PT 7.4 Mac OS X Menus Stop Working

[swlego]

Basically what the title says. At random the menu bar at the top stops responding to mouse clicks. Keyboard shortcuts still work. Anybody else had this issue and know how to fix it?

[KimSira]

I have had this issue as well.
It seems to happen to me when I try to click on the menu quickly after doing something else. I know that isn't a great explanation but its all I got.
I need to relaunch protools to get the menu back working again.

Kim

HD2accel
7.4cs1
OSX 10.4.9
dual 1.8
2gb ram

[DWB]

same prob. with menu bar. It started after 7.4 upgrade. I went to the 7.4cs3 update but that didn't help. I heard a rumor that 7.4 needs 4G RAM. Could that be the prob? Anyone with suggestions?
Mac G5 powerPC dual 2G 3.5G RAM
PT HD3 7.4cs3

[johnnyv]

Yeah, same problem here occasionally. My PT keyboard still works (can quit the App using Command-Q), but the menus on top are DEAD. Hasn't been a problem since I started using my D-Control trackball again and got rid of the mouse. I'm on 7.4.cs3, Mac Dual 2.0ghz w/8megs RAM.

[Saint7uk]

Hey Guys,

I'm getting this about 5-10% of the time now on cs3. Not a 4 gig memory issue as I have 6 gig, all very odd....

[Saint7uk]

Hey Guys,

I'm getting this about 5-10% of the time now on cs3. Not a 4 gig memory issue as I have 6 gig, all very odd....

[fman]

Finally, i was wondering if anyone was going to pipe up about this issue. I've had it since installing 7.4

It was brought up a few months back but no words from anyone since. I get this bug without fail every single day. I have 8GB of memory in my Quad G5.

While on this issue, does anyone else experience the PT preferences getting wiped also? And there's still the keyboard stops working bug too. All 3 of these hit me almost everyday - have to reset my computer after each one, as i've found that sometimes after the menu bar issue - it deletes my preferences after i relaunch Protools.

Anyone else have these additional bugs?

fman

[DigiTechSupt]

The 'keyboard entry not working' is not specific to Pro Tools - you can see reports of it all over the net with different apps or just the OS itself. We've reported it to Apple and are keeping an eye out on possible clues as to causes.

As for the menus not working - we're looking into this. There's not enough info currently to determine if they're related or not. We see reports of this happening in Safari and sometimes with Spotlight

One thing to try would be trashing the file 'com.apple.HIToolbox.plist' and 'com.digidesign.protools.plist' from your MacHD>Users>your account>Library>Preferences folder and see if that reduces or eliminates the problem.

Has anyone ever seen this in another application?

One thing I'd like to find out - when this occurs, open Activity Monitor and let me know if anything is in red - which process specifically.

Do any of you have any 3rd party applications installed that may affect menus or the UI in any way?

[fman]

Hi Digi

Thanks for responding. All of these bugs occur only within Protools. It has never happened to me on any other software, or on my Powerbook G4.

I searched around on Google to read about the issue and it doesn't sound exactly like the same problem, just similar. Most people who've experienced the bug in other programs lose the ability to type in all programs when it occurs and also lose the use of their trackpad or mouse. None of my other programs are affected if the issue appears in Protools.

I do not use any menu related software or quick key style software. I use PT, Safari, Mail, Snapper, Toast, iTunes, Fetch.

I have just done as you suggested and deleted the 'com.apple.HIToolbox.plist' file, and every time i open Protools it comes up with the message:

"The original MIDI device associated with the MIDI controller "Command8" could not be located. Please choose an existing MIDI device in the MIDI controller section of the peripherals dialog."

Worth noting that i get this exact same message if i relaunch Protools after experiencing the "keyboard entry loss" bug! When this occurs, for me to be able to use my Command8, i need to restart the computer.

Just to check i used the "Protools Preferences" program to restore all my working prefs and then deleted the com.apple.HIToolbox.plist file again and restarted Protools - and it gave me the same message again. Maybe this file is being deleted or corrupted when the bug occurs??

FYI this issue has been around since PT 7.1 However updating to 7.4 from 7.2 changed the bug. On 7.2, if i typed in a text box which was Protools related (ie. track name, marker, comments) it would crash protools. But if i was to type in a MacOS text box (ie. Save As) it wouldn't crash - i just wouldn't be able to enter any text. Now, on PT7.4, it doesn't crash at all no matter where i type, but still wont allow text entry.

Last bit of info that may help - the first way i usually find that the bug is present is when i try to toggle through windows within PT using Command-~. I am unable to switch between open windows if the bug is active. However - i can use Command-v to paste things in. Strange that certain Command functions would be allowed and not others.

Hope this helps. Thanks for listening, good luck with the extermination.

fman

[DigiTechSupt]

Just to check i used the "Protools Preferences" program to restore all my working prefs and then deleted the com.apple.HIToolbox.plist file again and restarted Protools - and it gave me the same message again. Maybe this file is being deleted or corrupted when the bug occurs??

If you trash preferences, you have to re-declare any control surfaces in the Peripherals window.

You say you trashed the HIToolbox.plist file and then got the message? If so - something very strange is going on. That file has nothing to do with PT preferences or control surfaces that I'm aware of, so getting that message after trashing it is odd indeed.

Are you restarting your computer after trashing prefs? If not - you should, just to be sure everything is starting from a 'default' state. Zapping PRAM may also be a good idea, as this could be related to that somehow.