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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Firewire issues on Mac Pro

dblodget - Jan 24, 2007 - 9:51 pm

Hi, I'm having problems with a brand new Mac Pro using it in a video editing application. I cannot capture video without major frame losses, and sometimes the Firewire port won't recognize my Sony camcorder at all. Performance in FCP is very poor (constant spinning beach balls). Other apps seem to work well.

The MP is a 2.66 CPU w/4x1GB RAM and 4x500MB Drives. I'm using 2x23" cinema displays and bluetooth keyboar & mouse. There is nothing else connected to the system, and there is no software installed other than what Apple shipped it with and FCP. OSX is 10.4.8 and FCP is 5.1.2

I have worked with Apple support on the phone and after running through various diags without any negative findings they tell me the software could be corupt and I should wipe all the drives and reload all the sw.

Being a little uncomfortable with the procedure I made an appt at my Apple store to speak with a genius there. He said reloading the sw wasn't necesary as there "are known problems with the Firewire intfs on the MP and there is no workaround". He sent me home and said I would have to be patient for a fix.

Does any of this make sense?

TIA,
dave blodgett

LovesMacs - Jan 24, 2007 - 11:49 pm

HI Dave,

Well, despite what Apple had to say..... My first question is this. Have you tried reinstalling the drivers for the Sony camcorder? How much availalbe space do you have on the drives?

If Apple didn't suggest running Disk Utility... then I will. Launch DU, it's in your Applications>Utility folder. Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, click Repair Permissions. Takes a minute to run. Quit Disk Utility.

Ok.. now, locate this file. com.apple.finalcutpro.plist Here's how to find it:
MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences. Open the Preferences folder... locate that file and drag it to the Trash. It's ok to Trash a .plist file.. it's just a preference file and they can get corrupted. Next time you launch FCP your MP will create a new preference file for you. Since you indicated your other apps seem to work well, that it's just FCP freezing up, I'm hoping by chance it's the preferences.

Now, you can always reinstall FCP software from the CD or DVD. That's easy. And it certainly can't hurt anything.

Make sure you have the most recent updates for FCP. If you can get it to run without freezing... launch FCP, go online, click FinalCutPro in the Menu top of your Desktop then click Check For Updates.

As with any compuer, software can get corrupted. Try Onyx. it's a FREE Maintenance system disk utility and here's where you can find it. It cleans out caches/system logs, basically gets rid of corrupted files. Click this link:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ties/onyx.html
Download and install Onyx. Launch Onyx... click the Maintenance button. When that is done... takes about 3 minutes, click the Cleaning buttton. then Quit Onyx. Use it once a week.

I'm hoping something I've suggested helps you out. I did Google for known problems with FCP/Sony and MP's... and users are experiencing FCP freezing up... but you shouldn't have to wait for a "workaround" ... just keep trying.

When you launch FCP, make sure you don't have any other major programs running. FCP is a memory hog and even though you have tons of memory... video editing eats RAM.

Hang in there... and thanks for choosing Macosx.com.

Regards,
Carolyn
Volunteer Tech

dblodget - Jan 25, 2007 - 12:29 am

wow! thanks for such a detailed response Carolyn!

Let me see if I can answer some of your questions -

- Reinstalling drivers for the Sony - the camcorder is connected via firewire and controlled by FCP. There are no drivers to install to my knowledge. I've never installed any drivers on my PC's for the camcorders, but perhaps the mac is different in that regard?

- Drive space - The machine is new. I have 4x500GB internal drives attached. With the exception of OSX and FCP, they are empty.

- Disk Utility - Yes, the Apple tech ran this test and it did not find any problems. (btw, it takes over 20 minutes to run w/4GB RAM...)

- com.apple.finalcutpro.plist - deleted, restarted FCP - no change.

- Reinstall FCP - I will try this tomorrow.

I also want to better clarify the performance issues. As I've continued through all these various suggestions I've noticed the performance issues are only when the camcorder is attached via firewire. If I disconnect it, the performance problems (perpetual beach ball) immediately cease.

