Can't force-quit Premiere

[Mary Betsy]

Premiere keeps becoming unresponsive with spinning beach ball when doing simple editing tasks. So then I quit the app and get a popup saying there's been a serious error, but then Premiere never fully quits. I click the app in the dock and nothing happens. And I can't force-quit it through the dock, Apple menu, Activity Monitor, or Terminal.

The worst part is that it hangs my entire system up where I can't restart, so I've had to force my computer to shut down my holding the power button, which I don't want to do repeatedly.

Has anyone had this issue?

[Meg The Dog]

This is on a Mac? Hold down the option key the next time you launch Premiere to reset the preferences back to default settings.

More info:

FAQ: How to reset (trash) preferences in Premiere Pro?

MtD

[Mary Betsy]

Thanks, Meg. Unfortunately, I've tried this and it hasn't resolved the issue.

[Jim Curtis]

The fact you can't force quit by those methods is pretty severe.  Start a new project with different source footage that hasn't caused you trouble before.  If that's OK, and you re-open the Project that you had open when you had this issue, and the issue returns, you probably have corruption in your project or footage.  If you still have the beachballs no matter what, could be a range of things, like a bad USB device, bad RAM, corrupted GPU driver, corrupted Pr app, corrupted OS, etc. 

[Mary Betsy]

Thanks, Jim. I've had this issue in different projects on different devices. The crash report indicates that UpdateStartupUtility is the cause. It says: UpdaterStartupUtility ... malloc: Incorrect checksum for freed object ... probably modified after being freed.

[Jim Curtis]

Note that troubleshooting stuff like this is often a case of search and destroy, and process of elimination.

You may be ready for drastic measures.  Could consider running the Cleaner Tool and do a total reinstall of the CC.

UpdaterStartupUtility is in your Application Support folder.

Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

[Mary Betsy]

What are the risks in doing that? Would I lose keyboard shortcuts and custom presets?

[Mary Betsy]

Or libraries?

[kcreedon]

I realize this is an old thread, but I am having the same issue. I'm working in Premiere Productions and I have started getting the spinning beach ball any time I try to do even a minor task. I have tried to Force quit Premiere after it is unresponsive for up to 30 minutes, but the application won't quit, which puts me in the same position as the original poster. I've already shut down my computer using the Power button once today and don't want to keep doing that. I've already cleared my cache and reset my preferences; Are there any other answers to this problem? 

[Gage5C93]

Same issue here, except I went through with the drastic measures and used the Cleaner Tool to fix it. And still, Premiere isn't closing. It's not even letting me shut down my computer. Help please.

[johnr24367330]

I also have this problem, have had it for a while.  Multiple devices, multiple versions.