Stuck on 'Looking for Control Surface'

Posted in another thread but did not get any response.

I'm now part of the 25 minute Resolve startup club. I was working on a project using the colors tab and the program crashed. I waited a few seconds then relaunched the program and ever since this point I have not experienced normal Resolve operations. I started the app and went to get lunch - 45 minutes later it was open but as soon as I attempt to load a project the app takes another 10-15 minutes to load the project. Once I'm in the project it is also extremely slow. Thumbnails may or may not load in before the program eventually crashes again.

I have followed the various guidances from this thread including uninstalling the program, reinstalling the program, uninstalling again, reinstalling v 17. Updated GPU drivers from nvidia approved studio drivers to game ready dist. Still taking 10+ minutes at the 'Looking for control surfaces' stage of the splash screen.

This is incredibly confounding since I literally did nothing between normal program use and it crashing and not being able to restart within a reasonable period of time.

Here are the logs I've seen requested in other threads... https://drive.google.com/file/d/156yC0i ... sp=sharing

I'm on a Windows 10 x64 machine, Intel i7 8700k, 32gb DDR4, Gtx 1080.

I was on the latest version of resolve and also tried beta 17. Both apps do the same exact thing.

I was just starting on the Resolve bandwagon after being annoyed by Premiere's horrid color controls, but alas I am SOL now with the program not working at all. Please help!

Thanks,
Grant

I'll leave it for staff to check the logs. Some of my own ideas:

Is this a dedicated editing system? No games, email, office, security, development?

The monitor is plugged into the GPU, not the mobo?

No other USB devices besides keyboard and mouse?

Local drives only? No networked or removeables?

I'll leave it for staff to check the logs. Some of my own ideas:

Is this a dedicated editing system? No games, email, office, security, development?

The monitor is plugged into the GPU, not the mobo?

No other USB devices besides keyboard and mouse?

Local drives only? No networked or removeables?

Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Chrome, and a few other editing related programs. Pretty minimal. The computer is 'lightly' managed by an IT company but I have already talked to them specifically to diagnose this issue. I am an admin on the computer and they haven't done anything on their end that would logically create this issue. Yes, I'm using my GPU - also - based on the numerous threads on this issue I have also tried unplugging all USB devices besides my keyboard and mouse. Nothing changes the behavior. It's like the program made an error in the registry and there's no way to fix it.

That's possible. Registry errors do occur.

One thing you might try is using the following for Uninstall, checking the option to remove residual files. It'll get rid of eeeeeeverything, so be sure backups are made first.

https://www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php

While I took your suggestion and downloaded that software to remove DR 16 and attempt a new clean install of DR 17, I would not suggest this. The app is pretty cringy asking you to install 2-3 other apps buried in the install of this app.

And it did not do anything to how DR works. Brand new DR 17 install is stuck on looking for control surface. STILL. Seems like it would be difficult to be able to create software that when uninstalled, even all the registry entries, and it will persistently be broken no matter.

Really looking forward to getting some help on this.....

[Dwaine Maggart]

Also need a Windows System Information .NFO file.

Open System Information, and select File - Save to create the .NFO file.

Thanks Dwaine! hope you can help!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hlZ9hm ... sp=sharing

[Dwaine Maggart]

Nahimic is known to break Resolve.

In Windows Task Manager, kill anything that says Nahimic in the Processes and the Services tab.

Make sure it doesn't restart.

Then see if Resolve will launch.

doesn't fix it and I believe that the IT fellow that tried to help me after the initial issues actually installed it.....

[Dwaine Maggart]

What IT fellow? And what did he install?

The computer is 'lightly' managed by an IT company but I have already talked to them specifically to diagnose this issue. I am an admin on the computer and they haven't done anything on their end that would logically create this issue.

After Resolve crashed and then would not restart under any circumstances. About 2 weeks ago when I first posted on the forums - after not getting any feedback on the forums - I contacted our IT service hoping as a shot in the dark they would notice something that I hadn't. That was not the case. IN that process of diagnosing the issue we updated all the component drivers to ensure that was not the issue. Nahimic is part of the MSI mobo on this computer and it got installed along with the latest updates for that. Not that it matters, but I have been building computers for 20 years on Windows platforms and have never had a piece of software do this to me.

I saw on another post that you had come to recommend a clean Windows install - which while an absolute sledgehammer approach to fixing software issues for one program - has in my past been an effective solution. My initial contact of the IT department was to initiate the process to ultimately do a format / reinstall. That being said if we can fix this without having to waste a day or two of work formatting the computer - that would be ideal.

THANK YOU.

[Dwaine Maggart]

Multi-minute launch times are normally related to some USB device on the system.

Nahimic is more related to crashing, as a rule,

But you mentioned you've already removed all the USB devices and it didn't help.

Your NFO shows you have a Nahimic audio mirroring device. My hope was that it was the culprit causing the delayed startup and that killing all the Nahimic processes and services would show us that. Apparently that didn't help.