- most recent FCP release - yes, I'm running 5.1.2

- No other apps running - right. we've been editing video for years on PC's and are in the habit of always making sure there are no other applications running. We also configure all systems with 4 drives - the OS, a 'capture' drive, 'render' drive, and resource drive. It makes editing very efficient and spreads the load.

I've also been searching Google and found a number of people trying PCI firewire cards with success - apparently there are conflicts with the 800/400 ports, Although I only have one device connected - the Sony camcorder.

Apple did suggest I could continnue doing all my captures on the PC then importing the files into FCP over the network.. that just doesn't seem right though.

thanks again for all the suggestions!
-dave

LovesMacs - Jan 25, 2007 - 1:07 am

HI Dave,

First, you're welcome... I love the challenge!

Ok... When you purchased your Sony camcorder, did it come with a CD or DVD? There has to be software (drivers). Tell you what... go to this link and use he pop up menus to locate your Sony model and series:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/sel...ER&PRODTYPE=37

Follow the instructions to download and install the software. Dave... hardware can't work without software regardless of Firewire. Example: I use an Olympus digital camera with iPhoto. The camera uses drivers which are installed from either a disk or downloaded from the Olympus site. Without the drivers, there isn't any way for my camera to tell iPhoto what to do when I want it to upload images from the memory card. Therefore, you need Sony drivers that you should be able to locate from the link above. It cannot hurt a thing to do this. I can't believe an Apple Genius told you to wait for a workaround on this... I'm still shaking my head. Anyway... be proactive... let me know if you need help finding the correct software.

Carolyn

LovesMacs - Jan 25, 2007 - 1:11 am

Dave... If you locate the correct model/series drivers and download and install... reboot your MP, connect your Sony camcorder and see if it mounts on the Desktop without a glitch. Then if everthing goes ok, launch FCP and see if it freezes.

Carolyn :-)

dblodget - Jan 25, 2007 - 6:37 pm

Hi Carolyn, I have my CD that came with the camcorder, but the manual (and the download page from the link you provided at sony) state that the software 'picture package' contains USB drivers for downloading photos from the camcorder to the computer.

In the mac section of the manual it reads:
"To copy recordings from a tape, connect your camcorder to the computer with an i.Link cable and use the standard software in the OS."

I also found the following on the Sony support site: "Sony® digital camcorders are not provided with and do not require special device drivers for i.LINK connectivity. The device drivers that allow i.LINK connectivity should be provided with the video capture software. If the software you are using does not appear to have the required drivers, you will need to contact the software manufacture"

I checked the FCP support site and my TRV20 camera is listed... http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/...devicelist.php

So I tried to load the Sony picture package anyway. I went to the Mac folder on the docs and opened the IMXINST.SIT file but got an error that reads: "The document "IMXINST.SIT" could not be opened. System Profiler cannot open files in the "System Profiler Document" format.

I tried install.exe, but got a msg thatApple Qmaster cannot open files in the 'anyfile' format. Not sure where to go on this one, or if it's important to continue on this path.


thanks,
-dave

LovesMacs - Jan 25, 2007 - 7:15 pm

Oh vey......

Whoa.. just realized I didn't get an automatic e-mail that you had replied... must be a glitch and I'll keep a closer look for your responses.
I have to give you A+ for being proactive and patient. Ok.. so drivers aren't the answer but owning a MP and FCP should go hand in hand and not fraught with frustrations. BTW... .exe is a Windows file. Are you running Win XP on your MP too?

<< I have my CD that came with the camcorder, but the manual (and the download page from the link you provided at sony) state that the software 'picture package' contains USB drivers for downloading photos from the camcorder to the computer>> Dave... have you tried installing the software from the CD that came with the camcorder anyway??? I don't think it could hurt to try.

Dave... have you checked out the specs for your MP/FCP etc., ??
Here's the link: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html Make absolutly certain you have all the requirements.

