Crashing all the time and I am going mad

hi this is my first post so please be gentle

FCPX keeps going to spinning wheel. I have done everything suggested in the how-to fixing guides out there including updating and reinstalling. It's 10.4.8 running on Mojave 10.14.6

First crashing was intermittent (not responding) and now it crashes every time upon opening. I feel I am genuinely going mad as a result this afternoon.

Can anybody please advise a course of action?

Thank you

Guy

The free version of Final Cut Library Manager (highly recommended) allows you to create a new, empty Library. By double clicking the latter in the FCLM-list, (thereby launching FCPX without ballast), you should be able to start FCPX.

Once FCP is running - at least for now - check if you have a long row of Libraries open. That's a bad habit. Close all Libraries before you quit, always.

If not, the problem has nothing to do with any corrupted files within an old Library. FCLM also hints to problems in the Libraries, like missing files asf.

Beachballs also appear if you're running out of disk space, a deadly sin. You should check in Disk Utility. If that's the case, the (inexpensive) paid version of FCLM allows you to delete Render, Optimized and Proxy media from within that app. Background rendering is not the devil, but it's for people with a surplus of disk space. Every now and then, you should delete this junk.

You can exclude/confirm problems with external drives (or cables!) by unplugging them and by creating a small test Library on the system drive, exceptionally.

BTW: reinstalling FCPX rarely solves the problem. I'd always try trashing preferences first by pressing alt + cmd before opening FCP.

You could go back in time with Timemachine to the last time it worked (given that you use that). Upside is, you may be able to access your projects quickly and rule out hardware problems. Downside is, well, you can only go back in time ...

We are now on Catalina 10.15.2. Some serious FCP-related bugfixes included. Performance boost of - I don't know exactly - 20 percent? At least clearly perceptible. I strongly recommend a clean install. And after that, also check your FCPX- plugins for updates. Run it first without any.

That's because ALL configuration-related issues will be solved by that. I do that once a year, when a new MacOS is out.

Report.

cheers Axel, I'll take a look at all of this today and come back!

After a process of elimination and all of your helpful suggestions (inc using the library manager) I've come to the conclusion that the problem is isolated to two things:

1. Using multiple basic titles stacked all with a simple transition

it crashes every time iI go to edit one of the transitions in that particular project


2. I've installed a plugin from Pixel Film Studios called Pro Sidebar Duotone and that is also causing a crash.

I'm holding back on moving to Catalina as I run a voiceover production facility and just can't risk the potential issues with Logic and existing plugins.

It seems odd to me that something as simple as the most basic title with a simple transition could cause this repeatedly. I remember reading of someone else having this issue somewhere but no conclusion as to the reason!

I'll start the project over and hopefully this will solve it for now.

Thank you. Very frustrating though and makes me want to move to another editor!

GMT wrote: ...FCPX keeps going to spinning wheel. I have done everything suggested in the how-to fixing guides out there including updating and reinstalling. It's 10.4.8 running on Mojave 10.14.6

First crashing was intermittent (not responding) and now it crashes every time upon opening. I feel I am genuinely going mad as a result this afternoon...

Sorry about your problems. Axel gave some good advice. I and many others are running 10.4.8 on Mojave 10.14.6 with no problems.

Note carefully whether only FCPX is hanging/crashing or if it's the entire MacOS. A single app can hang (go to beach ball) but the entire MS should never, ever hang or crash. No user-mode app should be able to cause this. Each app exists in a totally isolated address space. If by any chance the entire OS is unstable, that is not a FCPX problem but an OS, hardware or configuration issue.

Run Apple Diagnostics. An error-free pass is *not* a clean bill of health, as the test is somewhat basic. However it is easy/quick to run. If it finds anything that is serious: support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731

Please state your hardware details, and drive types. Make sure you have plenty of free drive space (at least 20% free) on all volumes. Do not use FCPX libraries or media on any volume type except HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) or APFS. If any data is on a network drive, state those details and history.

Run Disk Utility First Aid on all volumes, including the boot drive. To properly run this on the boot drive requires you boot to MacOS recovery with CMD+R. This is safe and only needed to ensure Disk Utility has full access to the boot drive without interference. support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

As Axel suggested it's important to reset FCPX preferences and launch FCPX without opening a library. Otherwise if there is a damaged library or project it could crash on each launch attempt. If successful, try to open one small library, then a larger one. If related to a library, try to narrow down which one.

If there is a library problem, or you even suspect this, note all libraries are automatically backed up by FCPX in /Movies/Final Cut Backups. These are compressed versions and not that big. You might want to make a "safety" copy of this entire folder to another location.

You can open a backup library by clicking in the library name in the sidebar, then doing File>Open Library>From Backups. However I suggest you first verify the above backup libraries are safely preserved elsewhere. If your regular library is a "lean" library, meaning media is stored outside the library, in Finder you can right-click and duplicate that as another type of backup. If media is external but the library is big due to cache files, you can delete those in FCPX by selecting the library and picking File>Delete Generated Library files>Delete Render Files>All. If you are using optical flow, you cannot delete those analysis files with FCPX but Final Cut Library Manager allows this.

