Pro Tools doesn't see HDX hardware in new PC build

[b3groover]

Hi friends,

This will be a rather long post but I want to make sure I include all the details. I freelance at a local professional studio that has been running ProTools since the 1990s. His current rig up until last week was a Westmere Mac Pro running ProTools 12.5 with an HDX Core Card and several HD I/O units. Unfortunately that computer died last week in a blaze of glory. He's trying to get up and running and was in the process of moving to PC anyway.

In fact, late last year I helped him build a powerhouse of a PC centered around an ASUS X299 Sage motherboard, i9 CPU, 128GB of RAM, an RTX2080 Titan, and all M.2 drives. He also uses it for studio design work / CAD via VectorWorks. The computer has been performing flawlessly as a CAD machine, rendering his projects at blistering speeds.

So we installed the core card in the PC, installed ProTools 12.5, ran DigiTest, everything passed. But when we load ProTools, it doesn't give the option of using the HDX. It's not like it's in the Playback Engine drop down or greyed out. It's not there at all, as if it isn't installed in the computer. It only offers the use of the onboard sound.

The HD driver is installed. We can see the AVID HDX in the Device Manager under Sound, Game, and Video controllers. No exclamation mark or other warning that it's not working. Again, DigiTest finds it, and it passes all tests with flying colors. But ProTools doesn't see it it at all.

Thinking that maybe 12.5 just isn't compatible with the latest version of ProTools, we bought 2020.3 and installed that. After loading ProTools 2020.3, it updated the firmware on the core card, a good sign. But again it is unavailable in the Playback Engine drop-down. It isn't greyed out or anything; it simply isn't there.

Now, I'm thinking maybe this is related to the Digilink I/O license stuff, which he doesn't have. But that should not affect 12.5, right? That was only instituted in 12.6 and later.

But is that how the Digilink I/O license works? It seems like it would warn you that you don't have a license, rather than just nothing appearing at all. And why would it affect 12.5?

We worked on it for over eight hours yesterday, searching forums, trying numerous things (including turning off driver signing requirements in the BIOS) and nothing worked. We're at a loss.

Thoughts?