big trouble....or not???

I am working on a timeline that is currently an hour and 10 minutes long. Today all of a sudden final cut is crashing and sticking, audio is static and I've gone to solid green and huge aliasing. I made a new project with just my sequences thinking that would lessen the load on my processor instead of having the project with all the media.
Am I done for????
thx
Nancy

You're never "done for" if you're prepared.

First of all, the solid green and crashes point to a corruption. It can be your project file or your media. It can also be software or computer hardware. The list of suspects is very long.

Did you do any software updates recently? Did you add any new media to the project?

Bear in mind, corruptions don't have to mean new additions to the equation. Pre-existing files which have worked perfectly for two years could become corrupted.

I'd do the following in order:

1. First, backup your current project file. Make a copy and date- and time-stamp it so you know where it is, and back it up to a drive location not currently in use. I'll call this the "archived project". Do not use the archived project for troubleshooting. Check your Autosave Vault to make sure it's been working before and during your recent troubles.

2. Check to make sure your media is secure. If it's tapeless media, did you back it up before you started editing? You should have. If not, now may be a good time to do that. Backup everything that isn't expendable so that if the problem gets more serious, you have some insurance.

3. Dump FCP preferences, repair permissions. Restart the computer and relaunch FCP and the project. Dump the render files. Do the problems still exist?

4. Check all your drives, make sure you're not overfilling any drive connected to the system ("overfilling" means you fill up more than 90 per cent of any drive) . Run diagnostic software (Disk Utility's Repair Disk, DiskWarrior) on your system drive and media drive. Restart and relaunch. Any improvements?

5. Start a brand-new project file, one that has no ties to the old one, and re-import your media to it a group at a time. Do the problems come back up?

6. Copy your project file again to your computer's system drive (Macintosh HD) and rename it to something like "[Project Name} Test". Now disconnect all your media drives if possible. Now launch the test project with the media unavailable. You should get a project file with all "Media Offline". Do the FCP problems still exist? If not, then reconnect the media drive and reconnect the media a few at a time. See if you can spot when the problems start back up, if they do at all.


www.derekmok.com

THANK YOU!!!!!
It fixed right up after trashing preferences. I got lucky.
THANKS AGAIN, I can now stop sweating and call my producer back into the room.
Thanks Derek.
Evarita
p.s. I'm printing out and note booking forever your response.
Thanks again.