Premiere Pro on iMac Pro continuously CRASHES

[Twert970]

I just bought a new iMac Pro (32GB Memory, 16GB dedicated graphics) one month ago, yet my Premiere Pro application crashes about every 10 minutes. I could be searching through media files, previewing them on the source monitor, or editing footage (Canon 1080p 90-180mbps footage usually) in the timeline; it doesn't really matter, Premiere Pro will eventually crash.

About 2 weeks ago, I contacted Adobe Support. I shared my computer screen with a gentleman there for an hour and a half, but he couldn't figure out the problem. What he concluded with was that the engineering team is working to fix a problem related to searching in the media browser.

I was working on a Late 2015 iMac before upgrading, but then I started having the same issue with Premiere Pro crashing (which is part of why I upgraded to the iMac Pro, thinking it could be a computer processing issue). Now I can only assume it has something to do with High Sierra and Premiere Pro not agreeing.

It is very frustrating having purchased a $5000+ computer but not actually being able to reap the benefits of its processing power due to Adobe's failing application. To that I say....

Adobe,

I see many customers writing similar posts saying their application crashes randomly, so when will this issue be solved? Can you solve this issue faster than it will take me to learn Final Cut Pro? I have work to do and deadlines to meet; your program is limiting my workflow and productivity.

Sincerely,

A Frustrated Paying Customer.

[cbakkalakkac92133462]

It took me well over a week to solve these very recognisable (mostly exactly the same) and huge problems with adobe premiere (and after effects) and a friend's hackintosh. The weird thing was that it was mostly Adobe apps that crashed. After 6 weeks of trial and error with both OSX and Windows we concluded that the hackintosh-part was not the cause, but these were:

Premiere pro and after effects don't like 3 things: OpenCL on Mac (All kinds of trouble, I couldn't even add captions for crying out loud. Turning of Metal made things much more manageable, but still not up to spec by far. Nvidia performed better than AMD cards),

Turbo Boost on the latest intel chipsets (random crashes, although the latest microcode update together with the latest premiere update seem to have this solved)

and working from the system (nvme)SSD (after a while the system just slows down to pre 2010 performance due to (probably amongst other reasons) the SSD throttling down to prevent overheating).

Changing to CUDA, the microcode update and working of a separate disk solved everything although he still does occasionally has a crash (once every 2 days or so). So I think AMD, Apple and Adobe need to iron things out to solve this. And I'm sorry, but that's probably not going to happen anytime soon because Apple.

[AnthemMultimedia]

Hi - I'm having persistent crashing issues with Premiere Pro CC (even when I've updated to current version) and High Sierra (also updated) on a newer iMac.

(iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015; 4 GHz Intel Core i7; 32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3; Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 MB)

Just called applecare and they said there are no issues with my machine (after running some diagnostic tests).

I DO NOT have time for this. Too many deadlines to meet.

What's worse is that each crash seems to erase the last few minutes of work I've been doing even though I save constantly. Have to dig manually into my autosave vault, open, re-save, etc.

I'm a video producer - a skilled user of Premiere Pro and Macs in general - and I'm stumped.

Adobe -what gives? Can you please address this?

Thank you,

Dina

[Wes Howell]

Hi Dina,

Do you have time to dig into some details and troubleshoot?

I'd like to help get to the bottom of these issues.  Feel free to respond here or PM directly.  (Same offer applies to others ITT)

Wes Howell

[Lumberjack0325]

I have a question for everyone who has these; do you have more monitors than the integrated iMac Pro screen? This all seems very GPU related and Adobe doesn't seem to know how to exactly be optimized on the OSX platform. While exporting, I've turned off my other monitors and it doesn't crash. Also making it render with the "Mercury Playback Engine Software Only" also helped. It took longer and uses a lot of RAM, but it didn't crash. This is my thinking and reasoning of the GPU being the problem, and the reason behind why this is happening. I could be wrong, but my testing really pushes me in that direction.

[Tony_Whittaker]

I have the same problem with a new iMac and Premiere.   Mine freezes when exporting H264 mpegs.  It doesn't happen when exporting ProRes Quicktimes.  I've tried the permissions thing but no luck.  Any suggestions?

