

4.) I moved the Jpgs and all, but didn't trash the originals. Good idea. The .jpgs were small, the last one imported before the crash was actually from a previous film I did for the client. I opened up the trusty old G-4 dual 800, loaded the film with a Sony DSR 20 and captured the opening logo sequence. Then made a 'freeze frame' of the logo, exported it as a .jpg and e-mailed it to myself. Downloaded it on the MBP and imported it into the project. It was pretty small and had been milled by FCP before importing.

5.) Don't know what "Console" is and while I've downloaded Digital Heaven's "Loader" haven't tried it. I shall, but would appreciate any tips on these programs and how to use them, as well as Andreas' suggestion of other FCS tools in spherico, etc.

Thanks again.

LP

Following suggestions from Joe and others I went into the "attic" and tried to open the project
from the autosave vault. No go. Also tried to open other projects from the vault. No go. FCP still won't open.

I erased the suspected errant .jpg file from the hard drives, trashed it. Still no go.

I then trashed and burned all the render files. Still no go.

I ran disk utilities to repair permissions. Still no go.

I didn't trash preferences, since a.) I forgot if I have to trash all the preferences for the mac or just the FCP preferences.If the latter, I can't find them.

The program does open, however, as a new user. Go figure? Something is corrupt, but what?

Thanks again

LP

Definitely sounds like your preferences file. Preference files are user-specific, which is why the application opens for a different user.

I use Preference Manager myself, just as a convenience. It lets you dump your Final Cut prefs easily.

[www.digitalrebellion.com]

That's in the FAQ.

[www.lafcpug.org]

Jeff's faster than I am... That's what I use too.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hi all

Preference Manager worked like a charm.

Project opens without having to switch users.

Thanks for the tips.

Still seems to make sense to work in FCP in a separate user account, keep things more streamlined. Any reason not to?

Thanks again

Doing that would open the door to a whole army of problems related to user permissions and access control. It's not really something I would advise.

Quote

The Attic?

Thanx for pointing that out, Kev

Sorry...been on an Avid too long. The VAULT

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.