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Magic Bullet Looks - weird crash


solaar
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Here's a weird one for the bright tech heads.

 

When I click on a preset icon in Magic Bullet Looks 1.2 (I have the same issue with 1.0 btw) OSX freezes for about 5-10 minutes. It's not your 'usual' application freeze right before it crashes though. No beach ball and the mouse is still there and moves across the screen but nothing responds to clicks. Not even the dock magnifies etc. Total silence.

 

Then when it comes back to life after that spooky while, parts of the screen graphics are scrambled, especially in the dock. Strangely enough, when I open Activity monitor to see what's going on with MB Looks Builder there are a couple of black pixels on the line with the process. As soon as I hit the process line, the app quits without any trace. There's no crash report, not even the usual crash popup with 'Send report' etc.

 

It would be very hard to trace and debug I suppose but perhaps someone has experienced this before and can give me a hint how to fix this.

 

My specs are in the sig - the hack (the Macbook's GMA chip isn't supported for Looks Builder anyway)

 

Any clue much appreciated.

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Here's an update. I'm not a tech expert and have no solution but at least I think I could narrow the problem down.

 

I installed Photoshop CS4 and when I tried to apply a simple edit to a picture (lasso tool or something like that) I had the exact same crash as in MB Looks. It didn't freeze as long but when the system came back after about half a minute the graphics were also messed up in the exact same way.

 

I disabled OpenGL support in Photoshop's preferences and voilà all was good.

 

Now I couldn't find an option to disable OpenGL in MB Looks but if there was I would bet it would solve the problem.

 

The question now is, what's wrong with open GL on my machine? Is there a way to fix or reinstall it? I also noticed in the system profiler under frameworks that I have OpenGL 1.5.10. Most graphics software manufacturers keep talking about compatibility with v.2.0 though. How can I get 2.0 on my machine?

 

Sorry if this question once again shows my incompetence when it comes to the nitty gritty tech stuff. To be quite honest I'm not really sure what it takes to make OpenGL work correctly in a first place.

 

I hope this is somehow useful for others anyway.

cheers

 

edit: if a mod stumbles upon this, do you reckon it could be moved to the nvidia cards sub forum? The chance of getting a quick answer are probably higher. I don't want to double post. Thanks

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Im having the same issue with Magic Bullet! This started yesterday, however i had not used "looks" on my system for over a year, but i tried to use it yesterday and when i selected an effect everything just stopped, dock didnt work, expose didnt work, nothing, then after waiting a really really long time it processed the effect. Im running a Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Core...and once it processes the effect, the graphics on the dock are all scrambled...im wondering if this is related to a mac OSX update, as thats the only chnage to the system between then and now...I dont know what it possibly could be, so i dont have a solution, but i do have the same problem! Please let me know if u are able to figure out what it is

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a weird one for the bright tech heads.

 

When I click on a preset icon in Magic Bullet Looks 1.2 (I have the same issue with 1.0 btw) OSX freezes for about 5-10 minutes. It's not your 'usual' application freeze right before it crashes though. No beach ball and the mouse is still there and moves across the screen but nothing responds to clicks. Not even the dock magnifies etc. Total silence.

 

Then when it comes back to life after that spooky while, parts of the screen graphics are scrambled, especially in the dock. Strangely enough, when I open Activity monitor to see what's going on with MB Looks Builder there are a couple of black pixels on the line with the process. As soon as I hit the process line, the app quits without any trace. There's no crash report, not even the usual crash popup with 'Send report' etc.

 

It would be very hard to trace and debug I suppose but perhaps someone has experienced this before and can give me a hint how to fix this.

 

My specs are in the sig - the hack (the Macbook's GMA chip isn't supported for Looks Builder anyway)

 

Any clue much appreciated.

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Aaah man! That's 'great' news. Sorry to hear that for you though but it seems like we're some sort of pioneers on the issue. Have you also tested the photoshop setting with and without OpenGL?

 

Anyway as you have the problem on a real mac there will be a fix popping up soon I hope. I'm still searching on my end but I'm also inclined to believe it has something to do with 10.5.7 as none of the MB Looks versions work anymore. I would go as far as thinking that OpenGL got corrupted or something along those lines.

 

It's a bit frustrating sometimes to not be a tech head. I don't even know if it makes any sense what I said. Just theories....

 

let's wish us good luck cos' Looks is one of the most useful plugins for video out there...

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No i haven't tried that, but i found your/our fix...IF you are willing to execute it! I went and bought a new hard drive yesterday, reinstalled Leopard on it, reinstalled FCP, and Looks Builder... mind you, i got this hard drive will the sole intention of it being a video editing disk only, so i didn't install anything else, except FCP and related plugins.. when i launch looks builder now it works PERFECTLY, very quick and fluid! So this leads me to believe the only difference between a fresh Leopard, and the leopard on the other hard drive (that caused the freezing) is that it was updated... so i recommend getting a new external, installing leopard on it, and don't update it! Its a $100 fix that saves hours of troubleshooting, and months on waiting for an official solution....GOOD LUCK...

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absolutely! And remember, u can always switch which version of leopard u boot if u installed it on a 2nd hard drive...so for instance...say u needed your music and vsts, as i need my AU's (audio units) in logic, u hold option during a restart and pick the Updated Leopard Harddrive to start with...and say u want to do video editing, looks builder stuff...hold option during startup and boot the fresh leopard install...and once u boot from either, u can always pull files across just like u would any other hard drive connected to ur computer...hope im making sense

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Nice one mate!