I hope I'm not offending you... you probably know all of the above but you never know where you might have missed something. And... check out the steps on connecting your camcorder to the MP here just in case:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301506

When you have FCP open... have you tried looking at the PDF file available:
For more information about capturing video in Final Cut Pro 5, choose Getting Started.pdf from the Help menu in Final Cut Pro 5.

And ......... Dave... have you tried the following?

Remove receipts and reinstall Final Cut Pro

Another approach you might consider is reinstalling Final Cut Pro. To do this effectively, you need to remove the application and its receipts, then install Final Cut Pro and use Software Update to install additional updates. You don't have to remove everything that was installed with Final Cut Pro. Follow the steps below to completely reinstall a fresh copy of Final Cut Pro. Note: Make sure that you have your installation discs and serial number handy before starting this.

Open the Applications folder.
Drag the Final Cut Pro application to the Trash.
Go to /Library/Receipts.
In the Receipts folder, select the "FinalCutPro.pkg" file.
Choose View > as List to view the contents in a list.
Click the Date Modified column header so you can easily see all of the receipts that were installed at the same time as Final Cut Pro.
Drag the FinalCutPro.pkg receipt to the Trash, as well as any other items that have the same modification date within 3 minutes of the FinalCutPro.pkg's modification date.
Click the Name column header to sort the list alphabetically.
Drag any other receipts whose names begin with "Final Cut Pro" to the Trash.
Insert your Final Cut Pro installation disc and install Final Cut Pro.
When finished, use Software Update (under the Apple menu) to update your software to the latest version.
For further information on settings or installation, please refer to the Final Cut Pro documentation available on your installation discs.

Keep me posted...
Carolyn :-)

dblodget - Jan 25, 2007 - 9:54 pm

Carilyn, There's no way to offend me!

and I'm really scratching my head now - Not only did FCP just recognize my camera, but I was able to capture a 1.5 hour video just now - without a single frame drop! Taht has never happened!

I've been pouring through apple discussion boards today seaching on 'Sony' and trying every idea mentioned... Now I need to go back and see 1) if my success is repeatable and 2) exactly what I did to make it work (unfortnately I wasn't that methodical in making changes to user preferences due to the amount of time it takes...

oh, I know the exe is a windows executable (I'm an old PC guy), but not sure exactly what the Mac wants to see so I was taking shots in the dark there... and no, I'm not running bootcamp/xp or anything else - trying to get away from all that ;-)

but I don't know how to install the Sony picture package software... I double click the only file in the Mac folder and I get the error mentioned above. My ignorance I'm sure :-(

FCP Specs - yes, without all the details, this system exceeds all the requirements, except for the video card which meets the minimum requirement.

I didn't get to the point of reinstalling FCP, but I did trash the prefs file as you had suggested without any change.

Also, Im not completely out of the woods as the success I had was on the rear 1394 port - the front 1394 port still doesn't work.

but I'll take what I can get - Just seeing that movie come up in FCP and being able to edit it, well, I had to go get a bowl of ice cream ;-)

thx,
-dave

LovesMacs - Jan 25, 2007 - 11:33 pm

LOL Where's my ice cream? One port is better then none :-D

I thought of something in regards to your 1394... one port not working properly... Dave, check this out... Connect any compatible Firewire hardware bo both 1394 ports. Then go to your System Profiler and click Firewire on the left side. Make sure your MP is acknowledging both ports. If it only recognizes one port, I'm inclined to think it's that port causing the problem, not your connectivity with the Sony itself.

As for the Sony software... Bingo.... A Mac .SIT file has to be decompressed. Do you have StuffIT Expander? Here's the link: http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/download.html Download and install Stuffit Expander. After it's installed, launch it, (keep it in your Dock) ... When Stuffit Expander loads... take that "IMXINST.SIT" file and drag right onto the Stuffit Expander window. it will open that file for you. Then, just follow the instructions to install the drivers for the Sony. Reboot the MP, connect the Sony and see if that gets that Firewire port activated.

