Probably my least favorite error in Final Cut Pro 7 (or earlier versions) is a General Error. It has one of the least helpful warning dialogs and is frustratingly difficult to solve. However, I’ve learned that when a General Error occurs it is almost always related to a bad clip, or a bad render file, in your sequence. Maybe not always, but this should be the first place to check.
General Errors most often relate to render problems; either when you are rendering directly during editing, or rendering as part of an export. While there isn’t a fast way to fix this, it can be fixed. Before you attempt to fix a General Error, it doesn’t hurt to reset your system by doing a Safe Boot.
NOTE: Here’s an article that explains how to do a Safe Boot: Trouble-Shoot in Five Steps
THINGS TO CHECK
1. While Final Cut SHOULD be able to work with video of different frame rates, it can often have problems when a clip with a faster frame rate (say, 30 fps) is put into a slower sequence (say, 23.98 fps). Disable clips with different frame rates and see if the General Error goes away when you render.
NOTE: To disable a clip, select it and type Control+B. A clip changes color when it is disabled.
2. It is possible that a specific render file became corrupted. This isn’t your fault, every so often it just happens. Delete all render files and see if the error goes away.
NOTE: To delete all render files associated with a track, turn off the green visibility light, located in the track header on the left of the Timeline, then turn it back on. This is just a quick click – click. If you don’t turn the visibility light back on, all clips in that track become invisible.
3. Sometimes clips downloaded from stock image houses are corrupted during the transfer. Disable any stock shots (select the clip and type Control+B) and re-render.
4. If these first three suggestions don’t work, you will need to get a bit more methodical by rendering your project in sections until you finally isolate the clip(s) that is causing a problem. To render just a portion of your sequence, select roughly 10% of your clips and render. If that works, SAVE YOUR PROJECT, then render the next 10%. (Saving your project allows you keep the render files that you’ve created so far, in the event of a crash.)
NOTE: The easiest way to render a portion of a project is to select the clips you want to render and choose Sequence > Render Selection. Make sure all the render options are checked, as they are in this screen shot.
Repeat this process until you find the section that causes the error. Now, render each clip in that section until you find the offending clip. In almost all cases, you’ll need to remove the clip causing problems and replace it with a new version.
SUMMARY
Solving a General Error problem is possible; it’s just time-consuming. This gives you some tips on where to start.
72 Responses to FCP 7: Fixing a General Error
Newer Comments →-
Joe Winston says:
April 30, 2012 at 6:19 am
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Eric Peacock says:
April 30, 2012 at 8:48 am
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The frustration of Final Cut’s “General Error” says:
June 3, 2012 at 11:05 am
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How to fix General Error in FCP7 | Jonny Elwyn - Film Editor says:
August 4, 2012 at 10:53 am
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Mars says:
October 11, 2012 at 3:23 pm
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Jill says:
October 19, 2012 at 2:54 pm
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katie says:
January 9, 2013 at 3:10 pm
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Vanessa says:
February 13, 2013 at 1:54 pm
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Larry Jordan says:
February 13, 2013 at 3:21 pm
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Vanessa says:
February 13, 2013 at 7:42 pm
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Larry Jordan says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:07 pm
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Eric Peacock says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:18 pm
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Narrow_Minded_Mime says:
March 9, 2013 at 12:46 am
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Larry Jordan says:
March 9, 2013 at 7:47 am
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m says:
March 28, 2013 at 6:15 pm
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Mishavideo says:
April 1, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Newer Comments →Hey Larry,
Thanks for a great and very helpful article. I’ve also gotten “GENERAL ERROR” when my sequence contains still graphics, or Photoshop flies, that are CMWK instead of RGB. Another little thing to look for.
Joe
If your Sequence is set to render in a “high-precision YUV” you might see a General Error that won’t appear when set to render in 8-bit YUV or RGB. Turning down the quality from high-precision to RGB/8-bit can help clear this up in a pinch.
[…] error message will help narrow down the problem clip. Also do a safe reboot of your computer. Click here for further instructions from Larry Jordan. Going by his instructions did prove helpful but […]
[…] had this ”General Error” message pop up in FCP7 the other day when my edit would no longer save (although thankfully […]
This works for rendering. However, I found today I was receiving a “General Error” when I tried to simply export my 98 minute movie. So, to my dismay, I used “export using Quicktime Compressor” which seems to be working. The big downfall is that what would have taken me 20 minutes to export is now taking me 13 hours… 🙁
Many thanks! You saved me from much distress when a file suddenly quit just before a big deadline.
I had the same issue and tried all of the above to no avail.
However, I pretty quickly narrowed it down to the problem clip. Since I had been working from a file that had been converted from its camera codec into ProRes through MPEG Streamclip, I made that clip go offline in Final Cut Pro and chose “delete the file” to get rid of the corrupt clip. Then, I simply re-converted my original file back into ProRes and reconnected the media in FCP. Boom. No more General Error.
I’m having the same issue, tried all of the above and nothing has worked.
this is my first time using magic bullet, do you think that could be causing the general error?? It did take about 8hrs to fully render the 7min short. Everything looks fine when it plays through. But… Question…How would I know if my clip is corrupted??Would I see that in playback??
Please save me! =)
If you WEREN’T getting the general error before and ARE getting it now, whatever changed is causing problems.
You may, or may not, see a problem with the video. However, problem video will generally have problems compressing.
Larry
What about the out of memory pop up?
I have never gotten either of these messages before, now I am seeing them both all on this same project.
I specifically upgraded my ram a few days ago for the magic bullet plug in so I know my computer can’t be out of memory. My fcp project files are working off a TB with 300gigs free.
Anymore advice? or routes I can take?
It is much appreciated!
Thanks!
Vanessa
Vanessa:
FCP 7 only address 4GB of RAM, no matter how much you have. And the storage capacity of your hard drive has no bearing on this at all.
Out of memory errors are generally related to either bad media, or too many clips/sequences in your project. Duplicate your project (so you have something to play with). Remove all sequences you don’t need. See if the General Error goes away. If not, remove half the clips in the timeline, see if the problem goes away.
At some point, you will remove the bad media and FCP will work properly. This allows you to figure out what’s bad, remove it, so you can get back to editing.
Larry
I have seen out of memory errors with FCP7 while using Magic Bullet DeNoiser 1.x (now replaced with 2.x). This was with a feature film that we had edited with ProRez proxies but were reinserting 4K Red Raw files for some of the special effects shots for maximum quality and control so it didn’t entirely surprise me. I moved that part of my workflow to After Effects to get around it.
I’d suggest temporarily disabling the Magic Bullet plugs and seeing if that eliminates the error.
Is there a way to run an overall check on every clip to a sequence’s timeline … or really isnt there a mark or chart or view option that allows you to see which clips are causing “out of memory” problems? I can only edit my project for 10 minutes before it runs out of memory …and considering it takes 6 minutes to load up I would have to be a parrot to continue
Any help would be appreciated ..I just read through many explanations in fcp help and changed many settings that others might want to look into ..settings that can all be tweaked in order for a smoother playback …in RT drop down menu change the frame and video quality ..much more everywhere but “out of memory” doesnt seem to have changed much at all
No. However, in almost all cases, out of memory errors are caused by still images that are too big. (The second cause is stock footage files that are corrupted during the download.)
Make sure all your images are smaller than 4,000 pixels on a side. That is always the first place to check.
Larry
oh thank youuuuuu thank youuuuu
it worked all steps had to be done!
Super great info, Larry – even after all these years. Ran into the general error again for the first time in a long while and thanks to your tips was able to make it through!
Cheers!