It probably proves that 10.5.7 is in fact buggy. I was thinking of doing the same but I've got too much stuff integrated with video and music, VST plugins etc... it would take me a week to reinstall and tweak everything the way I need it. I suppose when I'm finished with all that a fix might be out. I'm keeping my hopes up.

 

I've read a lot of horror stories from video pros on other forums in the meantime. I reckon it's well worth holding back on the update when you don't have much time on your hands to fix what wasn't broken in a first place....

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So basically i have one Leopard boot hard drive dedicated to music editing etc, and one leopard boot hard drive dedicated to video

 

 

 

absolutely! And remember, u can always switch which version of leopard u boot if u installed it on a 2nd hard drive...so for instance...say u needed your music and vsts, as i need my AU's (audio units) in logic, u hold option during a restart and pick the Updated Leopard Harddrive to start with...and say u want to do video editing, looks builder stuff...hold option during startup and boot the fresh leopard install...and once u boot from either, u can always pull files across just like u would any other hard drive connected to ur computer...hope im making sense
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I know what you're saying. Working in different instances and test in parallel until the dust settles. Makes perfect sense and is usually always done in a pro environment where each minute costs hard cash.

 

I should have done that from the moment I updated to 10.5.7. I actually have a test HD that I always plug in when I need to test updates and some really weird stuff. This time I was just too busy (and lazy too perhaps) to thoroughly test before I upgraded my main HD.

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Here's an update (no pun intended, or perhaps so...)

 

I did a fresh 10.5.4 install from my original retail DVD with EFI boot etc, tested MB Looks, works flawlessly. Nothing different to be expected. Then I updated to 10.5.5, launched it again, all good. Upgraded to 10.5.6, all good.

 

Then upgraded to 10.5.7... crash!

 

My first reflex was to downgrade OpenGL to 10.5.5. No luck.

 

Then I restored the 10.5.5 geforce and nvidia kexts I had backed up with OSX86tools. Miracle! MB Looks won't crash anymore and everything else runs fine BUT (and this is a fat one)

when I go into System profiler and hit 'Graphics/Display' OSX crashes with the dreaded grey screen and 'please hit the power or reset button' ...

 

So I suppose within my very limited tech knowledge there must be something fundamentally wrong with 10.5.7 and its graphics behaviour.

 

Hello mods, if any of you stumbles across this thread, would you mind moving it to the nvidia thread. I reckon that's where it belongs to.

 

Cheers!

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Cheers for the hint mate. But no, that didn't do it. I tried all of them I could find digging in the crates

of my HD. System profiler only crashes on the graphics part, everything else is fine. That's not the real problem anyway. It would be just a patch on an open wound. I'd like to get to the root of all this.

 

I mean it's probably wishful thinking but what I'm getting at, why would I have to go back to old kexts to make some graphic apps work? What's the difference between 10.5.6 and 10.5.7 on that end?

 

What do users do who have one of the first Intel mac pros with 7xxx cards? I can't believe Apple have suddenly abandoned those folks with a silly update and basically force them to upgrade their graphics card if they want to continue using certain apps... that's hard to believe. Or perhaps not so hard?

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Here's another confirmation that it's very likely an issue of 10.5.7 and nvidia 7XXX series cards. There are other Mac Pro users out there who have the first generation MPs with a 7300.

 

*http://toolfarm.com/phorumNew5/read.php?14,12133,12199,quote=1#REPLY

 

Since CS4 with OpenGL enabled also crashes in the same manner, I see it more as an Apple issue and I reckon they should fix it.

 

Work in progress. Hopefully...

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Hello Solaar

I just register here to say I have the same issue with Looks right now, and it exactly happened since the update to 10.5.7.

I think I can restore my system to 10.5.6 with time machine but I still looking for a way to solve this problem.

If I'll find anything I'll update my post here.

Good luck man and let me know if you find any cure.

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Hello Solaar

I just register here to say I have the same issue with Looks right now, and it exactly happened since the update to 10.5.7.

I think I can restore my system to 10.5.6 with time machine but I still looking for a way to solve this problem.

If I'll find anything I'll update my post here.

Good luck man and let me know if you find any cure.

Cheers mate!

 

I'm actually quite confident now that Apple will eventually come out with a fix, unless... their fix consists of updating the firmware on their graphics cards or worse... offer 'only' a free hardware upgrade without fixing anything in their drivers - which I don't believe but I've read somewhere that it happened in the past with Mac Pros and some overheating issues on certain GPUs. It would be bad news for hackintosh people.

 

Then there's still the hope that some bright OSX hacker will come up with an unofficial fix :)

 

Anyway, good luck to all of us.

 

edit: btw MB Looks is only the tip of the iceberg. I've seen plenty of threads where Mac Pro users report the same sort of problem in FCP, Aperture, Photoshop etc....

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Cheers mate!

 

I'm actually quite confident now that Apple will eventually come out with a fix, unless... their fix consists of updating the firmware on their graphics cards or worse... offer 'only' a free hardware upgrade without fixing anything in their drivers - which I don't believe but I've read somewhere that it happened in the past with Mac Pros and some overheating issues on certain GPUs. It would be bad news for hackintosh people.

 

Then there's still the hope that some bright OSX hacker will come up with an unofficial fix :)

 

Anyway, good luck to all of us.

 

edit: btw MB Looks is only the tip of the iceberg. I've seen plenty of threads where Mac Pro users report the same sort of problem in FCP, Aperture, Photoshop etc....

 

Thanks for reply Solaar. I think for now we can just cross our fingers and hope somehow, someone, somewhere can help us with this issue. I'll keep you inform if I find anything about this matter.

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