In your current post, you mention Resolve won't restart under any circumstances. Does that mean you don't even get a delayed start now?

I can't get a reasonable startup time at all - the program will start up. I can usually get to the main project selection screen within 20 or so minutes and then another 5-10 to load a project. Once the project attempts to load the program has always crashed every instance I've tried.

It looks like I am not alone in experiencing this catastrophic problem.
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As suggested, I have removed all the USB devices except for the keyboard and mouse, but the startup failure persists.
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I have literally left Davinci Resolve sitting overnight, stuck at the splash screen, but it refuses to finish loading.
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I have hunted through numerous forums and suggestion threads, and tried every suggestion, without any success, or change in the software failure behavior.
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Once Davinci Resolve is stuck at the "looking for control surface" splash screen indicator, task manager flags Davinci Resolve as a "Not Responding" program.

It looks like I am not alone in experiencing this catastrophic problem.
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As suggested, I have removed all the USB devices except for the keyboard and mouse, but the startup failure persists.
-
I have literally left Davinci Resolve sitting overnight, stuck at the splash screen, but it refuses to finish loading.
-
I have hunted through numerous forums and suggestion threads, and tried every suggestion, without any success, or change in the software failure behavior.
-
Once Davinci Resolve is stuck at the "looking for control surface" splash screen indicator, task manager flags Davinci Resolve as a "Not Responding" program.

I am having a very similar issue. I tried to download Davinci Resolve 17 yesterday for the first time and the installation seemed to go smoothly. However, when I try to launch it it gets to "looking for control surface" and then immediately crashes and closes out. Same thing as the quote above, it disappears from the task manager once it hits control surfaces (and then crashes).

I've tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it several times, however I have had no success. When I launch it I remove any USB devices. I'm working on a Windows 10 machine with a NVIDIA Geforce 940MX.

Any suggestions on how I can get it working? Is there any more information you need? I'm looking to transfer over from a different video editing software but this is really stopping me.

I tracked down the source of problem that was causing the 'Looking for Control Surface' Davinci Resolve startup hang I've been experiencing.
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The problem for me was not a USB device.
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The problem for me was caused by an audio device attached to a PCI-Express slot.
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In addition to producing video, I produce audio and sound design. I use a sonic-core Scope Xite-1 rackmount unit that interfaces with my computer using PCIe interface card. See:
- sonic-core dot net PCIe-Interface-for-SCOPE-XITE-1 -
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To discover this, I removed everything from my computer except for my nvidia graphics card. Then I tried, one by one, returning hardware devices to my system. When my $4,000.00 Sonic-Core Xite-1 hardware sound synthesizer and device interface is installed, Davinci Resolve refuses to startup.
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This is a serious problem, because this type of audio/sound hardware is used frequently for professional cinema production.
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For now, this means I can't run Davinci Resolve on any computer with this essential audio/sound synthesis hardware installed. Notably, the Sonic-Core Xite also serves as a microphone, musical instrument, and MIDI device, hardware digital interface.
-

I was just able to sidestep this problem by downloading the 16.2.8 version. For some reason the latest version didn't work.

For version 17.0, I was able to get past the control surfaces by having it launch with my regular graphics card rather than my discrete graphics. However, once it got past the control surfaces the program stated it required a discrete graphics card, hence why I tried downloading an older version.

I am having a very similar (problem). I tried to download Davinci Resolve 17 yesterday for the first time and the installation seemed to go smoothly. However, when I try to launch it it gets to "looking for control surface" and then immediately crashes and closes out. Same thing as the quote above, it disappears from the task manager once it hits control surfaces (and then crashes).

I've tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it several times, however I have had no success. When I launch it I remove any USB devices. I'm working on a Windows 10 machine with a NVIDIA Geforce 940MX.

Any suggestions on how I can get it working? Is there any more information you need? I'm looking to transfer over from a different video editing software but this is really stopping me.

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In my case the problem turned out to be PCIExpress slot attached audio/sound synth hardware that confuses the Davinci Resolve software.
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Here is how I (sort of) resolved this problem:
1) Turn off your computer. Then remove all USB devices and remove all PCIExpress cards except for your Graphics Card. Directly connect ONLY your mouse and keyboard, but not any other USB devices.
2) Restart and try to run Davinci Resolve. Most likely you will discover that it loads/starts correctly.
3) The next step is track which PCIe or USB device causes Davinci Resolve to hang. One at a time, turn off your computer and add in a single PCIe slot device or USB device, then restart and see if Davinci Resolve loads correctly. Eventually, you will track down which piece of hardware confuses the Davinci Resolve software.
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For me, discovering the problem component was very disappointing, because it is audio/sound synth and audio interface hardware that is essential to the audio aspect of cinema production.
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Beyond the compatibility problem I've had, Davinci Resolve has proven well worth the $300.00 price. For example, I find Resolve Fusion much better for creating graphics and effects that using other products. I also find, all in one app, workflow far superior than using other systems that require multiple applications to complete an entire project. Also, the fairlight audio subsystem works really well as a standalone audio recording and editing system.
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I hope that BlackMagic improves the subsystem of their software that is causing the problems people have encountered with trying to get Davinci Resolve to startup.

