36 Replies Latest reply: Dec 4, 2011 2:06 PM by ionRane RSS

    Premiere CS4 will not load project

    Brittanyls Community Member

      Hi! I've been looking around the forums for an answer to my problem, but so far I haven't found one. Here's my problem:

       

      I've been working on a Premiere project for a couple weeks now, and I've constantly been having problems.  It crashes often, and sometimes does not respond. This I do not mind, I just save whenever I do something.

       

      Yesterday night, I tried to open my project.  I opened it, and the little box popped up that said, "Load Project...".  The loading bar went all the way to the end and then froze. In the bottom left corner, it had said that all media was loaded. I pressed cancel and then Premiere froze.  I then exited Premeire and tried to reopen, but the same thing happened. I had read on one post to try to turning off your computer and then turning it back on. So, I went to bed.

       

      Today, the project was working perfectly until now.  This time, the loading bar only loaded about 75%, even though at the bottom it said that all media was loaded.  I re-started my computer, but it didn't help.  I pressed shift, but it didn't help.  And the last time an auto-save file was created was yesterday, and I have made a lot of progress since then.  Does anyone have a solution to this?

       

      premier.png

      Frozen!

       

      I have 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium on an HP computer with and Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8400 2.66 GHz.  The RAM is 6 GB. I don't know if this information will help you, but just in case.

        • 1. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
          shooternz Community Member

          Try importing it into a New Project.

           

          Try Deleting all your TEMP files

           

          Let us know your hardware set up ie drives etc

           

          Let us know your Project Settings

          .

          • 2. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
            jeremy d. Adobe Employee

            Another thought - did you load the latest CS4 updates?

             


            ...and another -- what happens if you leave the project loading for a while, say, overnight?

            • 3. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
              Brittanyls Community Member

              shooternz:

               

              I've tried importing it into a new project, but the same thing happens- it loads about 75% of the way and then freezes! The only difference is that I can press cancel and it will still respond!

               

              How do I delete my temp files?

               

              Hardware set-up...I'm not really sure if this is what you are looking for, but I'm working with the set-up that came with the computer...everything is saved on the C:\ drive.

               

              I'm not sure how to view my project settings, either.

               

              Sorry guys, I'm new to this!

              • 4. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                Brittanyls Community Member

                I'll try leaving it overnight, but do you think it will help? I sort of need to finish this project within the next few days!

                 

                I downloaded a huge Adobe update recently...I guess that would be the latest? I donwloaded at the beginning of the week I think.

                • 5. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                  jeremy d. Adobe Employee

                  My thinking is that Pr is still loading the media, despite what the status bar is telling you.

                  That said, if you've got CS4 updated, then we should be loading a lot of the media after the UI has already come up.

                   

                  Is your experience that the status bar runs up until around 90% complete, then appears to hang?

                   

                  Brittanyls wrote:

                   

                  I'll try leaving it overnight, but do you think it will help? I sort of need to finish this project within the next few days!

                   

                   

                  & overnight might be overkill; maybe just step out for dinner or something.

                  • 6. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                    Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                    Often, when PrPro hangs near the end of the Project Loading function, it is due to a problem Asset.

                     

                    Can the OP look at the AutoSave versions (be careful to check the Date/Time, as the incremental number does NOT designate the latest), and see if those will load too.

                     

                    Good luck,

                     

                    Hunt

                    • 7. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                      jeremy d. Adobe Employee

                      Yup

                      I was just about to edit that into my previous comments

                       

                      Often, when PrPro hangs near the end of the Project Loading function, it is due to a problem Asset.

                       

                      • 8. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                        Brittanyls Community Member

                        I checked the latest AutoSave--it does load in Premiere. However, as I said before, this project was created yesterday, and I have made a lot of progress since then. There is not AutoSave that is later than this. (I checked the dates.)

                         

                        In fact, it seems like the only Premiere project that will not load is this one!

                        • 9. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                          jeremy d. Adobe Employee

                          Then yeah, it sounds like assets, as Bill suggested

                           

                          Brittanyls wrote:

                           

                          In fact, it seems like the only Premiere project that will not load is this one!

                          • 10. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                            Brittanyls Community Member

                            So how would I fix a problem "asset"? I'm not even exactly sure what that is...

                            • 11. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                              Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                              OK, let's think this through. By default, the AutoSave should be at 5 mins., unless you have altered it, or CS5 has bumped that up.

                               

                              What was done with the Project, between your Save and the last good AutoSave?

                               

                              Were new Assets Imported, and placed in the Timeline?

                               

                              Something must have changed, and the task will be to try and figure out what that was.

                               

                              Good luck, and sorry that the last AutoSave was not closer to the Save.

                               

                              Hunt

                               

                              PS - if I suspect any issues with the Project, I do several Save_As and also Save_As_a_Copy, just to CMA (cover my posterior).

                              • 12. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                shooternz Community Member

                                "everything saved  on a C: Drive"  could be part of your problem.

                                 

                                Its not good practice at the very least for an editing system!