Another possibility is the library is OK but it's a media problem. Opening one library at a time will help narrow that down.

Yet another possibility is you have an FCPX plugin which conflicts with FCPX. Evaluate all plugins you remember having. You can easily create a new additional MacOS user account for testing, install FCPX and see if that makes a difference. Sometimes problem items are isolated to a specific user account: support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-...our-mac-mtusr001/mac

Hi GMT
In addition to all the other suggestions I would also…
1) Make sure to not use Chrome. Chrome has an issue that hogs video resources and does not release them and beach balling is a known issue with Chrome. Don't know if this has been fixed in latest versions. Quit Chrome and relaunch your computer.
2) Run EtreCheck and see if it flags known issues
3) Pixel Films does not have the best reputation so make sure you really need the plug-in and make sure it is up to date.
4) Use Activity Monitor to see if a process is out of control and that you have enough memory. Check page swaps for general RAM usage amounts. Lots of swaps means you would benefit from more RAM. As stated make sure to have a minimum of 15-25% free hard drive space.
5) How old is this project. If being brought forward then you may have some old code like in the Titles and animation. Maybe redo the Title stack.
6) Check for 32 bit code if using Catalina. Personally, I think Howard Oakley's free 32bit Check is a good free app that is a more thorough and robust program that Apple's Finder. Lots of old 32bit code hidden deep inside libraries and such.
eclecticlight.co/32-bitcheck-archichect/

Hope this Helps, Greg

VidGreg wrote: 3) Pixel Films does not have the best reputation so make sure you really need the plug-in and make sure it is up to date.

People here keep parroting this and I feel most people don't have direct experience with them. I've had issues with their plug-ins before. What did I do? I contacted them. They worked with me to make sure they fixed the issues the plugin had. When they couldn't fix an issue, they fully refunded me and changed their web page to state that it doesn't work with the Mac Pro 2013. They may have been worse in the past, I'm not sure. It's like getting a bad review on Yelp. One bad review can really destroy the business of a restaurant and it's really hard to change people's minds after they read that review. You guys are doing the same thing to Pixel Films. Please, just stop. Like I said they have been good to me, but if you have an issue you NEED to make sure to contact them and work it out, just don't go to the forums and say PIXEL FILM BAD! Just like Apple and countless other devs, they let the end users do the major beta testing for them. Sadly this is nothing new in the software world these days.

I and a few coworkers have direct experience of not getting responses from their tech support. Bad reputations are earned. I won’t stop because you had a good experience once. I’ve had troubles, I’ll continue to share that.

Thanks so much to all on here. Loads to work through but I'll get to the bottom of it and feedback when fixed!

UPDATE! - CHROME IS THE CULPRIT

After months of monitoring crashes and desperately trying to work out what it was....I can confidently report that is is 100% CAUSED BY CHROME. I've no idea why but I know a couple of you suggested this could be the case. So I've uninstalled Chrome and vowed to never use it again because of the time it caused me to waste!

Thanks for your help and do yourselves a favour and avoid running Chrome while using FCP.

G

SCRAP THAT

Now it's beachballing every time. Same issue in iMovie.........I'm losing it. I've re-installed and followed all potential fixes. Does anyone know if there's a service out there that I can connect with to have a look at fixing this?

GMT wrote: ...Now it's beachballing every time. Same issue in iMovie.........I'm losing it. I've re-installed and followed all potential fixes....

If you are not running Chrome or any other browser based on Chrome, at least you've eliminated that.

There are problem with a few HEVC codecs. Verify you are not using any HEVC material, or else transcod that to optimized media.

Current FCPX plugins run within the process address space of FCPX. This means any bug in any plugin can crash or destabilize FCPX. Supposedly this will be improved in the future as plugin vendors move their products to FxPlug 4 which can enable out-of-process plugins, thereby preventing a plugin bug from crashing FCPX: developer.apple.com/documentation/profes..._minor&language=objc

Due to this issue, it's important to isolate any possible plugin issues. Make a snapshot duplicate of the timeline and use Edit>Remove Effects to remove all Fx and see if the problem still happens. If not, repeat the procedure and remove Fx from 1/2, then 1/4 of the timeline until you isolate the problem region and the plugin.

If you are using any external video or audio devices - 2nd monitor, video break-out box, wireless headphones, etc, temporarily unplug those. In some cases those can cause FCPX to crash.

If it actually crashes (vs a hang) or crashes upon force shutdown, copy/paste that crash file to TextEdit and save it. Post the crashing thread call stack.

If it's a hang, run Activity Monitor, take a SpinDump, use Finder to compress the file to a ZIP, upload it to the below location and I'll examine it.
SpinDump procedure: support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor...tics-actmntr2225/mac

www.transferbigfiles.com/dropbox/joema