Troubleshooting

This chapter starts from the symptom: find what you see in the tables; the right-hand column gives the cause and what to do. Problems on the server side (a service does not start, keys, firewall, database) are covered in the Troubleshooting chapter of the server manual.

Check these first

Before searching the tables, four places quickly show where the problem is:

1. The status dots on the caption window's toolbar: for translation, the interpreter and the outgoing interpreter. Green: working; grey: off; amber: falling behind, a one-off error, or a model still loading; red: the service cannot be reached. The dot's tooltip and the panel's footer say in words what is wrong. On the captioning icon (the speaking head), an amber dot means trouble with the session.
2. The Check button of the Servers tab in the settings window: it tries the address and the key of each server. The address field gets a green frame if the server answered, a red one if not – and the status line tells what happened.
3. The System tab: the resolved addresses, devices and paths – for example which device the "automatic" microphone actually became.
4. The check command: with the --check switch, the program only checks and then quits, writing one block for each server that today's settings need.

livecaption --check
pwsh start-livecaptionpro.ps1 -Check

The first line runs on Windows, in the program's folder; the second is the program's start script, on both Windows and macOS – the script then waits for the check and exits with its result.

Exit code	What it means
0	everything is fine
1	wrong usage: an unknown switch or a value out of range
4	another error – the log tells what
6	one of the servers cannot be reached, the caption server cannot do live mode, or the virtual audio cable that is needed is missing
7	an instance is already running, the second one did not start
8	macOS only: no active display (asleep, turned off or not connected)

No captions

Symptom	Cause and what to do
No captions, although there is sound	Is the sound playing on the device the program listens to? The level meter of the Incoming audio panel shows the input level; if it says "No signal" or is very low, the device is wrong. Pick the right one on the Incoming audio panel or the Audio source tab.
The level meter shows "silence" while sound is playing (macOS)	The permission to record system audio is missing: when it is denied, the system delivers silence. See the macOS permissions below.
No loopback can hear the call app's audio	Switch the audio source to a virtual audio cable (VB-CABLE on Windows, BlackHole on macOS). Details: In calls: the virtual cable.
The captions stop when nobody speaks	That is fine: there is nothing to caption in a pause. If no captions come when the speech starts again either, check that the output is not muted.
"The server does not support live mode"	The caption server is old, live mode is disabled on it, or its model did not load. The server's start-up lines tell which; update or restart it.
The connection closes with code 1013	The caption server's live sessions are full: too many clients use it at once. Wait, or ask the operator to raise the limit.
The status says "Reconnecting…"	The connection dropped (network, a stopped server). The program retries at most twenty times, with pauses of 1, 2, 4 … 30 seconds, then does not restart on its own: start captioning by hand.
Captioning stayed off	The captioning icon (the speaking head) on the Incoming audio strip, or the Start/stop captioning item of the menu, switches it. Hiding and stopping are two different things: behind a hidden window, captioning keeps running.
The system's Live Captions source cannot be selected	On Windows, Windows Live Captions is not installed or not set up; on macOS it needs macOS 13 or later and Apple silicon, and the feature is not available in every region. The Live Captions tab tells what is missing.

Captions late or inaccurate

Symptom	Cause and what to do
The captions are several seconds late, amber dot on the captioning icon	The server is falling behind: the model is too big for the graphics card, or others use the server too. Try a smaller or quantised model on the Session tab, or ask the operator. The panel's footer shows the lag.
A sentence takes long to close	With a speaker who talks long without pausing, the sentence closes at the Longest segment value. Pick the Fast profile, or lower the value.
The beginnings or ends of words are lost	The Padding at both ends of a segment value on the Advanced tab is too small, or the threshold of speech detection is too high. Set them back to the defaults.
Lots of false text in noise	Raise the threshold of speech detection on the Advanced tab.
The captions come in the wrong language	Fix the speech language on the language badge of the Incoming audio strip, or narrow the candidate list of the recognition (for example hu, en) on the Translation tab.
The preview text flickers	Choose the VAD segmentation mode (final text only), or make the rate of the preview texts sparser.

What the segmentation values do is explained in the Segmentation and accuracy chapter.

Translation

Symptom	Cause and what to do
The translation is missing, "–" shows, the dot is red	The translator cannot be reached, or the retries ran out. Check with the Check button of the Servers tab.
The translation band is empty, the dot shows no error	The speech language and the target language are the same: then there is no translation, on purpose. In the speech language list, such a language gets a warning sign.
The saved key does not work	The settings file comes from another machine or another user: the encryption of the keys is bound to the machine and the user. Enter it again on the Servers tab.
The translator rejects the request (authentication error)	The key is missing or invalid, or it has no right to the translator. Ask the operator for a new key.