                                • 13. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                  shooternz Community Member

                                  Deleting Temp files

                                   

                                  type  :

                                   

                                  %temp%

                                   

                                  in the window box of  an Explorer Window.

                                   

                                  Delete every file that is not dated with todays date.

                                   

                                   

                                  Its just a way of clearing all the junk that builds up in your system and slows things down as well as taking up HDD space.  PrPro contributes to this junk.

                                  • 14. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                    Brittanyls Community Member

                                    I did alter one of the AutoSaves.

                                     

                                    Yesterday, when I couldn't get my project to open, I opened one of the AutoSaves and changed something. Then, instead of pressing SaveAs, I just Saved.  However, I did not continue to use this project, as I was eventually able to open my non-AutoSave, original project again.

                                     

                                    I did import more videos into the original project, some that were MP4s and some that were .mov.  I also imported some MP3 files.

                                     

                                    Is that what you mean by assets? And did I mess up that AutoSave?!

                                    • 15. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                      Brittanyls Community Member

                                      Ack! I didn't know that I shouldn't save everything on my C:\ Drive! Would you reccomend an external HD, for future editing?

                                       

                                      Anyway, I deleted all of the Temp files that were not associated with today's date, except for one. It was FXSAPIDebugLogFile, which was last modified in December. It couldn't be deleted because it was already open apparently...?

                                       

                                      Anyway, my project still freezes.

                                       

                                      We made some progress, though! This time, the project bar loaded to the end, and then froze!  However, at the bottom of the screen, it did not say that any media files were loaded at all, because there was nothing there!

                                      • 16. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                        shooternz Community Member

                                        Editing requires more than one HDD to spread the load of the assets.

                                         

                                        No asset files should be on the same drive as the OS (Boot Drive)

                                         

                                        All drives should be fast drives ( eg SATA) whether internal or external.  USB drives do not cut it for editing from.

                                        • 17. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                          Brittanyls Community Member

                                          Thanks for the tips, but this doesn't really help my current problem!

                                           

                                          I also read in another forum post to try moving the folder where your media files are stored. This was suppposed to force a dialog to come up asking where the files were. However, nothing changed.

                                          • 18. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                            Brittanyls Community Member

                                            Alright everyone, I think that I am going to retire for the night. If anyone comes up with anything, please post! I'll check back in the morning with an update!

                                            • 19. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                              Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                              When you get back to things, check those MP3's. That is a problematic format. I advise to always convert to PCM/WAV (for PC's) and to not use MP3's. That will not alter the horrible compression of the original signals, but will usually allow one to edit much better. IMHO, MP3's are the "devil's spawn," but much of that is based on the sound - but they do cause many problems as Assets.

                                               

                                              Good luck,

                                               

                                              Hunt

                                              • 20. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                shooternz Community Member
                                                Thanks for the tips, but this doesn't really help my current problem!

                                                 

                                                 

                                                Your current problem maybe caused by the bottle neck created by the fact you have a badly set up system.

                                                 

                                                You may need to change that first if you want to sort "your current problem"

                                                 

                                                Simply put ...the Project wont open because its bottle necked and probably corrupted.

                                                • 21. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                  Brittanyls Community Member

                                                  Hello, everyone.

                                                   

                                                  Thanks for helping me, but it seems as if the project is corrupted beyond repair.

                                                   

                                                  I am going to start from the last AutoSave, (which was created two days ago) and Save As every time I do something to try and find the source of the problem.

                                                   

                                                  Again, thanks for all of your help!

                                                  • 22. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                    Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                                    Before you throw away the Project, take a look at this entry in the PrPro-Wiki on Project recovery, especially the XML Wrench part. There might be something that can still be done.

                                                     

                                                    Here's hoping,

                                                     

                                                    Hunt

                                                    • 23. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                      Brittanyls Community Member

                                                      Thanks, but XML Wrench didn't find any problems with my project. It's still the same.

                                                      • 24. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                        Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                                        Sorry to hear that. Thought that it was worth a shot, just in case the header was the issue and could be repaired.

                                                         

                                                        Good luck,

                                                         

                                                        Hunt

                                                        • 25. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                          UserValabil Community Member

                                                          I have the exact problem and tryed everything.. Cleaning cache, temps, importing the project into another new project and gave it up. I made a new project from zero re-editing everything, saved and.... when i tryied to reopen, same problem. My project has wav's, mp4`s and avi's and some AE compositions. Before i closed it i`ve saved a version of the project without the AE compositions... and still the same. I don`t know what to do. Till now this never happended before and i`ve worked with complex HDV projects containing a lot of kinds of file formats, AE compositions and stills. This project (the problematic one) was DV PAL.

                                                          • 26. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                                            User,

                                                             

                                                            Just to rule these things out, are you using any external, or networked HDD's in your workflow?

                                                             

                                                            Good luck,

                                                             

                                                            Hunt

                                                            • 27. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                              UserValabil Community Member

                                                              no, i am using internal sata 7200RPM WD disks...

