The Mac CS6 "Serious Error" thread

[needles27]

It looks like there are 4-6 disjointed threads about some big problems Mac users are finding with CS6 (and 6.0.1)  To give us a better place to figure out solutions and for others to find with a search, maybe we can post a discussion here.

The Adobe engineers are participating and receiving crash logs, and hopefully a pattern can develop.

I'm on a MacPro 4,1, Lion 10.7.4, CS6.0.1, 32GB RAM, GTX 285 with the latest nVidia and CUDA drivers.  I am seeing 2 primary issues:

Lots of Serious Error crashes.  This happens without any noticeable pattern - sometimes with the title tool, trim monitor, or simply just scrubbing the timeline.  It seems to happen more frequently with Dynamic Links in the timeline.  Also, I believe it is happening more often (or maybe exclusively)  with the MPE GPU option enabled.  I think in Software Only mode, it may not be present, although further testing required.

Also, I am having an issue where Pr will display black only in the source and program monitors, unless I click around the timeline and will get flashes of images.  This is remedied by changing over to Software Only for the MPE.  It seems to be worse if Safari is running.

Wil - an Adobe engineer - has taken a look at my crash logs and seems to think something is funky with the graphcs drivers in both cases, but crash logs from other users seem to not agree. 

CS6 on the mac - for  me and a few others - is incredibly flaky.  If you are having issues, can you post and explain what you are seeing and what your hardware/driver config is.  Any patterns we can find will help the engineers troubleshoot and get this taken care of. 

[aleyland]

hey guys,

i'm still running into issues with my MBP Retina, it runs good in MPE software only.

but did a test with CUDA enable and playing back and dropping r3d files into a 1080p timeline and got about ten minutes in before it crashed.

i noticed in my CUDA preferences my GPU Driver Version is: 8.0.61 295.30.20f02

and it greyed out. is this the most upto date GPU Version for the 650M?

anyone know if this is a separate install from the CUDA 5.0.36

i noticed alot of people are GPU Driver Version 304.00.05f02

is anyone running a MBP Retina with CUDA enabled smoothly?

thanks!

MBP RETINA

16GB RAM

OSX 10.8.2

CUDA 5.0.36

PR CS 6.0.2

[ExactImage]

I'm also happy to report that since updating the drivers I've had no major problems at all (touch wood!).   

CUDA is now turned on all the time (previously had to be turned off for pretty much everything except exporting).

MacPro 3,1 (8 core)

16GB RAM

OSX 10.8.2

CUDA 5.0.36

GPU Driver 1.3.4.0 (304.00.05f02)

Pr 6.0.2

[ExactImage]

Just to follow up for those still procrastinating.....

I've now completed 4 projects without a single Mac crash, all with CUDA turned on all the time.   Specs as above ^^.

Previously I was unable to go for more than a few minutes between crashes unless I turned CUDA off, and even then still had serious errors. 

Things finally appear to be pretty stable

[Glitchdog]

Yay! Really appreciate all you guys keeping us in the loop. Thanks Adobe for your hard work behind the scene (sincerely!!) and we trust the Mac will continue to get your dedicated attention even during beta testing

I'm just about finished with an edit on our mobile system w/zero crashes, but MPE is turned off. Preparing to upgrade our MacPro to ML, etc.

[Jim Curtis]

Hold on there.  I recently upgraded to 10.7.5 and the latest AJA, nVidia and CUDA drivers, and after a couple of days, haven't seen a single Serious Error either. 

I loaded 10.8.2 on to a separate disk, and my initial impression is that is a major piece of crap OS, and I would steer way clear of it, if you can avoid it.

My issues:  My massive font library that took days to organize using FontExplorerX is tanked, unusable.  That means I can't open some older projects without some inconveniences and detours.  And more worrisome, my ATTO RAID partitions periodically unmount and remount themselves.  This is likely something that will be fixed in the future by an ATTO driver or firmware update, but it's fatal for me.

YMMV.

[ExactImage]

Good feedback Jim.   Hopefully you get this sorted. 

My ATTO drivers seem totally stable

My only real complaint about ML (as with Lion) was the lack of Save As in lots of apps, but fortuantely they fixed that now (hold the Alt key and duplicate becomes save-as  Yay!).

My only problem in updating was that a few apps lost their license and needed re-entering, and my LTO backup software (Bru PE) completely lost it's database and it had to be rebuilt. However, they did warn me and gave a workaround (copy then put back) but I just rebuilt it and went on.

