G4 Keeps Crashing When Converting avi Files to dv

[elsiejazz]

Hi, all -

First, the basics: I'm on a G4 Dual Processor MDD mac running OS 10.4.11 with 2 GB of RAM and always keep a minimum of 35 GB free hard drive space available.

For the past two months, the mac freezes solid (requiring a hard/power button reboot) every time I try to convert an .avi file to .dv. What's weird is that this happens with every conversion app and any .avi file I'm attempting to convert.

Problem began during a conversion with Toast Titanium 9 (which I'd been using to convert for over a year without difficulty). I figured the .avi file was corrupt, tossed it out and tried again with a completely different .avi file...same result.

Firstly I ran some basic maintenance tasks - repaired permissions, defragged the drive, had TechTool Pro check/repair all file structures, directory maintenance etc. No relief there.

Having read that Toast 9 could be problematic, I deleted every Toast/Roxio pref file after each crash; ultimately I deleted the entire app from my drive and went back to Toast 8. Same problem.

I purchased and tried a slew of other conversion programs, including MovieConverter, iVCD, VideoVangelist, VisualHub, Xilisoft's Video Converter and freshly-installed versions of Toast 8.0 and 9.0. I've also used D-Vision 3 to fix/repair some .avi files to see if the files themselves were bad. In every case any of the above apps would freeze the mac partially through the conversion process.

After a month of this I became so frustrated that I erased the entire hard drive, reinstalled OSX, then reinstalled clean copies of all my conversion apps one at a time, trying a conversion with each app before reinstalling the next. I also opened the mac and ensured that all the RAM chips were securely seated.

Same behavior; the mac crashed and froze every time. Even with brand new avi files!

Last night, I burned a data disc containing some of the avi files from my drive and copied them to a friend's powerbook. I tried converting them using the Toast 8.0 app that was already on the powerbook and the conversion and subsequent burn worked *perfectly*.

I'm truly at my wit's end trying to determine what in hades is going on to cause these crashes. Wouldn't wish this problem on anyone, but if someone out there has experienced it, or has some other fix to recommend, well...I'd be most grateful for any help/advice/info you'd be willing to share!

Many thanks in advance...

elsiejazz

[terryj]

I can tell you what I beleive it might be from your posts,
as something similar happened to me last year with my
MDD, and it simply took me watching it work a conversion
with iStat Pro installed in my dashboard to learn the cause:

The MDD is overheating, and needs to have the following done:

1. Have its's thermal compound replaced on the Processor.
Simple to do, buying a couple of tubes of Artic Silver II from
radioshack ( $11 each) or Newegg ( $9 or so each) and
following the instructions on Apple' s site for re-applying
will help towards the processor overheat.

the other is to

2. Install a processor cooling fan mod that will cool down the
Processor. ( i like this one at xlr8yourmac.com)
and I'm currently using it.

I can tell you, at least from what you've posted, points to any
app corruption, or any file corruption. THe common thing in
all these apps is, however, that during conversion ( transcoding)
of the avi file to DV file, the dual processors will be ramped up.
And if they get hot, they will cause the apps to fail, the Mac to
"mysteriously" reboot, "mysteriously" crash, etc.

My good friend Douggo over at the Apple forum, and also and
avid MDD owner, pointed out this often common occurance
that happens to MDDs as they age; the thermal paste breaks down
between heatsink and processors, and needs to be replaced.
Also, the original heatsinks in the MDD weren't built to correctly
cool the machines ( a copper one versus aluminum one
is much better) but adding fans can help keep the processor down
around 51degrees C/ 123 degrees F, anything over that will
cause the processor to lock up.

Install iStat Pro ( free from Apple's site under OSX Widgets)
and test your mac. You'll notice quickly how high it ramps
after a few minutes of conversion....

[rumplestiltskin]

The hardware issue sounds plausible, even probable. However, just for grins, have you installed Perian? If not, do it.

[Herve]

[...] I purchased and tried a slew of other conversion programs, including MovieConverter [...]

I don't know if your problem is hardware or not, but if you enabled Menu item"Help" > "debug mode", load your avi file, convert it and "crash" the computer, send me the logs files (home folder/Library/Logs/MovieConverter/)
I can take a look to know if there I see something weird with your avi file…
So, reproduce your crash and contact me by mail

No idea about your real problem, but "maybe" there is something useful inside your logs

bye