Safest way to reinstall FCS2

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

Fcp 6.0.4, Qt 7.5, Os X 10.4.7

Others using FCS2 on Tiger should chime in if I am wrong, but you may want (if you are sticking with Tiger -- as an aside, Leopard is super sweet, FYI) to do a clean install of the OS up to 10.4.11.

The FCP and QT mix I am unclear on, because I am not sure about the order of their release; but the rule of thumb is that you should stick with the version of QT that was current when the version of FCP you are using was released.

I feel for you and the frustration I am sure you are going through. In a perfect world this stuff would be clear cut. If it is any comfort, this is not exclusive to Macs and FCP.

Try searching the Apple Discussion for FCP, you may find the info you need there.

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

The thing is that I've never had FCP on the drive I'm switching to.

You haven't had FCP on that drive… explain to me again briefly what it is you are doing, because I think I'm losing track…

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

I did a permission repair on the fresh OS X install, and got a much of things. Is this normal?

That all looks pretty normal. As long as you see this:

The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

at the end of it with a success message in green, don't worry about it.

[David Tamés]

Originally Posted by Mike Barber

[...] but the rule of thumb is that you should stick with the version of QT that was current when the version of FCP you are using was released [...]

I've been keeping up w/ automatic software updates, now running Mac OS X 10.5.4, QuickTime 7.5.0, FCP 6.0.4 (on a MacBook Pro) and editing has been rock solid. The current combination seems to be doing alright. Maybe it's risky in theory, but I let Software Update install all of the system and ProApps updates as they come. I've found that they usually fix more than they break.

Especially in the early phase of a new versions life, Apple comes out with lots of little updates that fix instabilities. That's why it's usually a good thing to run Software Update after a install from the distribution disks. At least most of the time it works that way. I would not do an UPGRADE without finding out the current issues, but UPDATES are usually an improvement.

That said, for a mission critical project, if a combination of system/QT/FCP is stable, I will not change it until after the project is done.

[Dana Salsbury]

@Mike,

Tom Vandas had given me the advice:

When I installed FCS2 I put in a second system drive, installed the OS, updated all the way to the most recent version of the OS (using the downloadable updates, never use the online software updates), and then finally installed FCS2. I can now boot into one of two system drives. I did this because Apple has always recommended a clean install when building an editing system or installing a major update.

Therefore I cleaned off a 270gb internal that only had media on it. I've installed FCS2 clean onto the new drive and made it my startup drive. I'm about to install FCS2 on it, and if anything strange happens I'm going to erase the drive again and buy Leopard.

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

I've installed FCS2 clean onto the new drive and made it my startup drive. I'm about to install FCS2 on it

I'm confused about whether you have installed or are about to install FCS2. Perhaps my morning coffee just hasn't kicked in, but when I go back through this thread there are some contradicting statements that are making it hard (for me, at least) to really get a clear picture of what you have done or are doing.

[Dana Salsbury]

Hi Mike,

I cleaned off an existing media drive and last night I installed the OS and FCS2. I've made it the startup disk. My former startup drive still hosts the old glitchy OS and FCS2 as a backup for now. The quick keys glitch is resolved, but I don't know about the rest as-of yet. I was previously guilty of having itunes on the main drive, which pry gave the drive instability. Now everything is clean and I've got a new start. It may be that everything works now, but I haven't done rendering or multicam stuff. I have a deadline on Sunday, so I will know very soon.

Whether or not it works, I've got to say thanks to you, Robert, David and Meryem. It's not only a mental resolve, but as our sole income it affects my spouse and one year-old. It means a lot to have your help. :o)

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

I cleaned off an existing media drive and last night I installed the OS and FCS2. I've made it the startup disk. My former startup drive still hosts the old glitchy OS and FCS2 as a backup for now. The quick keys glitch is resolved, but I don't know about the rest as-of yet.

Sounds good. I hope it all goes well. I know how crippling a buggy set-up can be. Once you find your set-up to be stable, lock it down! By that I mean don't do any upgrades unless you know you need them.

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

I was previously guilty of having itunes on the main drive, which pry gave the drive instability.

I very much doubt iTunes had a single thing to do with your issues. It sounds to me that your problems was either

a) a QT + FCP (with possible OS) mis-match
b) a corrupt file, or
c) a bad FCS install

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

Now everything is clean and I've got a new start.

I have a suggestion: it sounds like this machine is used for both professional use (editing, etc) as well as personal use (email, iTunes, etc). Best practice would be to have two machines: one for work, one for personal -- but freelancers/self-employed types like you and I generally don't have that option. As a work around, I have three different users on my Mac Pro: the admin, the editor, and my personal account.

