Pro Tools Quit Unexpectedly When Launching

[MauriceJ]

Hello,

I recently acquired a problem with my PT's 6.9.3 setup. When trying to launch PT's, I am receiving a "pro Tools Quit unexpectedly" error message with the option to 'try again' or 'report' options. My Pro Tools HD interface seems to be working properly, lighting up, etc.

I trashed my prefs & also tried uninstall PT's, but do not have the 'clean uninstall' option in my Pro Tools/DigiDesign folder, so I re-installed 6.9.2, but still have the problem. I also tried to re-install under a brand new account name with no success.

I have Tiger OS X 4.11 & was running PT's 6.9.3

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by MauriceJ

do not have the 'clean uninstall' option in my Pro Tools/DigiDesign folder

Is there an uninstaller app somewhere within the Digidesign folder?

[MauriceJ]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for replying.

No there wasn't. I've been uninstalling & re-installing a few times now but still have the problem & none of the new installations have the uninstaller app.

[JFreak]

PT 6.9.3 is only supported up to 10.4.2 which I think was one of the last PPC-only OSX builds.

[MauriceJ]

Hi Janne,

Last year when my hard drive crashed, I tried to reload PTs onto a new hard drive & the program wouldn't launch, even with my original disks & codes. After unsuccessfully searching the web for a solution, a tech friend told me about this forum. Two of the moderators here put me in touch with Avid tech support who issued me new downloads & codes.

So my OS X 10.4.11 definitely was not the problem. They had me install PTs 6.4, then PTs 6.9.2, then PTs 6.9.3........Since that incident, everything was working fine until a few days ago when I tried to launch & received the current error message. My FW cables are fine & the Digi Core Audio Manager is recognizing the HD interface which lights up normally.

[Chief Technician]

If you click Report, you should see a window with crash data. A few lines in will be a line that reads Crashed Thread. Please reply here with the data from the start of the report up to Crashed Thread, then find the thread that crashed and include that data as well.

[MauriceJ]

Hi Jonathan,

I'm not sure but I think this is the information you requested:

Date/Time: 2016-06-06 18:17:21.271 -0400
OS Version: 10.4.11 (Build 8S165)
Report Version: 4

Command: Pro Tools
Path: /Applications/Digidesign/Pro Tools/Pro Tools 6.9.3.app/Contents/MacOS/Pro Tools
Parent: WindowServer [65]

Version: 6.9.3cs3 (6.9.3f174)

PID: 209
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x6b380004

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x032b6778 0x304b000 + 2537336
1 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x03202938 0x304b000 + 1800504
2 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x03203878 0x304b000 + 1804408
3 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x03202938 0x304b000 + 1800504
4 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x032bbc58 0x304b000 + 2559064
5 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c25f0 0x304b000 + 1537520
6 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x03151654 0x304b000 + 1074772
7 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x0314e25c 0x304b000 + 1061468
8 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c3c14 0x304b000 + 1543188
9 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4ec4 0x304b000 + 1547972
10 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4aec 0x304b000 + 1546988
11 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4ef0 0x304b000 + 1548016
12 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4ba8 0x304b000 + 1547176
13 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4ef0 0x304b000 + 1548016
14 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x031c4d2c 0x304b000 + 1547564
15 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x0314e3b8 0x304b000 + 1061816
16 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x0313e374 0x304b000 + 996212
17 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x0314c47c 0x304b000 + 1053820
18 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x0315f014 0x304b000 + 1130516
19 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x032bb92c 0x304b000 + 2558252
20 File 0x005efd50 0x405000 + 2010448
21 File 0x005eee60 0x405000 + 2006624
22 File 0x005e7eec 0x405000 + 1978092
23 File 0x005e6fb4 0x405000 + 1974196
24 File 0x006067dc 0x405000 + 2103260
25 File 0x0062e8f8 0x405000 + 2267384
26 File 0x004a6508 0x405000 + 660744
27 File 0x00635a94 0x405000 + 2296468
28 File 0x00635dc4 0x405000 + 2297284
29 File 0x00637338 0x405000 + 2302776
30 File 0x004a6508 0x405000 + 660744
31 File 0x00607b0c 0x405000 + 2108172
32 Pro Tools PPC dbg 0x02807ce0 0x2008000 + 8387808

Thread 1:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90054388 semaphore_timedwait_signal_trap + 8
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90070be8 pthread_cond_timedwait_relative_np + 556
2 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90bf83f4 TSWaitOnSemaphoreCommon + 176
3 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90c00390 TimerThread + 60
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9002bd08 _pthread_body + 96

Thread 2:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90054388 semaphore_timedwait_signal_trap + 8
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90070be8 pthread_cond_timedwait_relative_np + 556
2 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90bf83f4 TSWaitOnSemaphoreCommon + 176
3 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90c03ec4 DeferredTaskThread + 56
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9002bd08 _pthread_body + 96

Thread 0 crashed with PPC Thread State 64:
srr0: 0x00000000032b6778 srr1: 0x100000000200f030 vrsave: 0x0000000000000000
cr: 0x48004434 xer: 0x0000000020000000 lr: 0x0000000003202938 ctr: 0x00000000032b6750
r0: 0x0000000000000000 r1: 0x00000000bfffe440 r2: 0x0000000003bb8000 r3: 0x000000006b380000
r4: 0x0000000016137df6 r5: 0x0000000000000004 r6: 0x0000000016137cd0 r7: 0x00000000032c6758
r8: 0x0000000000000001 r9: 0x0000000003c6c478 r10: 0x0000000000001000 r11: 0x00000000a0b8b740
r12: 0x0000000003bbf354 r13: 0x0000000003791018 r14: 0x0000000003792310 r15: 0x00000000028dc540
r16: 0x0000000003c58e30 r17: 0x00000000bffff808 r18: 0x00000000bffff800 r19: 0x000000000375d688
r20: 0x0000000003c44462 r21: 0x0000000003c45bd0 r22: 0x0000000003c43a70 r23: 0x00000000bfffea44
r24: 0x000000000000000b r25: 0x00000000bfffe7d0 r26: 0x00000000160afe70 r27: 0x0000000003c0b8d8
r28: 0x0000000016137df6 r29: 0x00000000160afe70 r30: 0x0000000016137cd0 r31: 0x0000000003c08888

[Chief Technician]

EXC_BAD_ACCESS means an illegal memory access. This means that Pro Tools tried to use a memory location outside its virtual address space (roughly speaking, the area of memory it has requested from the OS kernel). This is also called a "segmentation fault".

KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS — This is caused by the thread accessing unmapped memory. It was triggered by an instruction fetch (more details below).

srr0: 0x00000000032b6778- This is the program counter at the time that the exception occurred. That is, it's the address of the instruction that caused the exception. For memory access exceptions (this particular crash), it's only part of the equation.

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 NeoAccessProPPC.shlb 0x032b6778 0x304b000 + 2537336

The key here is both 0 and 0x032b6778. 0 is the frame number. 0x032b6778 is the program counter address within the frame. For frame 0, this is typically the address of the instruction that caused the exception.

Since the srr and the program counter address match (0x032b6778), this means that the exception (crash) was caused by fetching instructions.

What does this all mean? Either the RAM in your computer is failing, or something has changed on your computer such that when Pro Tools goes to fetch a particular instruction, it crashes. Your computer likely came with an Apple Hardware Test (AHT) disc, or you can load AHT by holding the D key while booting the Mac from the optical disc that it shipped with. Run an extended test with looping enabled (Control+L) overnight and check it in the morning. If it found an error, it will display an error code. If no errors were found, then the loop will be continuing and you can cancel it.