Big Mac Pro/Avid Problems in Hollywood

[Anderton]

For now, the solution seems to be if you use Avid Media Composer and your Mac Pro (Trashcan / R2D2) is currently running, back up everything and don't turn off your Mac until the problem is resolved (Avid is working on finding a fix).

 

If you've already been hit with this, the answer seems to be re-installing your OS over the existing OS (which thankfully unlike Windows, doesn't wipe your data).

 

Here's the background:

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/09/24/hollywood-mac-pros-hit-by-avid-issue/

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2019/09/hollywood-editors-avid-data-corruption-issue-mac-pro.html

https://www.iphonefirmware.com/mac-pros-running-avid-suffering-massive-failures-in-hollywood/

 

This sure does underscore how reliant the film industry is on Macs and Avid (as if there was any doubt!).

 

FWIW, a friend of mine with a pro Trashcan-based studio was about to throw his Mac Pro out the window and move over to Windows due to the lack of reliability. He's been going back and forth on this with Apple support for months, with no solution. It turned out it was a graphics card hardware issue, which he found out only because he replaced the old card based on a gut feeling.

 

Ironically, I've been having problems with my main Windows computer for months as well, and it too was a graphics card problem - in this case, an intermittent one. I took my computer down to the PC Audio Labs office and when they found the HDMI out was flaky, they replaced the card. The computer has worked fine ever since.

[Mike Rivers]

For now, the solution seems to be if you use Avid Media Composer and your Mac Pro (Trashcan / R2D2) is currently running, back up everything and don't turn off your Mac until the problem is resolved (Avid is working on finding a fix).

 

I just heard something about the new Mac Pro on Marketplace this morning. Fully tricked out (the reporter didn't say with what) it can cost $30,000!

 

If you've already been hit with this, the answer seems to be re-installing your OS over the existing OS (which thankfully unlike Windows, doesn't wipe your data).

 

I don't know enough about Windows 10 (and probably won't for at least another 7 or 10 years) to say, but with Windows XP and Windows 7, you can perform a "Restoration Installation" from the installation disk that leaves all your data and just restores the operating system files and standard drivers. Anybody who uses Windows, even those working with video (says me, who doesn't) should be able to get along with Win7, and soon you won't have to worry about what updates will do to your system.

[Anderton]

I don't know enough about Windows 10 (and probably won't for at least another 7 or 10 years) to say, but with Windows XP and Windows 7, you can perform a "Restoration Installation" from the installation disk that leaves all your data and just restores the operating system files and standard drivers. Anybody who uses Windows, even those working with video (says me, who doesn't) should be able to get along with Win7, and soon you won't have to worry about what updates will do to your system.

 

There is kind of a variant of that in Windows 10, but if your operating system is so messed up you can't even get into Windows, I don't think there's much you can do except start over. When a Mac update bricked my computer beyond hope, I was able to install a completely new and complete operating system without touching anything else.

[Geoff Grace]

Here's the latest update:

 

https://mrmacintosh.com/google-chrome-keystone-is-modifying-var-symlink-on-non-sip-macs-causing-boot-issues/

 

In short, it appears that the latest version of Google Chrome triggered the problem on Macs that have disabled System Integrity Protection. Apparently, some Avid users may need to disable SIP for third-party video card support, making the problem more rampant in that community.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Mike Rivers]

It's an interesting discussion, and it appears that at least the first proposed fix didn't work for everyone.

 

What does System Integrity Protection do? It sounds like one of those things that's supposed to block anything from running that might keep the system from protecting itself from crud and corruption?

[MoodyBluesKeys]

link about Mac and Chrome problem

 

Some of the older Mac OS versions are still in use by the big studios (10.10 and 10.11) because either that particular Mac Pro doesn't support anything later and is still doing the job or just a reluctance - understandable to mess with something that is important to the bottom line and is working.

To compound this, the default setting of System Integrity Protection (enabled) is changed either by the user or by some essential part of Avid's tools to disabled.

With the Chrome update, IF SIP was not enabled, a single symlink was removed. A symlink is commonly used in variants of Unix (and Windows) to be a pointer to a specific part of the file system. It just happened that the removed link (which pointed to /private/var) is an essential link in the booting process.

Google has produced a manual fix that can be done by booting into Recovery Mode and entering specific commands in Terminal. This fix re-establishes the symlink and also removes the Chrome update.

 

This link provides a good explanation of SIP, and why it is needed: Apple explanation of SIP Principally, it provides some limits on what root user is permitted to do in certain sections of the file system, unless Apple itself has signed off on the changes.

 

Really good example of what happens when software writers produce an update without considering EVERY factor that might be affected.

[Anderton]

Didn't the Mac start using externally written modules starting with OS X? They're the same kind of modules MixBus and other programs use. My understanding is that everything prior to that was done in-house.