TROUBLESHOOT: Deltacast Drivers installed but video card not seen

What is the issue?

In some case, a video device is not seen even though it seems to be working fine and drivers are installed. The issue is most probably related to a security in macOS that require you to allow system extensions (kernel extensions or DriverKit) to load. And in some cases something goes wrong with this verification.

The issue and resolution will be different if you are using a driver using DriverKit or a Kernel Extension (kext).

• This article below is for Deltacast cards used in our Hardware bundles, which are using the legacy Kernel Extensions.
• If you are using Blackmagic-Design drivers (12.1 and earlier), these are still using a legacy Kernel Extension, make sure to upgrade to a more recent version of the drivers (version 12.2 or later).
• If you are using Blackmagic-Design drivers (12.2 and later), and have an issue, check the following article.
• If you are using AJA drivers these are still using a legacy Kernel Extension.

Check that the device is functioning properly

If you are using the Deltacast card in a Sonnet expansion chassis (with our M|8e, M|4e bundles for example), make sure that the Sonnet box is working properly:

• Does the blue light in front of the Sonnet chassis turn blue?
• Are there green lights inside the Sonnet chassis (you can see that from the back of the box)?
• Do you see lights on the Deltacast card inside the chassis?

Note that the box will be powered only if both the power cable AND Thunderbolt cables are properly connected to a computer that is powered on. 

Is the card seen by Deltacast's dCARE application?

To troubleshoot, you can start by installing the dCARE application that you can download from Deltacast's website.

There could be different cases.

1. If your card is not seen by your Softron application (MovieRecorder, OnTheAir Video, ...), but is seen by the "dCARE" app, the issue could be that you are using a driver that is not compatible with your version of your Softron application. Check the "Activity & Logs" window, if you see a message about a driver upgrade. The following info will not help...
2. If your card is not seen by neither your Softron application, nor the "dCARE" app, continue reading this article.

Is the card seen in "System Profiler"?

To check that it's not a hardware issue, and that the card is properly connected, first check if there are any lights on the device and looks OK. If it does not, check cabling, both power and Thunderbolt, and change them if needed.

If all look good, open "System Information". For that, go in "System Settings > General > About". Scroll down at the bottom, and click on the"System Report..." button:

In the window that opens, you will see a detail of your system hardware and software info.

For Thunderbolt devices

In the "Hardware" section, click on "Thunderbolt", and verify that your device is present:

If not, then stop reading here, it means that the device is faulty, or another hardware issue that prevents it to connect to your Mac.

If the Thunderbolt device is seen, now check if the PCIe card inside the box is seen.

For PCIe cards (even if plugged in a Thunderbolt port)

In the "Hardware" section, click on "PCI", and verify a few things:

• Driver installed: Yes (if it says No, it means that the drivers are not properly installed)
• Make sure it is the appropriate device you are lookin at:
  • Slot: if your card is in a Thunderbolt Box, it should say "Thunderbolt"
  • Vendor IO: Deltacast cards have the vendor ID 0x1b66

If you don't see the Deltacast card there, and you are using it inside a Thunderbolt expansion chassis, click on "Thunderbolt" and make sure that the Thunderbolt device is seen.

You can stop reading this article, and check for hardware issues if:

• If the Thunderbolt device is seen but not the PCI card (it means the issue is with the PCI card)
• If the neither the Thunderbolt device is seen, nor the PCI card are seen, the issue is either with the Thunderbolt device, or the PCI card.

If you can see the device, then it's probably a driver not loading, see below.

HOW TO fix a hardware issue with a Thunderbolt expansion chassis

If the device doesn't light up, or you don't see it in system profiler, first check that it is properly powered:

• Are you sure the power and Thunderbolt 3 cables are properly connected? 
• Did you connect the appropriate power adapter? These can look alike with other models and if you use the wrong one, it won't work.
• Did you use a certified Thunderbolt cable? Note that Thunderbolt 3 cables can look like USB-C cables, and USB-C cables won't work. The connectors must have the Thunderbolt icon on it:

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If you are positive with all the above:

• Do you have either a replacement power and/or Thunderbolt cable that you could use?
• Do you have another Sonnet expansion chassis that you could use?

 

How to fix the driver issue?

If you have installed the Deltacast drivers, but still don't see it, check the following:

• Make sure that you have installed the appropriate version of the drivers. Some older models (the ones that supported frame rates of max 30fps) can only use drivers up to 6.19. You can download them from here.
• When installing you have to allow the kernel extension to load. Check in "System Settings > Privacy & Security". Then scroll down towards the end and you may see the following message. Click on "Allow" and then restart your computer:

If you don't see that "Allow" option. Start the dCARE, check which error is shown.

Note that this Library Mismatch error can be misleading. Indeed, it can either be:

• that indeed the drivers installed do not match the firmware on the board
• that the kernel extension was not allowed to run

To identify which is which, first try to do the firmware upgrade. If it succeeds, it means there is no issue to load the kernel extension. But if the following error shows up, it means that the issue is because the kernel extension is not allowed to run.

To confirm that the kernel extension can not load, run the following command in Terminal

sudo kextutil /Library/Extensions/delta-x300.kext

If the following message shows up, it means that the issue is with the kernel extension.

If you don't see the "Allow" button in System Settings, follow the next step to force a resin tall of the drivers.

Force a reinstall of the drivers

If none of these two issues are working for you, maybe there was an issue during the installation process. To force a reinstall, and force the system to ask again for the kernel extension to load, you need to:

• Follow the instructions to uninstall the Deltacast drivers. 
• Download the installer of another version that you have installed. You can download various versions from here. (Note that it has to be a different version. Indeed, if you reinstall the same drivers, Privacy and Security will not ask to allow the kext to load). 
• Make sure to confirm that at the end of the driver install, macOS asks to allow the kernel extension to load. If macOS does not ask to reload the kernel, it will probably not work...
• Uninstall the drivers again.
• Reinstall the drivers that you wanted to install, and follow the process again. Again, macOS should ask you to allow the kernel extension to load. If not, something went wrong, and your card may not be seen.

Force a "reflash" of the card firmware

If this still does not work, maybe the card was left in a weird state after a firmware upgrade, and you need to force it to reflash. Check instructions here.

Contact support

If none of the above works, download the dCARE application from the Deltacast website, and check which error it returns, then go in your Softron application, select the menu "Help > Contact Softron Support..." to upload the logs, and create a new ticket.

Make sure to paste the link to the logs in the ticket, and also upload the screenshot of the issue you are seeing in dCARE.