The interpreter

Symptom	Cause and what to do
The interpreter switch cannot be turned on	Translation is off: without translation there is nothing to speak.
The interpreter is silent, the dot is amber	The chain is still building: the voice service's model is loading (it can take half a minute), or the in-app voice model is waiting to be downloaded. Wait; the dot turns green by itself.
The interpreter is silent, the dot is red	The voice service cannot be reached, or its model did not load. Check it on the Servers tab; if the service is not running, tell the operator.
The interpreter captions its own voice	It plays from the speakers. Put on headphones: the program cannot defend against sound reaching the microphone through the air.
The clone does not sound like the speaker	There is no good enough voice sample yet: the program collects it while the person speaks, and the voice profile refreshes now and then. Until then, the service's default voice speaks.
The interpreter speaks in the previous speaker's voice	You switched to another speaker. The relearn voice button of the Translation and interpreting panel (or the hotkey, by default Ctrl+Alt+V on Windows) lets the old voice go.
Many sentences are skipped	The interpreter cannot catch up with the speaker. The number of sentences waiting to be spoken can be raised, but then the interpreter falls further and further behind; measurements show one is the best balance.
The call audio is not lowered while the interpreter speaks	On Windows, check the name of the program to lower on the Translation tab. On macOS, lowering other programs is not available.

In calls and screen sharing

Symptom	Cause and what to do
With the cable source, all of the machine's sound is gone (Windows)	The cable's input became the default playback device – a known side effect of the VB-CABLE installer. Make your headphones the default again in the Windows sound settings.
With the cable source, you do not hear the call in your headphones	Is the program running? The cable is silent without it. If it is, check that the call app plays to the cable.
The other party does not hear the interpreter	In the call app, the cable's output must be chosen as the microphone, and the outgoing direction must be on. Details: In calls: the virtual cable.
The captions show in the shared picture	Exclusion is off, or the system could not apply it (a warning dot on the Caption window strip). See Appearance and screen sharing.

macOS permissions

macOS ties the microphone and system audio recording to a permission. The permission goes to the program that started LiveCaption: started from the Finder or the Dock, that is LiveCaption Pro itself; started from a script, it is the terminal app (Terminal, iTerm).

Symptom	Cause and what to do
No captions, the level shows silence	The microphone or system audio recording permission is missing. System Settings → Privacy & Security: turn on LiveCaption Pro (or the terminal) in the Microphone list and in the system audio recording list. Then restart the program.
It asks for the permissions again after every update	The program's signature changes with each update, and macOS asks again then. Grant them again; with a stable signature, the administrator can put an end to this.
It asks for Keychain access at start	The program keeps the encryption key of your keys in the macOS Keychain. Allow it; if you choose Always Allow, it does not ask again.
The macOS Live Captions source gives no text	The program did not get the Accessibility permission. The Grant permission button on the Live Captions tab opens the right setting; turn LiveCaption Pro on there.
The program does not start, the exit code is 8	The display is asleep or not connected: the caption window cannot start without a display. Wake the display, and start again.

Window, menu and hotkeys

Symptom	Cause and what to do
The window cannot be moved, the toolbar does not come up	Click-through is on (and the setting is kept). Turn it off with the hotkey (by default Ctrl+Alt+K on Windows, Control+Option+K on macOS), the Click-through item of the menu, or on the Appearance tab.
The caption window is gone	It is hidden: bring it back with the Show the captions item of the menu or the hotkey (by default Ctrl+Alt+L, Control+Option+L on macOS). If the settings or the Recordings window is open, the captions come back when those close.
A hotkey does not work	Another program took it already; the log names it. Change it on the Shortcuts tab. On macOS, a combination made with Option alone types a letter in other programs, so the tab warns about it.
The settings window shows an "Overridden" row	That value comes from the command line or a configuration file; Save does not overwrite it. See Language, logs and saving settings.
"An instance is already running" (exit code 7)	The program is already running – look for its icon in the tray on Windows, in the menu bar on macOS.

If you find no solution

• Server-side problems: the Troubleshooting chapter of the server manual.
• The website's Troubleshooting guide also covers the servers and the accounts.
• Write to us on the Contact page. Attach the log file from the time of the problem and the environment copied with the Copy to clipboard button of the System tab – the Language, logs and saving settings chapter tells where to find them.