One is the only admin account and is used as the system admin (obviously). The Editor account is used only for my work. Then my personal account is used for listening to iTunes, reading blogs, email, etc.

This way, certain settings, preferences and libraries are isolated. This isn't a magic solution, but it helps me make sure that anything I do for my personal account (like installing a QT codec that FCP won't like) it won't tank things system-wide if it goes awry.

[Dana Salsbury]

I only edit and play iTunes on the quad, but that's great advice.

All quick-keys are working now, and I'm able to use multi-clip most of the time.

I'm getting protection errors when I render, though it's the only open app after a restart.

I'm also getting consistant errors that I'm using the wrong clip settings. I captured the clips on a different Mac, so it may be nothing, although the settings are identical.

I also had to restart to have it recognize my fx1, which hopefully won't be a pattern.

Thoughts?

[Steve Oakley]

I just reading all this....

are you running the computer on a UPS ? bad power can be the source of much weirdness like this. I had a client system that was crashing all day long. I saw it crash when a wall mounted AC unit kicked in. UPS and a change of outlets and problem solved.

if you had error during install on a clean install of the OS, the most likely problem is a bad HD it would also explain some of your other errors and the OS getting corrupted., or possibly a bad installer DVD. does the installer DVD have a lot of scratches on it ? or the OS installer ?. however, if you have cruddy power coming in, that can also cause this as well as kill HD's.

you have to trouble shoot logically, and from one end to the other. you can't just hop around from one thing to another, or assume cause / effect realtionships like "I move the mouse left and it crashes" sort of thing.

its also possible you have bad RAM which can also cause random crashes which lead to app & OS corruption. less likely, but possible is a bad processor, an overheating processor, or a bad mobo, but those are kind of rare with macs.

you also had a mismatch of 10.4.7 with 6.0.4 which wants 10.4.11, or ideally 10.5.4 + QT 7.5. Software updates works fine for 99% of us. on RARE occasions it does mess up and you have to use a downloaded updater, but thats not standard operation procedure.

[Dana Salsbury]

Steve - great thoughts. It's insane how many things I power with one outlet. I've been keeping my eyes open to a safe alternative to five power strips! I never knew it could cause system abnormalities, though I don't think it's the cause of my fcp probs.

[Dana Salsbury]

As it did before, when I change the speed of the clip it either tells me a conflict occurred during a trim operation or it quits unexpectantly.
Also as it did before, it loads my custom layout differently every time.
:o(

[Steve Oakley]

do you have more then one user account on the machine ? are you setting up more then one ? are you enabling root user ?

loading the wrong preset is a hint that FCP is using prefs in another user account, or even from the trash on weird occasion.

try creating a new user account, log into that account, then run FCP, set it up, quit FCP, then reopen FCP and see what it does.

[Dana Salsbury]

I'm the only user. I may physically take the other drive out of the quad to make sure.

About half the time I'm getting a "General Error" without explanation when I render to QT. The common thread with the renders that fail are that they have a lot of green in the timeline. If I render to preview before rendering to QT it helps, but I also get the same error rendering to preview. That's the same as before.

It also won't let me click to answer any prompt, though I can hit return.

Totally different HD, fresh OS install and fresh FCS2 install. :o(

I don't know how to sterilize the environment any more than I have.

Options:
1. UPS
2. Upgrade to Leopard
3. ?

[Dana Salsbury]

...I'm getting the same general error at the same spot on my Macbook Pro, so the capture file must be corrupt, which also happens alot. I'm really wondering if this is a power consistency issue, especially since I have 15 plugs in one outlet.

[Steve Oakley]

bad power can manifest itself is several common ways -
random crashes
random media file corruption
random OS & app corruption
premature HD failure
other weird unrepeatable problems

one of the most common problems is spikes on the power line, and the second most are brown outs where the line level dips. both can happen if there are too many other _high_ draw items on the same line. having 3 computers + monitors could do it, especially if they are all on and doing stuff at the same time which is processor intensive. UPS will smooth out the power dips, and clean up the spikes. you really need to get your power better setup. there can be other problems too with power lines laying in parallel radiating junk from one line to another.

given that you have a situation in which power could be to blame, I'd suggest fixing that first and eliminating it as a possible source of problems first, then do the reinstalls otherwise you'll likely just continue to have problems. if you have one bad media file, its quite possible you could have more. this could be caused by a failing HD which may or may not be power related, it could just be a bad drive.