Anyone else having the "can't access upper menu's" bug?

[Guy McDude]

Originally Posted by notable

Hi... I fixed it! SUCCESS!
I just updated many my plug ins and the problem went away. I'd definitely check your versions against the digi compatibility grid and even check your plug in dates for clues as too which ones are old code. it was not waves. I was using 5.97 already. The list of possible culprits are:


SNIP

These all got upgraded or reinstalled and the problem went away.
best to you all. And thanks to all of you who posted solutions or problems.
[email protected]

Not so sure my friend.
Check up thread a bit, Ive been having this problem with VERY few plugs, all verified as compliant.

[DigiTechSupt]

Isn't there some way I can make a clone of my System drive so if I go updating plugs and I have even more problems, I can always revert to the way it is now? Thanks for any help...

Yes, you can use utilities like Carbon Copy Cloner (free) or SuperDuper to clone your drive.

Personally, I use SuperDuper, as it does a better job of drive cloning. Of course, it's not free like CCC...

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by Guy McDude

Not so sure my friend.
Check up thread a bit, Ive been having this problem with VERY few plugs, all verified as compliant.

Sean -

I'm really not sure what's up with your system. I can say with almost certainty that this issue is not Pro Tools - our investigation shows this happening with other applications.

The best advice I can give is to start looking at other applications on your computer that may somehow have an effect on Pro Tools - utilities that run in the background, etc.

Every case we've seen of this has been solved by plug-in updates, OS reinstalls, working from a new admin account or removal of extraneous software from the system.

I know that's not much help, but it's all I can offer at the moment. I think this is one of those 'many causes, single symptom' issues that defy simple answers.

[johnnyv]

I'm still having the problem.

G5 Dual 2.0G, PT 7.4.cs7, Digi 64-bit chassis, HD Accel, Mac 10.4.11

I really don't think this is caused by anything other than ProTools or plugs. I have updated all my plugs to what they're supposed to be.

Any other ideas?

[DigiTechSupt]

I really don't think this is caused by anything other than ProTools or plugs.

What makes you think that? We have solid info from other sources that this occurs in other applications as well. Do you have some info that contradicts that?

Any other ideas?

Not at the moment. We're always keeping an eye out for some kind of reproducible scenario, but as of yet have not seen one.

[Wyn]

For the record, I have had this issue too. Running Waves 5.9.x did not help.
I recently updated to Waves Ver 6. Perhaps that will help.

It is a PITA. Closing and then restarting Pro Tools seems to fix it for me, or at least until the next time whatever function trap is causing this occurs again.

[johnnyv]

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

What makes you think that? We have solid info from other sources that this occurs in other applications as well. Do you have some info that contradicts that?



Not at the moment. We're always keeping an eye out for some kind of reproducible scenario, but as of yet have not seen one.

Digi,

I believe that it's a PT issue because this rig has been running for the last three years or so, with no problems. It is only used for music, so there are very few non-music apps (like none, really, other than Safari and Firefox). I haven't added any non-music apps for a long time (years). The only thing I *have* done is to update PT from 7.3 to 7.4, and concurrent with this general transition, this has cropped up. When it happens, I can click onto the Finder, and from there there upper menus are accessible, but the moment I get back into PT, the upper menus are not accessible. We have updated every plug in accordance with the compatibility grid. So, I'm a bit baffled.

It only happens when we're in PT, and it's happening on a frequent basis, typically when we jump out of PT to access the internet or something like that. Then when we go back to PT, no upper menus can be accessed. So, I then have to Command-Q on my keyboard to quit all the way out...then relaunch PT. This process takes several minutes, as we do have a lot of plug-ins.

The last plug I installed was the JJP Collection (Waves), and I recently removed that plug to see if the problem still came and yes, it did. Aside from that plug, I haven't installed any new plugs since before this started happening. But I have updated PT as each new CS release has come.

[DigiTechSupt]

It only happens when we're in PT, and it's happening on a frequent basis, typically when we jump out of PT to access the internet or something like that.

Do you have other applications running when you're using Pro Tools? If so, does NOT running them help with the menu issue?

The last plug I installed was the JJP Collection (Waves), and I recently removed that plug to see if the problem still came and yes, it did

Did you trash preferences after removing those plug-ins? If not - it still may occur, because the plug-in cache still has data about those plug-ins...

[johnnyv]

Digi, yes, it's not rare that we would have a browser open at the same time that we have PT. But I've also noticed that if I simply click out of PT while it's still open, and then go searching for something on a hard drive, when I go back to PT, the menu's are no longer accessible. In other words, it typically doesn't just happen...it seems as though when I leave PT for any reason, when i go back I have the troubles.

Good suggestion about the PT prefs. When I get some time, I'll take out JJP, trash the prefs and try again.

[DigiTechSupt]

Please check your Expose settings in System Preferences. Turn off all Active Screen Corners shortcuts (so the pull-down menus display "-"), and just to be safe all Expose and Dashboard shortcuts as well. Does that make a difference?