[Wes Howell]

Hi Tony,

Sorry you're having trouble.   Happy to lend a hand.

A few questions.

Are you able to share any crash reports?

You will find it in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ should say Adobe Premiere Pro CC..crash

Can you tell me a bit about your project resolution and what effects you are using? 

Also, can you try a few different changes to your render settings.

located here:

File>Project Settings>General>Video Rendering and Playback

It would be good to know if you have better results using OpenCL or Software only mode.   That will help with troubleshooting as well.

Feel free to PM if you’d like.

Wes Howell

[tony@carnivorefilms]

Thanks Wes - the problem seems to have stopped.  If it happens again I will post a crash report.

Cheers

Tony

[derekrkuma]

Also on the list of people having issues. Been thinking its the GPU.

Really hate having to do 2 to 3 hard resets every-time I work. Not what I thought I would be doing with the investment in my new equipment.

Like many others, I have work to do, and I don't have time to troubleshoot something that should work. Apple and Adobe both.

Computer will freeze randomly when editing in PS, LR, and PR. I feel a bit cheated paying for software that will not work with my computer.

[Lumberjack0325]

I actually had my computer crash while rendering using the Software Only option so now I'm not sure. I did have my third monitor on at that time so maybe it still is, I'm just not sure.

[ben_lowe1]

I'm actually starting to have this problem. Pretty much on the same computer. When I go to export my video, it seems to crash or it will cause my computer to do a hard restart.

I am sourcing my media from at least three different places. My computer, Lacie Thunderbolt drive, and Google drive (Work drive).

I still don't know why my computer would crash, it is to powerful to do that, at least you would think.

Can anybody help me?

Thanks!

[Lumberjack0325]

how many monitors do you have? I was running three including the 5k display. I turn off my extra displays and it no longer crashes when exporting. This might be a workaround.

[jordaneisman]

disconnecting essential hardware that is part of my entire workflow to get an export to work?

maybe in your line of work you have time to deal with that BS- but when on deadline- I am not changing my hardware setup to do a simple output export- that is not a workaround- thats is anecdote.

I use 2017 and things run fine. 7 months later an 2018 is still a defective piece of software on the iMac pro

disconnect my monitors..

Whats next- dont use the mouse or keyboard?

look what using adobes most recent NLE has reduced us to-- removing hardware- what a quality piece of software

[Lumberjack0325]

Actually no, I don't have time to deal with BS. That's why I'm on here trying to figure it out. Don't shoot me for finding solutions to Adobe's stuff. I've done more than they have (and you) to find workarounds to post it here, so don't take your frustration out on me.

[jordaneisman]

Yes ok.. good luck with unplugging hardware.

meanwhile I am working in Resolve problem free and meeting deadlines.,

while premiere pro (deleted)

good luck with all that !

Moderator Warning: Please do not use profanity on these forums. It is against community guidelines.

[mdd3557]

So I was having several crashes per day while running Premiere. Logic Pro and even Resolve while my Safari browser was open (usually on Youtube). I tried every suggestion available EXCEPT unplugging external drives, because I have all of my video files on them.

I decided to try copy one project that I had to finish to my internal HD. I did a fresh install of Adobe Premiere and so far...SO GOOD.

Fingers crossed but no crashes for about 3 days

[Hopmix]

Sign me up!  New Imac pro 2017
3 ghz Intel Xeon
128 gb ram
Radeon Pro Vega 64

Exporting anything using GPU is a 50/50 crash.  The system hard freezes so It does not produce a crash log. Occasionally it just turns itself off and reboots.  Software render doesn't seem to produce the crash but the only thing that can crash the system is anything adobe related.  Final cut stable.  Resolve stable.  Though I haven't put either thru hard paces. 
Sony a7III completely cripples the system.  Dropped frames. Sluggish playback and crashes.

Today Im just doing Jpeg images in a sequence and export crashes 70% of the time.

[Wes Howell]

If you're in a state where 50-70% of your exports are failing, we can definitely find out why.  Definitely not normal.

