All of a sudden

skettalee

skettalee

Well-known member
I dont know why but all of a sudden when I load final cut pro it comes up saying :

Unable to locate the following external devices :

Apple Firewire NTSC (720 x 480)

Your system configuration may have changed, or your deck/camera may be disconnected or turned off.

Please check your connectiongs and click "Check Again", or click "Continue" to set external device selection to None.


That msg comes up now when I try to import to my Powerbook G4. Can someone help me cause I need to import footage into it.

Cause when I try to capture it says :

Attempt to capture video without a video device selected. Please select a video device in your capture presets and try again.


I know it can see the firewire because I can press play on the program or the dv player and it shows timecode on the computer and/or it will start playing on the player when i press play on the computer log and capture tool.
 
Make sure camera is turned on in VCR mode and is connected before starting FCP.
If you're in FCP go to View menu and toward the bottom there should be a refresh A/V devices menu item.
 
I used the PC with another firewire cable and in Vegas Video it allowed finally but now I dont even have an option for the firewire on my mac. I cant even select the firewire device cause its gone. Anyway I can reinstall the drivers like you do on a windows machine?
 
No -- but there is a little button INSIDE the mac that will reset your firewire.

I'll look for it...

Hang tight.

CaptM
 
No -- but there is a little button INSIDE the mac that will reset your firewire.

I'll look for it...

Hang tight.

CaptM

Ok -- Try zapping pram -- OPTION - P-R at startup

The other option was resetting logic board. Dont' want to do that just yet.

Hmmmm
 
so when the powerbook is starting up I just hold option and hit P then R? And that is when? As soon as I start it up and it makes that startup sound.
 
fyi- if you do zap your pram, various settings will go to default, you just have to simply re-adjust those settings back to your specific preferences.
t :grin:
 
Alright, still havent tried it yet but I will remember to do it tonight. I actually got Vegas Video to import it and i already edited the music video so its all good for now but my next project i want to go back to fcp
 
Hey quick question? How do you know if the command to zap the parameters worked? The computer booted the same way it always did...

I opened Final Cut Pro HD and went to Audio/Video Settings and in Video Playback it has None where the firewire option used to be. They do have Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Main but I dont even have whatever it takes to get that working im pretty sure of.

Any other help?
 
Right from Apple's site:

Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

Most likely this is not your problem. Give it a shot though, but if I were I would trash my preferences.

Trash the following preference files

Users>"your account">Library>Preferences>com.apple.FinalCutPro.plist

Then the two or three files inside the following folder, # depends on your FCP version:

Users>"your account">Library>Preferences>Final Cut Pro User Data>
--Final Cut Pro 5.0 Prefs
--Final Cut Pro Obj Cache
--Final Cut Pro Prof Cache

These files will be regenerated when you restart FCP. All of your specific user settings will be lost. Sounds like your preferences or something is corrupted, which is common, so trash the preferences and start over.
 
Ok great. After work today I will give that a try and see if it helps me. Thank you so much. I wasn't pressing Command with that Option P and R so ill retry that as well.
 
You need to hear the chime at least twice, so don't release the buttons after the first one!

good luck!
 
hey i did both and they both worked as far as getting them done. But when I opened final cut pro 4.5 again it asked to do the easy setup. I picked DV 23. whatever NTSC and it still came up saying Unable to locate the following external devices :
Apple Firewire NTSC (720 x 480)

Whats the deal? i know its here in the powerbook and iMovie recognizes it. It can control the camera with imovie. Whats the deal, should i start using imovie to make my videos and no more final cut pro. LOL. just kiddin cause id never go that far. HELP THOUGH! Actually with imovie it gave me this error :

"The camera is sending half sized frames, which iMovie cant accept. Check your cameras record mode. The mode must be SP or LP. If that doesn't help, try removing all the cables and batteries from the camera, wait a minute, replace them, and then reset the date, time and record mode.

But that was using the firewire cable that also didn't work on the pc with avid and vegas. But I used another firewire cable eventually and vegas allowed me to capture. HELP!
 
Boy, things are quite messed up there, huh?

The obvious question: have you tried a different tape?

If the answer is yes, you might have gotten into the time to do a clean install of the OS. I'd even suggest a whole new HD format.

Those things can get ugly sometimes... Especially with FCP 4.X. Theese sorts of problems are not uncommon. FCP 5 is much better though...

Now, seriously, I think it's time for a little mac lobothomy...

Good Luck!
 
No man I dont want to have to do that. As far as trying another tape, the only time I even used a tape was the first day and then ever since then it showed the missing firewire. Now every time after that, I didn't even have a player or camera connected to the computer cause i didn't have it available for one. But that shouldn't matter cause i remember months ago using final cut pro, i can open it period without anything connected and see the firewire there. Damn this thing. Maybe I should do a clean install then. I dont really have too much on the powerbook that i need to back up. We do have an extra license for final cut pro 5 at work but didn't want to put it on the home system cause i dont even use HD anyway. Should i just go install the 5.0 and hope it works?
 
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