Skip to Main Content
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Avid Blames Google for Mac Pro Crashes

Avid confirms that the crash and failure to reboot of Mac Pros across Hollywood was nothing to do with its software, with the blame falling on a Google Chrome update.

Updated September 25, 2019
Mac Pro (trash can)

UPDATE 9/25: Avid has released a statement confirming that the root cause of Mac Pros crashing this week was in fact a Chrome update released by Google. The update includes a bug that "damages the file system on macOS machines." Information relating to the bug can be found on the Google Chrome Help community website.

Avid CEO Jeff Rosica stated, "Avid is pleased that the reboot issue facing some customers is solved and while Avid products are not the root cause, we're keeping an intense focus on bringing all of our customers back online and back to work. Over the past 36 hours, the deep dive of due diligence working closely with Apple, PACE and other partners exhausted all options and we've landed in the right place as quickly as possible. We owe our special thanks to Avid's customer and user community for their typically strong show of support at this time, especially to those who welcomed our engineers into their studios to troubleshoot."

Original Story 9/24:
The combination of a Mac Pro and Avid's Media Composer video-editing software is a common one across Hollywood. However, since yesterday it's been causing Mac Pros to slowly crash and refuse to reboot.

As Variety reports, the movie and TV industry in Los Angeles is "sweating" today because the trashcan Mac Pros they rely on to work are failing and nobody knows why yet. The Macs are refusing to reboot, with the Avid Editors of Facebook group urging people not to turn off their Macs as the tweet below show.

In a statement, Avid said it's "aware of the reboot issue affecting Apple Mac Pro devices running some Avid products, which arose late yesterday. The company also released the video included below to help explain the situation and offer some guidance while the problem is identified and solved:

One way to test if your Mac Pro is affected is to go into System Preferences and then Users & Groups. If you know your account is set as admin, but the preferences only show you as a regular user, your system has been compromised and will likely fail to reboot if shut down.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 25 with details of Google Chrome bug.

Twitter reacts to the Apple Mac Pro ‘cheese grater’
PCMag Logo Twitter reacts to the Apple Mac Pro ‘cheese grater’

Apple Fan?

Sign up for our Weekly Apple Brief for the latest news, reviews, tips, and more delivered right to your inbox.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.


Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Sign up for other newsletters

TRENDING

About Matthew Humphries

Senior Editor

I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

Read Matthew's full bio

Read the latest from Matthew Humphries