PT 9.0.5 behaving strangely after problematic install

[DougBesterman]

Hi all:

Hoping someone out there has some ideas about this issue - I'm all out.

I ran into some problems trying to upgrade to PT 9 on my MacBook Pro; specifically, the installer would hang indefinitely running the package scripts during the install. After perusing these forums, I discovered that other users with the same issue were able to work around the installer problem by creating another admin account and installing from there.

Did that - worked - bingo. Or so I thought.

When I switch back to my regular user account, ProTools launches just fine - but there are some strange anomalies. Specifically, certain windows are missing labels and data: for example, the workspace window doesn't show the names of the connected hard drives (icons are there - just no names or data) - and the quickstart menu does not list the available templates (all the template files are in the folders where they belong, but don't appear in the quickstart menu lists). I'm also having some strange crashes that seem to be related to scrolling.

[I have a screen shot that shows what these anomalies look like - I just haven't figured out how to post it.]

ProTools works fine when I launch it from the admin account I created - just not from my regular admin account - which is where I would prefer to be.

A few other facts: I did a clean uninstall of PT 8 before I installed PT 9 - I used the 9.0.5 full installer.

Any thoughts? Is this an OS 10.6.8 issue?

Hoping one of you has the big idea that will solve this...!

Many thanks, in advance -

Doug

[johnwott]

Just doing some reading micelf

supposedly 9.0.3 is more stable on Leopard.

I am giving up on 9.0.5 on Lion, too buggy, crashed several times during a band practice the other night. reinstalling Leopard on a Mac Pro 2x dual core
as I type this. I had to repeatedly install the midi and i/o drivers as the MacOS seems to screw them up somehow. Maybe when I installed plugins?
not sure, but I am done with that path.

I was running 9.0.1 on Leopard without issues other than the processing limits on my MacBook 13. Not quick enough to run some virtual instrument plugins and 8 channels of i/o ,hence the upgrade to the quad core MacPro. It came with Lion so I thought i'd give the 9.0.5 beta for Lion a chance. FAILURE

but that's the nature of Beta software.

so back to Leopard and 9.0.3 me thinks.

[DougBesterman]

Thanks John.

I'm thinking this is probably an ownership/permissions issue - but although I have changed ownership/permission for some of the appropriate folders, I still haven't found the right combination of folders and files, apparently - still working on it...

[johnwott]

I was having some issues with disk permissions also with 9.0.5 on Lion

[promixr]

Did you upgrade from 9.0.3 or did you download the Full Installer for 9.0.5?

AVID recommends (if you can) to download the entire installer to successfully start using 9.0.5- all the installs I have performed of 9.0.5 have been very smooth (with Pro Tools running well) when I use the Full Installer, rather than installing an update.

Uninstall what you have - download the Full Installer from your Avid account and start over.

Also make sure that the standard account you want to run Pro Tools in is an admin account (by checking the 'Allow this user to administer this computer' check box in System Preferences->Accounts)

Having multiple users on a Mac is a tremendously useful way of keeping 'Mean and Lean' Audio setups - you just have to make sure that Pro Tools has permission to access the system level files and directories it needs to.

[DougBesterman]

Hi Eddie:

Thanks so much for the reply.

I did in fact use the 9.0.5 full installer - and both my user accounts (i.e. the one I normally use, and the one I created in order to install PT) are admin accounts.

Thinking I may have had an installation problem, I actually uninstalled everything and re-installed exactly as you indicated - still having the same problems.

Note that there are no problems when I run PT under the admin account I created in order to install - I'm only having issues when I try to run it under my regular user account (which is what I need to use). I'm sure I would be fine if I were able to install PT under my regular user account - but the PT installer hangs when I try. I am only able to make it through a complete install when I use the special account I created.

I tried changing the ownership of the folders containing the files PT uses (i.e. the Digidesign folder) - and I even copied the PT preferences from the working admin account to the non-working regular account (being careful to change the ownership there as well) - but to no avail.

I believe there must be a file somewhere that needs to have its ownership changed in order to work under my regular account - I've looked everywhere I can think of - perhaps there's a hidden file somewhere? Under my regular user account, PT seems not to know where to look for certain items - items it has no problem finding under my special account (i.e. the account I used for the install).

Thanks -

Doug

[johnwott]

Turns out my problems are related to a bad firewire controller. Getting spurious resets from the main firewire controller on the MacPro. So the audio and MIDI are hanging coming through that controller from the rack 003.

Ebay Seller is sending me a PCIexpress firewire 400 card for me to try,,waiting on the mail. IF that works then I should be up and running with 9.02 on the MacPro, holding off the BETA 9.05 for now.

Back to protools 8 on my Emac until I can get these firewire issues resolved. All the hardware works with the EMac, so it's definitely a problem with the MacPro's firewire controller.

I would guess the firewire reset caused the file permission/corruption problems also.

sorry if my posts caused any wild goose chases.

[johnwott]

I got the PCIe Firewire Card today and that solved all my problems. The on-board controller is partly fried and can't handle more that one device at a time, so that was the issue.

I have the 003 rack connected on the 400 port on the PCIe card and my recording drives on the 800 port on the PCIe card.

I now have 9.02 and Snow Leopard running on the MacPro 1.1 and it seems very solid. Recorded from all the 003 inputs plus MIDI and with a bunch of plugins running.

[tixa]

Originally Posted by DougBesterman

Hi all:

Hoping someone out there has some ideas about this issue - I'm all out.

I ran into some problems trying to upgrade to PT 9 on my MacBook Pro;
When I switch back to my regular user account, ProTools launches just fine - but there are some strange anomalies. Specifically, certain windows are missing labels and data: for example, the workspace window doesn't show the names of the connected hard drives (icons are there - just no names or data) - and the quickstart menu does not list the available templates (all the template files are in the folders where they belong, but don't appear in the quickstart menu lists).
Doug

Hello Doug,

I do have the same problem with my ProTools (10.3.2), on a MacPro.
I also have the "no names in workspace" problem... Same for labels and data on the same windows as yours.

I didn't solve it for long time now.
Did you solve it ?

Thanks in advance !

regards,

Xavier

[DougBesterman]

Originally Posted by tixa

Hello Doug,

I do have the same problem with my ProTools (10.3.2), on a MacPro.
I also have the "no names in workspace" problem... Same for labels and data on the same windows as yours.

I didn't solve it for long time now.
Did you solve it ?

Thanks in advance !

regards,

Xavier

Hi Xavier -

No, I never solved the issue. My work-around is to launch Pro Tools from the user account I created in order to run the installer. I had some additional system font issues that affected the menus after I upgraded to Lion, but I was able to solve them with the help of some 3rd party software (FontDoctor) - and now Pro Tools seems to be running fine.

I never had any issues on my desktop Mac - only my laptop. I'm sure there is a small system corruption or conflict somewhere that caused the issue - in any case, it will be all likely be resolved whenever I upgrade to a new laptop...!

Doug