I was never happy with Lion.  It never seemed stable, especialy with Pr, but ML + Pr + latest CUDA drivers seem all good for me.  

As you said, YMMV - a LOT!

[EditorPete]

Yes, ditto the thanks on keeping us all updated to everyone that has taken the time to do so, and to Adobe and Nvidia.

I haven't chimed in on my recent updates and upgrades because I really haven't been able to run a full job through yet. I did get a Serious error today while switching my sequence preferences. I always use the standard I-frame for previews, but wanted to see the difference if I switched to ProRes previews. After switching, scubbed the timeline and boom, crash. I was able to reopen the project and switch back to I-frame previews and everything seems to be fine again. I am a little bummed that now using MPE, my timeline doesn't seem to be playing without dropping frames and getting stutters. Seems like I can play through the stutters, dropping frames, rewind my play head and it will playback almost perfectly. Kinda like PrP has to buffer the timeline or something. Nothing too intense on timeline. Weird. Anyone else noticing this?

PrP 6.0.2

Mac Pro (early 2008)

2x3G Quad-Core Intel Xeon

14g RAM

Nvidia GeForce GTX 285

OS X 10.8.2

[ExactImage]

EditorPete wrote:

I always use the standard I-frame for previews, but wanted to see the difference if I switched to ProRes previews.

I also tried that and gave up.  There seemed no benefit to it since Pr won't use the previews on export, even to a ProRes export   It says it will, but it never does!

[Guest]

@EditorPete, I've noticed this too, even after the CUDA updates and 10.8.2.  Walter Biscardi commented on this in his recent article of his shop switching to iMac workstations.  http://www.biscardicreative.com/blog/2012/10/mac-pc-adobe-and-resolve/   his fix was to not use dual screens, and run all of Premiere off of one screen.  I have been doing this for a while and have seen an improvement.  Hopefully it will help you too.

Message was edited by: RBemendo

[EditorPete]

@RBemendo, when you say run off 1 screen, I do have dual computer screens, but no external monitoring. I am using only one monitor to run Premeire. Is this what you mean. Sorry, havent read the link you inserted yet if that explains it. I will later today when I get time.

Thanks for responding.

@Exactimage, yes I too never use preveiws to export. So no big deal with ProRes previews. I guess. Thanks for the insight.

[Jim Curtis]

I just had a crash.  I had a feeling giving the "all clear" was going to jinx me.  But, I deleted prefs, relaunched and am working again at my regular speed.

I think Digital Rebellion's Pro Maintenance Tools, especially Preference Manager, are invaluable for Pr, since the prefs get corrupted so easily and so often.  And also for the Corrupt Clip Finder.  Corrupt media plays havoc with Pr (and other NLEs), and knowing which ones are corrupt can get the show back on the road, if that's indeed the problem... or, if corrupt media is ruled out as the problem.  Either way.

[Glitchdog]

EditorPete wrote:

... I am a little bummed that now using MPE, my timeline doesn't seem to be playing without dropping frames and getting stutters. Seems like I can play through the stutters, dropping frames, rewind my play head and it will playback almost perfectly. Kinda like PrP has to buffer the timeline or something. Nothing too intense on timeline. Weird. Anyone else noticing this?

I had this with MPE (using the OpenCL or whatever it's called on the newer laptops) before and after the lastest updates. Someone here recommended turning it off and it elminated the problem completely. This is using a two monitor setup with a 2011 MacBook Pro. Of course, by the time I added a fast and 3-way colour corrector, etc, those bits had to be rendered.

I had seen a post a while back where someone felt Premiere on the Mac was hanging on to ram over time. With MPE on if I closed Premiere and rebooted I'd be able to work with no stuttering or dropped frames for a while.

[Guest]

@EditorPete, I did mean to only run off of one of your dual screens, I've seen that if the entire interface is on one machine I do not experience dropped frames.  Also, I ensure I'm running in Optimized rendering for: Memory, found in the Memory panel of Preferences.  This resets by default to Performance if you delete preferences.  Also, make sure you reserve enough RAM for other applications as well.  Hopefully you will get play back without dropped frames with those changes. 

I still am having difficulty exporting through Media Encoder with OSX 10.8.2, PP 6.0.2, and CUDA 3.0.36.  With everyone's feedback so far I think I may try to reinstall Adobe after an uninstall and adobe cleaner run.  And report back.  Thank you to everyone sharing their experience.

