WORST new install experience EVER!!!

[V5V]

I've got a project that needs to be done by this weekend. I have a license for PT10+CPTK, but since my machine is now running Yosemite I decided to try 11|HD. I have never had a worse first-day experience.

Click the icon to open Pro Tools. The splash window appears and...

...and nothing. No progress bar, no windows opening, nothing. It just hangs at the start screen. So I do a Force Quit. Try again. Same thing. More Force Quits, more retries, eventually it starts.

I open a session I created in PT10+CPTK. I hit the spacebar. The Stop button on the transport turns blue and the play button flashes. No movement, no sound. I hit the spacebar again. An error message appears saying something about a problem STOPPING Pro Tools. I dismiss that window and suddenly playback begins! That would be great, but there's no picture. There's a video track, there's a video window, but the video doesn't play. Just a black window. Previewing the video outside Pro Tools shows it's definitely good (which I already knew, since it worked fine in PT10). It just won't play in 11. I've tried switching the video engine on and off, toggling the video track offline and online, deleting the video and reimporting it, nothing works.

I try opening another session and get the solid stop button with flashing play button again. Repeated hits of the spacebar eventually result in playback, but again, no picture.

I try quitting Pro Tools and restarting it. Again, it hangs at the start window.

I give up.

I'm sure enough time with support would probably eventually result in enough workarounds to get my work done, but I'm not sure I really want to bother. If I'm going to put up with a mountain of crap like this right out of the gate (where do we start: the hanging app startup, the locked up playback, or the missing video?) I gotta wonder if I'm not better off just biting the bullet and waving goodbye to this circus right now before I waste any more time...

...and before I part with another CAD$750 for software that doesn't seem usable without expert intervention.

[PMF Media]

Wow, sorry to hear that you've had such a rubbish time of it, I run PT11 HD just fine in Yosemite on an old Mac Pro 3,1 so the good news is, I know it works

Have you trashed the prefs? Also including a detailed overview of your set up will help narrow down the issues.

Good luck.

[V5V]

Originally Posted by PMF Media

Have you trashed the prefs?

On a fresh install?! If prefs are being corrupted before even USING the app, I'd say we have bigger problems than startup hangs and blank videos!

Originally Posted by PMF Media

Also including a detailed overview of your set up will help narrow down the issues.

Thanks for the offer. I wasn't really looking for help so much as just venting my spleen over suffering such an incredibly unsatisfying out-of-box experience. I haven't even given support a crack at solving any of this yet, though now that I think about it, I guess they won't even try, will they? Does Avid even TAKE support calls about demo installs? It would truly put the cherry on top of this poop sundae if they don't!

Originally Posted by PMF Media

Good luck.

That DOES seem to be the operative phrase.

[PMF Media]

Seriously, trash the prefs, weird shyte can happen right at the get go - I speak from experience Also, if your system drive is a spinner rather than an SSD, defray it, PT HATES a fragmented system drive.

[V5V]

Originally Posted by PMF Media

Seriously, trash the prefs, weird shyte can happen right at the get go - I speak from experience Also, if your system drive is a spinner rather than an SSD, defray it, PT HATES a fragmented system drive.

Trashed prefs. No change. Reinstalled PT. No change. Obviously something in my particular system is upsetting Pro Tools, but since I have never before encountered an app that required expert intervention just to get it to work AT ALL, I have no idea where to begin. Which is where this goes from frustrating to comical.

It costs $100 to get Avid to answer the phone. I'm trying to assess the suitability of a product they want me to buy, it isn't working, and instead of trying to fix it so I'll buy from them, they want to BILL me before they'll even talk to me!

I feel like I've gone to my usual dealer to test drive a new truck for my business and it won't start. Instead of helping me in the hope that I'll buy another truck, the dealer tells me I have to book and pay for a service appointment. Unbelievable.

This is NOT making me feel warm and fuzzy about Avid.

[V5V]

I just came across this old thread by accident while searching for something else, and feel like I should fill in how the story ended in case anyone else with similar problems reads it.

I eventually found a reference on Avid's web site to problems with certain Core 2 Duo CPUs. It turns out the Mac I was using had one of the CPUs that doesn't work with more recent versions of Pro tools.

About a year after this rant I got a new computer. Pro tools is working fine on the new machine.

Special thanks to Jeffro for assistance with reinstating my plan, which allowed me to move to the current version.