Video & projection
AJA KONA Card troubleshooting
The AJA KONA Card problems live-event techs bring to Ask Roadie most (also called KONA, KONA 4, KONA 5). Pick your symptom, or describe your own in plain words, and get the likeliest fix first, with the manual page when there is one.
Common KONA Card errors & problems
What techs run into most, and what's usually behind it. The step-by-step fix for your exact unit is in Ask Roadie.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
AJA Control Panel will not open or hangs on launch
Likely cause: Control Panel needs an exclusive handle on the loaded driver; a stuck app lock or an unloaded/mismatched driver prevents it from opening.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Driver install fails / conflicting or old AJA drivers block the card
Likely cause: Leftover or mismatched driver instances register competing device claims; the Conflict Checker clears them so the current driver can bind cleanly.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
How to update KONA firmware
Likely cause: The firmware image is bundled with the driver package so versions stay matched; the mandatory cold power-cycle is what re-loads the new FPGA bitstream from flash.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
KONA card not seen in AJA Control Panel / "Unsupported AJA Device" on macOS
Likely cause: macOS blocks non-notarized third-party kexts/system extensions; AJA notarized its driver starting v15.2, so anything older fails to load and the card reports unsupported.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
KONA running at reduced PCIe lanes (e.g. x1 in an x8 slot) / dropped frames / poor performance
Likely cause: PCIe bandwidth scales with lane width; an 8K/12G card starved to x1 cannot move the data rate, causing dropped frames even though the card is detected.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
KONA will not genlock / unstable output when using external reference
Likely cause: Genlock only holds when the ref timing base matches the output format and the line is properly 75-ohm terminated; otherwise the card cannot phase-lock.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
No AES/embedded external audio on KONA X
Likely cause: KONA X moved AES off the base card to keep the low-latency 4-lane design compact; the Xpand daughter card restores discrete AES I/O.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Only one card LED lit / card has power but driver not loading
Likely cause: The second LED is gated on successful driver load, so a single LED isolates the fault to the driver/OS layer rather than the hardware or slot.
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What is the current AJA software/firmware version for KONA
Likely cause: AJA versions the driver, apps, and firmware together; keeping all three on the same release (currently v18) eliminates version-skew faults.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Which KONA card do I need? Model differences (KONA 5 vs KONA X vs KONA 1 vs KONA HDMI)
Likely cause: Matching the card tier to the signal (12G vs 3G, SDI vs HDMI) and PCIe lane budget avoids buying a card that cannot carry the format or fit the slot.
Not on the list? Describe it your way, or paste the error code off the display. Ask Roadie works the problem with you until it's fixed or you have a clear next move.
How Ask Roadie helps with the KONA Card
- 1. Pick the AJA KONA Card. It's already in the list.
- 2. Describe what you're seeing. In your own words, or the error code off the screen.
- 3. Get the likeliest fix first. Steps in order, the manual page when there is one, and a note when other techs have confirmed it.
- 4. Still broken? Tap 👎 and it keeps going from where you left off.