Invalid Public Atom

[Michael Boutros]

Hello everyone! Firstly, thanks to any and all help. My problem is a weird one. I convert my movies and TV shows successfully, and they play the first one or two times, but then afterwards I try to play them again and Quicktime gives me an error: "Invalid public atom found." To my knowledge I didn't change anything, and I have no idea what could be causing this. I'm going from AVI to iPod. Thanks!

[tomlee59]

If a particular file once played successfully, but doesn't any longer, here are some possibilities:

1) You updated some software, but only incompletely. The "public movie atom" error message usually means it can't locate the correct codec.

2) You have a disk problem. Run a disk utility to make sure.

3) Try repairing permissions. Sometimes (particularlly after an OS install or update), permissions get set wrong, and this can cause your problem.

[mannox]

Hello everyone! Firstly, thanks to any and all help. My problem is a weird one. I convert my movies and TV shows successfully, and they play the first one or two times, but then afterwards I try to play them again and Quicktime gives me an error: "Invalid public atom found." To my knowledge I didn't change anything, and I have no idea what could be causing this. I'm going from AVI to iPod. Thanks!

IF you have the files saved on an external drive (or even if they were at ANY point saved on an external drive), go to your manuf's website and download the latest firmware upgrade for that external drive. Worked for me and solved ALL my .dmg issues, ALL my public movie atom issues, and all my "Error 4960" issues.

If the files became "corrupt" at some point (while they were on an external drive) - copying them to another location would only be making copies of broken files. You have to go back to the drive (hopefully they are still there). Keeping the files ON the drive, update the firmware. Everything came back for me, instantly. Whew!

mannox@gmail.com

[tomlee59]

Uh, thanks. But given that the OP asked for help almost 2 years ago, presumably his problem is solved by now.

But your tip may help someone else. Basically, if the file resides on a non-Mac-formatted drive, the "bad public atom" message can arise. Simply copying the file over to a Mac-formatted drive will often fix it altogether. No firmware upgrade necessary in those cases.