I was just able to sidestep this problem by downloading the 16.2.8 version. For some reason the latest version didn't work.

For version 17.0, I was able to get past the control surfaces by having it launch with my regular graphics card rather than my discrete graphics. However, once it got past the control surfaces the program stated it required a discrete graphics card, hence why I tried downloading an older version.

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Davinci Resolve seems nearly unusable without a hefty graphics card, believe me I have tried in the past.
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Once it is possible to actually purchase a new graphics card at MSRP, I am hoping to upgrade to an nVidia 3080, to upgrade my CPU to an AMD Ryzen 5900x (12 cores / 24 threads), and run with 128GB of ram. Davinci Resolve is able to fully utilize all those resources for optimal performance. This is especially noticeable when rendering final output. I know people who have decided to build very expensive AMD Threadripper systems to try to optimize video editing performance and reduce work time.

I only have my GTX 1080 on PCI Express. So this solution is not an option for me.

I only have my GTX 1080 on PCI Express. So this solution is not an option for me.

How far did you go with trying the - remove all USB and PCIe devices - except for graphics card, mouse, and keyboard?
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That diagnostic approach enabled me to determine that my 'Looking for Control Surface' problem was caused by my high end audio/sound synth and external ADAT mic interface system (I'm literally going to resort to having two separate computers, one for audio production and one for video editing and everything else).

[Dwaine Maggart]

Open Windows Task Manager. Select the Startup tab. Disable all the startup processes.

Does that help? If so, re-enable the startup processes one at a time to find which is causing the issue.

I am suspicious of the Launch LCore and Sentinel Agent startup apps.

it loads when i unplug my usb headset dongle, when i plug it back in it crashes. any way i can make it work with the headset dongle?

[Dwaine Maggart]

I don't have a solution for that.

Please give us details on the headset dongle and headset.

When you restart Resolve after a crash, start a new project, then select the Resolve Help menu: Create Diagnostics Log on Desktop.

Then open the Windows System Information app, and select File - Save. That will create a .NFO file of your Windows system info.

Put both those files on a file sharing site, and send us links to the files. If you are a new forum user, it may not let you post URLs. If that happens, just put a space near the front of the URL, so the system doesn't think it's a URL.

Unfortunately, I am experiencing the same issue. The loading screen freezes on "LOOKING FOR CONTROL SURFACE" for eternity. No external/internal USB device is connected. Almost all applications are disabled at startup. I alreadz tried to reinstall DaVinci Resolve without any change. I have been already using DaVinci with this PC so the configuration is sufficient.

[Dwaine Maggart]

In a File Explorer window, go to:

C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve

and run CaptureLogs

This will place a Resolve log file named similar to this on your Windows desktop: DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20181228_140434.zip (You may not see the .zip extension if your system is set to hide known extensions).

Then open Windows System Information and do a File - Save (Not a File Export), which will generate a .NFO file.

Place both those files on a file sharing site and provide links to the files here.

If you are a new Forum user, you may not be allowed to post URLs. If this happens, just put a space near the front of the URL, so the system doesn't think it's a URL.

Both done. Files are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jAb4dP ... sp=sharing

[Dwaine Maggart]

Windows 10 Pro N is not a supported OS. In the past, it has required the installation of the Windows Media Feature Pack to work with Resolve.

However, it seems like Resolve is not stopping because of that. So perhaps you've already installed the Media Feature Pack, or something has changed in that area.

So lets try the simple basics: You have displays connected to both the RX5500XT GPU, and to the onboard graphics port. All displays must be connected to the GPU. No displays should be connected to the onboard graphics ports.

Try that, and if you still have issues, send an updated Resolve log and NFO file.

Connecting all monitors to one GPU solved the problem. Thank You very much!

Had to unplug my corsair k57 keyboard and scimitar rbg eliet mouse before it would run on a MSI laptop with a GTX 1070. I have an external monitor plugged into it that also has a USB hub hooked up but that seems to not interfere.

I had the same problem (also using one monitor connected to the motherboard), but disconnecting it did not solve the problem. I went a little further, disabling the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter in the device manager. Now Davinci Resolve starts, but crashes when opening a project (even a very simple project). Weird thing is that it was working normally before. I could build projects with the exact same hardware/OS, but suddenly it gave up on me.

[Dwaine Maggart]

In a File Explorer window, go to:

C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve

and run CaptureLogs

This will place a Resolve log file named similar to this on your Windows desktop: DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20181228_140434.zip (You may not see the .zip extension if your system is set to hide known extensions).

Then open Windows System Information and do a File - Save (Not a File Export), which will generate a .NFO file.

Place both those files on a file sharing site and provide links to the files here.

If you are a new Forum user, you may not be allowed to post URLs. If this happens, just put a space near the front of the URL, so the system doesn't think it's a URL.