Steps to reproduce the issue and additional details are needed.    Understanding what's going on with various projects would be helpful.

If there are general performance problems, these can be investigated as well.

Wes

[Hopmix]

Hey Wes, thanks for reply.

I uninstalled everything adobe related, trashed prefs, and flashed pram. Reinstalled and am about to start a new edit with new timeline. We’ll see if problems persist.

I can tell you that the crash happens when exporting with cud a and metal. The system completely freezes requiring a hard boot and sometimes turns off on its own.

The only other app I have running is Firefox in background and I notice a large spike in proc right before crash. Unfortunately no crash logs exist because the system just freezes. Premiere and ame both experience the crashes.

Sent from my iPhone

[Wes Howell]

Sorry you're having troubles.   I've been there! 

Machine config, filter usage, timeline configuration, etc...  Lots of things could be causing the crash.

Keep me posted.  Here to help you break things down and figure things out.

Wes

[XYXXY]

Hey Wes,

this is a very well known problem with Macs.

This has something to do with the AVX instructions most likely found in the newer Xeon processors that iMac Pro uses.

We have a 2012 Mac Pro here and it doesn't happen on it.

It doesn't matter if you use Metal, Software Only, or OpenCL, it will freeze the system on the iMac Pro.

The easiest way to replicate it is to put your footage on an external drive, have Google Chrome open playing a youtube video and then putting your footage on the timeline then exporting a timeline using OpenCL or Metal or Software Only to any codec, ProRes or H264, doesn't matter. Make the timeline 5-10 minutes long to check.

Also note that this happens when you're scrubbing. Also remember that this happens as well WITHOUT Chrome open. Having Chrome open playing a YouTube video just expedites the crash.

The iMac Pro will completely freeze to a halt with no log left over to see what the actual issue is. You have to hold down the power button to do a hard reboot on the iMac Pro.

I can't believe this problem has been so overlooked, it's insane to me that a $10,000+ computer and 10+ Year old software causes these kinds of issues. It's also insane to me that I keep sticking to Adobe. If it wasn't for After Effects, I wouldn't use Premiere at all.

It's such a shame that your software causes us downtime and we keep losing money.

For now our editors have stopped using Premiere Pro and switched over to another package temporarily until this is figured out.

We will NOT be investing in CC2019 if this problem continues as we will stop our subscriptions. Also we DO NOT want to move to Windows based machines as our whole staff is Mac only.

I do not know who the blame goes to, whether Apple or Adobe, but you guys need to talk to each other and figure this out. It is ridiculous and very childish to not have an overnight fix for this!

You may come back and ask for more information, but the above is more than enough for you to check as this is not the only thread where people complain about crashes on Macs and Premiere.

As Premiere handle's more and more heavy tasks with tight integrations with After Effects, it causes us to use it more for final conforms, so Premiere becomes a daily driver for us. We export so many revisions for clients it's ridiculous that it keeps freezing the system. We have to resort to ridiculous workarounds and even then they don't work.

Every time I post a response to an Adobe employee on these forums, they come back and ask for specifics and then I provide them and nothing gets resolved.

A multi-million dollar company like Adobe can't figure out a fix for this? C'mon.

[Wes Howell]

Hello,

Sorry you're having troubles.  I understand your frustration.  Would like to help.

I have an iMac Pro and have done what you described and have exported many projects without running into this issue.  I render exports every day.  Obviously our projects are different but this issue is simply not happening for the majority of users with an iMac - so it does boil down to details.   I need more info as that is the best past to figure out what makes it happen on your side - and that allows me to get it fixed.   I

Does this mostly happen when you're rendering while playing Youtube videos?

You mention scrubbing.  Is this also while rendering (or having something queued to AME?)

What formats are you working with?  Are you regularly using certain effects?  (Warp Stabilizer, 3rd party effects, etc)

If you have a small project that is 5-10 minutes long that you'd like to share, I'd be more than happy to investigate it over here and if I can reproduce the hang I can log a bug and get it fixed.

