Update 2: It appears that this problem was created by a Google software updater.

Update: Avid has confirmed the issue and issued a brief statement. A report suggests it could be a Chrome issue as well. 

Hollywood filmmakers, editors, and post-production companies are reporting “a massive failure” of large numbers of Mac Pro machines running Avid Media Composer, an app popular in the movie industry.

Reports say that machines are failing to reboot…

Variety cited a Facebook group for Avid editors saying the problem is halting work on shows.

The post goes on to say that “a potential solution” is in the works. This appears to be to reinstall macOS while leaving data intact.

on Avid Editors of Facebook UPDATE: So far the rebuild of the OS has worked and it is being implemented all over town. Contact your Avid vendor about how to do this if you do not know how. If anyone runs into this problem moving forward after this rebuild, definitely post here.

— MarcusPun (@MarcusPun) September 24, 2019

There are mixed messages about the variables involved, but there are reports of macOS 10.11 to 10.14 inclusive being affected.

Variety says the problem is widespread.

Isolated reports suggest machines are “slowly crashing,” but most seem to be referring to reboot failures on startup or after a deliberate restart. This suggests that most people can avoid the problem by not shutting down or restarting machines.

Users reported that multiple computers at their company were affected by the issue, with social media chatter indicating that a number of different companies were affected by the issue.

The advice for anyone using Mac Pros running Avid is to do an immediate backup to protect your work, and not shut down/restart until more is known.

Filmmakers are a key target for the upcoming 2019 Mac Pro, which was first shown at WWDC this year. Apple listed impressive specs.

  • 300 watts of power, runs fully unconstrained
  • 2933 MHz ECC memory, 12 DIMM slots
  • 8 internal PCI slots, four double-wide slots, three single side slots
  • Half-length slot populated with two TB3 ports, audio jack, two USB A ports, two 10Gb Ethernet ports
  • Up to 1.5 terabytes of RAM
  • Intel Xeon processor with up to 28 cores
  • Apple designed a PCI connector with a second PCIe connector and power
  • Multiple graphics options; can configure with options such as Radeon Pro Vega II
  • Two GPUs connected via Infinity Fabric Link, 5X faster than PCI bust
  • Apple built a brand new card called Afterburner for video editing, 6 billion pixels per second. 3 streams of 8K, 12 streams of 4K

We learned yesterday that this will be assembled in the US with more US components in a move likely designed to skirt 25% import tariffs.

Update: Avid has shared an official response and made the issue a “top priority for our engineering and support teams.”

Update: Avid says it is aware of the issue that’s knocked out numerous Mac Pro workstations across Hollywood studios and post-production facilities.

Updated my story:https://t.co/wwUFlWjvfr pic.twitter.com/ybgjFWFw8j

— Janko Roettgers (@jank0) September 24, 2019