                                                              • 28. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                UserValabil Community Member

                                                                i don`t think it`s about hardware, i think something happened with the dinamic link, media encoder and the information saved in the project. Before i had this problem i tryed to export with media encoder and it failed and return an error. I made a new project with exactly the same resources (footage, audio and after effects compositions) witch i imported one at a time and saved the project because i thought it was a problem with some file. But the new project loads just fine. I tryied to check the problematic project file with XML Wrench to see if there is a tag opened or something like that, but nothing...

                                                                • 29. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                  Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                                                  Thank you. That possibility is ruled out then.

                                                                   

                                                                  Sound like you have multiple physical internal HDD's, so that should not be an issue.

                                                                   

                                                                  Good luck,

                                                                   

                                                                  Hunt

                                                                  • 30. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                    Brittanyls Community Member

                                                                    Hey, everyone! I solved my problem, and this might be able to help UserValabil's problem too:

                                                                     

                                                                    My problem was the MP3's.  I changed them to WAV format and everything was fine.

                                                                     

                                                                    I found the problem by doing what Bill Hunt had suggested, which was to constantly SaveAs.  Everytime I did something, I would save this way.  And, I found that the projects that worked were the ones that I had saved before I had placed certain MP3's into the timeline.

                                                                     

                                                                    User, this may not be your exact problem, but I hope it helps you!

                                                                    • 31. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                      Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                                                      Interesting, and thank you for reporting. It WILL most definitely help others.

                                                                       

                                                                      MP3's are highly problematic, though usually with Import. I always convert to 48KHz 16-bit PCM/WAV, prior to Importing. That will not recover the lost quality, that the MP3 compression has lost, but will make life much simpler. The only MP3's that I ever use un-converted are tiny SFX files, and have never had any issues with those - all others get converted first.

                                                                       

                                                                      Good luck, and thanks,

                                                                       

                                                                      Hunt

                                                                      • 32. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                        Ron Fredericks Community Member

                                                                        I spent the day researching why my PrPro CS4 project hangs at about 80% loaded all of a sudden.  Bill was right on in his suggestion to search for a corrupt or bad asset.  His technique to solve the problem did not work at all though. Going back to a perviously auto-saved version of the project does not help much unless the project file itself is the bad asset. The project once saved under a new name still won't load in my experience. Also, if you try to export some part of the assets within the project, Adobe Media Encoder CS4 will fail to encode as well (another symptom of the bad asset hiding in your project workplace and sequence time-lines.

                                                                         

                                                                        In my case, it turned out to be an avi movie asset that I changed from "avi movie with audio" to "avi movie without audio" outside of adobe premiere (using after effects cs4 in my case).  So now the project thought there should be audio, but the audio was now removed.

                                                                         

                                                                        To find the bad asset was pretty easy: First go back to a project version that you can load, then click on each asset in the project workspace area and try to copy the asset using the menu: edit -> copy.

                                                                        If the asset is bad, a goofy error message will pop up including a source code file name [this has to be yet another bug in premiere to crash like this].

                                                                        If the asset is good, the copy will report no error, so move on to the next asset, repeat until you find one or all bad assets.

                                                                         

                                                                        To solve the bad asset load problem,re-import the asset under a new name. Go to your sequence, right mouse click on the asset in the time line, use the "replace with clip -> bin" command. Last step, select the new replacement asset from your bin.

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                        Best regards,

                                                                         

                                                                        Ron Fredericks

                                                                        LectureMaker, LLC

                                                                        • 33. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                          Gonzchi Community Member

                                                                          I gues there should be a "load debug" feature (maybe pressing a specific key at loading time)  for the project to load one asset at a time, and wait for a keypress to load the next one.
                                                                          That way you could easily see what is the asset that's causing trouble at load time


                                                                          Gonza

                                                                          • 34. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                            korU Community Member

                                                                            Whatever you do don't delete your temp files on your computer, if you already have then go to your

                                                                            recycle bin and restore all the files. Inside the temp folder you should find all your auto saves of your project from the life of your project... just open one of these up...and use this as your new project... to access your temp files in windows just click on "start" > "run" type in "%temp%"

                                                                            • 35. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                              korU Community Member

                                                                              No don't delete the files in here, it might be the only chance you have to finding a slightly earlier version of your project....

                                                                              instead of deleting these files try to locate an autosave premiere pro version in there .... it will save you

                                                                              a headache if there is one in there....

                                                                              • 36. Re: Premiere CS4 will not load project
                                                                                ionRane Community Member

                                                                                I am having same problem in Premiere 5.5.

                                                                                I do Not have any  MP3's, and only a couple source video files in my project.

                                                                                 

                                                                                What I found to work is to start PremierePro by right clicking on the Premiere shortcut and selecting "Run As Administrator".

                                                                                This is different from just running it normally while logged in as administrator.

                                                                                 

                                                                                Then my project loads no problem.  Of course this is a work around.. I hope I can find the culprit. (I like the idea of debugger at load.)

                                                                                 

                                                                                I recently had to replace my hard drive, but performed a drive image, so it should be an exact copy (later resized), hence should not have caused any issues.
                                                                                For all I know this is unrelated, and Premiere would have hung if I had not replaced the HD.  Never-the-less, it's a possible piece in the puzzle..