[XYXXY]

Hey Wes,

so here's a breakdown of projects:

-3840x2160 (23.98, 29.97)

-1920x1080 (23.98, 29.97)

-Formats on timeline: MP4 or ProRes (422 HQ, 422 and 444) or Animation Codec

-Mostly cuts and AE linked clips. Sometimes no AE linked clips at all just straight footage.

-Exporting straight from Premiere to ProRes flavors or H264 (Software and Hardware encoder used)

-Using OpenCL, Metal, Software Only

-iMac Pro does not have an iGPU so it uses Vega GPU to render, there's something going on here

-I have noticed a system freeze or two with AME (no queues, just regular import to AME to H264).

-Sometimes we use 3rd party filters sometimes we don't. That includes Sapphire, Boris Continuum.

-Warp Stabilizer is rarely used, but it is 100% crash prone when you use it with ProRes files. Try it on your end, add warp stabilizer and export, Premiere will freeze the system

-Have After Effects and Photoshop and Illustrator open at once along with Google Chrome playing multiple YouTube videos

The reason I mention Chrome is because it's the easiest way to crash the system. You don't have to have Chrome running, Premiere will freeze the system.

Unfortunately I can't share any projects as they are under NDA, as I would like to give you a real world project to test.

I've shared stuff with Adobe before and issues were never resolved, so hopefully the above helps.

On our old 2012 Mac Pro this does not happen. It has an AMD card as well running High Sierra 10.13.6

There is something wrong with Apple + Adobe, because this doesn't happen on a test Windows machine we have around here.

[Wes Howell]

That does help - and thanks for taking the time to type it up.

There are many variables in play there but if you see any specific patterns or issues that are noticeably reproducible, please ping me.

I work on the engineering team and I get issues elevated and fixed on a regular basis.   If you can narrow things down just a bit more I am more than happy to investigate issues on my side.

Funny enough, I specifically watched Youtube videos on my iMac today while rendering out a bunch of 8k Helium footage to various formats.   I thought about your post.       I did have Lumetri filters and LUTs applied but didn't run into any export issues.  

It's all about nailing down the particulars and I'm around to help you when you have time.

Best,

Wes

[XYXXY]

Hey Wes

have you tried ProRes 422 HQ files instead of RED RAW? Or MP4 files (100mbps 8bit) such as the ones from Sony A7 series?

There is no particular workflow that we have, we just do the same thing we've been doing for many many years.

Also is your footage on an external drive? IE a USB3.0 G-RAID?
Also do you have multiple monitors attached to your iMac Pro?
On our end we use the iMac Pro screen as well as as secondary or sometimes a 3rd screen. In my case, I had the iMac Pro screen mounted at the top above 2x38" LG Ultrawide monitors. That's a triple screen setup.

I really think there is something going on with macOS which causes the system to freeze. Apple completely overhauled the WindowServer service and they completely are killing off OpenCL/OpenGL system wide, so starting with High Sierra and Mojave the whole UI moved to Metal.

Unfortunately iMac Pro isn't supported in Sierra and I would've loved to roll back and test there too.

Lumetri is a heavy workload so it's worth applying those as adjustment layers for CC on top of the ProRes and combined MP4 footage.

I can't find system log files for the system freeze for you since the system halts, or I would post here.

We really want this to work and if this isn't fixed in a patch for CC2018 or when CC2019 comes out, we will be dumping Premiere and only keeping After Effects since it's such an integral part of our workflow.

Also in Chrome make sure "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled under advanced when you play any videos. I suggest having multiple Adobe applications open, maybe even set a render in After Effects while a YouTube video plays and you can jump back into Premiere with ProRes or MP4 files and start moving clips around and exporting.

We really do push our systems and have for many years, but this particular iMac Pro we have is an 18 core/128GB RAM/Vega 64 so it will handle it fine.

Also just to add, we use various tools and this NEVER happens on any other application. Ever.

[ben_lowe1]

I'm running 2 monitors, one being a 5k. But My computer should be able to handle all that. This machine has the GPU, CPU, and Memory to do it.

And it's hard to have to unplug my monitor every time I'm exporting, because I'm working on 20-30 videos a week which would get very annoying after a while. Maybe a quick fix, but nothing I want to do every time for each video I export.

Thanks for the advice though.