Delete preferences not working.

I am having problem deleting preference.
It delete some preference but docent delete or reset other, like it docent change timeline time display I can only use HH:MM:SS:FF, it docent change to other.
The A/V output is always on, to change display I have to quit FCPX and change AJA control panel and then restart FCP X.
This two are the most important.
I have use option + command and open FCPX to delete preference.
I have use Digital Rebellion Preference Manager.
I have use Digital Rebellion FCS Remover to delete FCPX then restart and install FCPX again.
I did go to Library > Application Support > Final Cut Pro and delete Layout and command sets.
I repair disk permission.
Nothing works to fix my preference problem.

Mac Pro (Early 2009)
2 x 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
20 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB
AJA Kona LHi
2 x 8TB G-SPEED eS Pro RAID 5
OS X Yosemite 10.10.3
FCP 10.2.1

Thanks Ricky

Hi Ricky,

Create a new admin user account, launch FCP X using the new account and check if you still have the problem. Then report back.

- Ronny

I used to run a MP with that same LHi card in it. Great card, but AJA's software is buggy. Often I had to uninstall and reinstall AJA's software to make things work correctly. I'd totally uninstall the AJA software, then download and install from scratch the latest version.

Thanks Ronny and Ben, I have a client in the morning so I will try this later.
Again thanks.

Ricky

Ben, deleting AJA and reinstalling the lates software didn't fix my problem.

Ronny I created a new administrator account and I don't have the preference problem in FCP X with the new account.

What should I do, from now on should I only use the new administrator user or there is a way to fix the other account.

Thanks Ben and Ronny for the help.

Hey Ricky,

Very often, problems like these are related to corrupt user directories. This also seems the case for you.

Of course you can use the new account from now on, but as this is a completely new and clean account you won't have access to your e-mail and other user related things such as saved passwords, Safari bookmarks etc... You also won't have access to any files stored in the User folders of your original User directory (Movies, Music, Documents etc...).


Fortunately there is a way to fix the directory of the old user account. This will probably also fix the issue and you will be able to keep using your existing account. The procedure is very easy, just follow the instructions in the PDF that I have put on my DropBox drive:

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/83985139/Reb...0and%20reinstall.pdf

NOTE: I have written these instructions for Mavericks, but a lot of people have confirmed that they still work with Yosemite. The only difference is that if you are on Yosemite you probably won't get the warning message in the last step.

- Ronny

Thanks Ronny I really appreciate the help and the PDF.
I will let you know what happen.

Thanks again and have a great weekend.
And if you are a Dad happy father day.

Ronny,

Thank you for this PDF. It'll be a great help since a corrupt user account is (unfortunately) not a totally rare occurrence in my experience.

Corrupt user directories are usually the first suspects when you experience decreasing performance or unexpected GUI issues and deleting application user prefs does not help. That's why testing with a fresh user is always a good procedure when troubleshooting such problems.

Restoring the user directory will solve the problems if the corruption is detected in an early stage. Because FCP X is closely tied to the OS it is also an excellent system diagnostics tool because it will often be the first application that will get issues when there is something going wrong with your system or your user.

When you get frequent problems with your account it may be best to start a fresh account and delete the old one, or go nuclear and do an erase and complete reinstall of your system. In enterprise-level production a monthly or bimonthly re-install of all systems is a very common procedure. When you keep a bootable clone of the fresh startup drive, reinstalling is a breeze. NEVER migrate user settings from an old account to a fresh one, you will also migrate all the problems of the old account.

- Ronny

Ronny, you've mentioned a couple of times lately that production environments re-install system setups every month or 2... By chance do you want to write or can suggest a web page with a good, concise, step-by-step article on how to best do this? Ideally all or in part done by a CarbonCopyCloner script.

Basically details on how to:
+ erase System HD and reinstall the system from Apple servers
+ copy apps and app support files (not prefs etc) from your previous system HD backup
(really hope you're not going to suggest to use orig. app installers for a ton of apps, plugs etc.) .
+ make a clone of this for bi-monthly reinstalls!
Though how does it deal with any system or app updates or additions?!
+ Copy all user data to the various proper locations -
withOUT copying files that just cause problems again (like prefs).
+ anything else I'm missing?
+ Again, ideally all or in part done by a CarbonCopyCloner script.

Hmmm.. should I make this a new thread so others might chime in?

many thanks for your great advice on this forum!!!
freeform

Hi Rand,

I don't know of any web pages about this procedure, but I will be happy to write down how we do this and post it here. Actually it's much easier than you describe and you don't need any reinstalls or scripts. I have a few hectic days coming, so this will have to wait until Wednesday. If I haven't posted back by Thursday, feel free to remind me of doing this: ronnycourtens@mac.com

- Ronny

Excellant!
Most curious how you'd deal with system and app updates that might have been added since last system backup... (I'll wait till later in week for reply.)
Rand

Just to be sure of the long name + short name.

I think that's correct.

- Ronny

Sorry to take so long to replay but I was in the middle of a project.
Ronny today I did the procedure that you include "Rebuilding a problematic user account without a wipe and reinstall"
and I feel that my Mac works much better, it feels faster but I still have the same FCPX preference problem that I can't change timeline time display and can't uncheck A/V output.
When I did the rebuilding a problematic user account steps I did a restart and then repair permission, delete FCPX and AJA software, restart my Mac again and then install FCPX and AJA but I still have the FCPX preference problem.
In my new administrator user account I don't have the problem.
I don't know if there is anything else to do to that user to fix my FCPX preference problem or I should begin to use FCPX with the new user.

Thanks.

If you are feeling that your system works much better using the repaired account, this means that your user account is indeed corrupted. But if you still have some issues in the repaired account that weren't solved by restoring the directory, this means the user is corrupted to the state that it cannot be fixed anymore.

In this case there is only one way out: you will have to use the newly created account from now on. Using the new account only for FCP X and switching to the old user every time you need to access your e-mail or a website is a drag. You cannot (and I repeat: you can NOT) use migration assistant to transfer your personal settings from the corrupt account to the new one because this also would migrate the corruption from the old into the new user.

So you will have to completely rebuild your new account from scratch (e-mail settings, passwords and whatnot).

Or you can go thermonuclear: make a safety copy on an external drive from all your files that are stored in your current user (Movies, Documents, Music, Desktop etc...) then erase your system drive and do a complete re-install. This will restore your machine completely and it should work faster than before. But it's a hell of a job.

- Ronny

Thanks Ronny for all your help.