Carolyn :-)

dblodget - Jan 26, 2007 - 8:43 am

doh! I've clearly suffered brain damage since the last time I used a Mac (1992...) thanks again Carolyn! I downloaded stuffit expander and installed the Sony software...

Firewire ports - I have 3 firewire devices. Using Profiler, all are recognized on the rear 1394 port, non are recognized on the front port. The cables are known good ones, but I swapped them just to be sure. No change in results. Interestingly, my 3rd device is a vieo capture unit from Canopus. It certainly would require a software installation, but the port recognized it anyway...

Since my bowl of ice cream last night I have capture 3 more movies using 2 different cameras (my other Sony isn't listed as a 'supported device", but worked perfectly - just couldn't resist trying it).

Going back through the changes I've made, the ony 'real' change I've done is trash the prefs file. Everything else has been either 'check this, check that' with no problems found, or explicit procedures to follow (turn the Mac on, connect device, turn on device, launch FCP, open Logging & Capture, begin capture) - and I ignored the procedure on the last capture - I had FCP open, then plugged in the camcorder and it came right up and began capturing... So that wasn't the fix...

Prior to me trashing the prefs file the Mac was in the hands of the Apple techs and I have no idea what they may have done. I was watching but couldn't keep up (did I mention my brain damage?) They were always plugged into the (working) rear 1394 port though... The tech was on the phone with engineering the most of the time and then declared my problem 'unrepairable'.

Speaking of *your* ice cream Carolyn - you've been sooo helpful - I thought I saw a link on the sight where I could donate to the cause, but can't find it now. How can I compensate you? oh, nm, just found the link in the contact page.

So this is starting to look like 'just' a firewire port problem...

Not sure what any of the actions I've taken would have had an impact on the firewire port though...


How about this theory - the front firewire port was flaky from day 1 (when I 1st tried connecting devices I a few short successes connecting on the front port, and worked enough to let Apple get the system out the door). As the port was going up and down, the internal firewire bridge connecting all the ports was constantly interupted. This could explain why I had better, but poor performance on the rear 1394 port. While running FCP, these 1394 ports going up and down were crushing the application while the attached devices kept registering and unregistering every second or two. Hence my orginal symptom of FCP poor performance. Finally, the front 1394 port has died. kapute. No more interuptions on the firewire bridge and the rear port can operate cleanly now, and of course FCP is very happy.

plausible?

-dave

LovesMacs - Jan 26, 2007 - 12:30 pm

Definitely plausible. I hope this experience won't send you back to Windoze as the Mac, software or hardware on the whole, runs in a stable environment.

As far as compensation, you already did that. I've learned a lot from this particular situation with a MP using FCP and 1394 ports. The more experience I have, the better to help others in the future. That is compensation in itself :-)

Macosx.com gladly accepts contributions... here's the link in case you need it:
https://macosx.com/order/vip/index.html We appreciate EVERY dollar!

Post back here anytime Dave... you are always welcome.

Carolyn :-)

dblodget - Jan 28, 2007 - 3:57 pm

ok, wanted to run one more hw diagnostic since the front 1394 port completely died. The diagnostic didn't find any faults, but perhaps it doesn't look at the ports, or far enough out at the port.

I tried taking the machine apart to see if it is something simple like a partially connected cable or something, but it's virtually impossible to get into... After removing the hard drives, there's a front fan/fan plenum/card guide thing screwed into the logic board and connected to the CPU plenum. The CPU fan plenum is connected to the memory module card cage/fan plenum/rear fan. So it all has to be removed to get to the logic board underneath and it's beyond my comprehension how to dissassemble it, so I guess I'll be off to the Apple store once again to get the hw repaired.

But the rear port is still working like a champ and all the performance issues have gone away...

thanks again for all your help, We can close this ticket and/or I can update you when I hear the resolution from Apple.
-dave