[needles27]

2 things:

1.  My experience is the same as ExactImage.  Zero serious errors in over a week of editing.  This is outstanding.  There was once or twice where there was a little pause...a very brief spinning beach ball after making a trim or an edit...and I thought "Here comes the serious error!"  But then nothing happened and I was still in business.  Not ready to mark the thread as solved yet, but it is looking really good.

2.  @ ExactImage:  I have an even better solution for Save As...it can be returned completely back to how it was in pre-Lion:

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/07/29/get-save-as-back-on-mountain-lions-file-menu-easily-and-without/

[Erik_Naso]

Erik Naso wrote:

After the updates that I did above I only got one serious error crash. Before that I couldn't edit for more than a few minutes before error and crash occurred.

Next week I will test further but the issue isn't gone however much better.

I wish I could could say it;s gone but happened again on a new project. This system has an AJA card so maybe this is part of the issue?

[Bob Ramage]

Two solid days of editing with MPE GPU acceleration enabled and everything has been absolutely rock solid. Prior to the nVidia driver updates for Mountain Lion I had been getting plenty of "serious error" messages when GPU acceleration was enabled. No error messages since the update.

Mac Pro 3,1 w/ 16 GB RAM

GTX 285

Premiere Pro CS 6.02

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2

GPU Driver 300.00.05f02

CUDA Driver 5.0.36

[Guest]

@Bob Ramage  I had the same experience, until I tried to export media through the Queue of Media Encoder.  The dynamic link could render a preview before launching Media Encoder, but could not render a preview once Media Encoder launched and try to change output settings.  In all attempts I get the image attached trying to export through the Media Encoder Queue, and the render crashes every time I start the Queue.  I notice your GPU driver is different then mine but do you see the same bug in Media Encoder as well?

MacPro 4.1 w/ 32gigs RAM

Nvidia Quadro 4000 for Mac

Premiere Pro CS6.0.2

OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.2

GPU driver 304.00.05f02

CUDA Driver 5.0.36

[needles27]

I'm happy to report that after my first day of editing with 10.8.2 and the new nVidia drivers, I have also been Serious Error-free with the GPU enabled.  This is the first time I can say this since CS6 was released and I began posting about it.  While I'm optimistic, since the errors came with no discernable pattern I'm not ready to call it a day.  I think it will take more hours of doing lots of different tasks error-free to feel confident.

But, after my first day or doing lots of CUDA accelerated effects on ProRes and H.264 footage, a few dynamic links, jumping back and forth between Pr, Ae and Safari, trimming, shuttling, etc...I had no issues.  And to RBemeno above, I am not seeing the issue you have when I go to export, even with Dynamic Links.  I will keep working and posting updates - hopefully all of them good. 

My setup:

MacPro 4,1 w/ 32GB RAM

GTX 285

Pr 6.02

Mountain Lion 10.8.2

GPU Driver Version: 1.3.4.0 (304.00.05f02)

CUDA Driver Version: 5.0.36

[Bob Ramage]

@RBemendo, no I haven't experienced any problems with the media encoder. And having GPU acceleration enabled has greatly speeded up renders. Do you just experience it when exporting a project with dynamic link clips embedded or in all cases?

I do have the same graphics driver as you. Typo on my part.

[lot 7 media]

I have that exact same spec and can't 'queue' out of p pro into AME...

[Guest]

@hillscreenprod,  I've found using the CUDA 3.0.24 Driver to fix the issue.  Until I can find out what's causing the error with AME encoding with the 3.0.36 driver I will continue with the older driver. Hope that works for you as well.

[lot 7 media]

thanks for that rbemendo - how do i back version from 3.0.36?  never done that before...

[Glitchdog]

Just to clarify I believe it's CUDA 5.0.36 or 5.0.24. At least my mac is showing 5.0.24 currently.

[Guest]

@Glitchdog, Thanks for catching, sorry for the typo. I'm running CUDA 5.0.24.

@Hillscreenprod, i just installed the 5.0.24 driver from the direct link on the Nvidia Driver site and it overwrote the 5.0.36.  If anyone has a better way to do this I'd love to hear about it, but that worked for me.

Here is the link to the Nvidia CUDA Drivers for Mac: http://www.nvidia.com/object/mac-driver-archive.html

[Kevin-Monahan]

Glad to see that the latest drivers and latest version of OS X seem to be solving a lot of your issues.