Help! Can't go live on Facebook with error "Could not access the specified channel or stream key"

[Improvactor]

Hi! I'm urgently looking for help as I have a scheduled Facebook liveshow tonight at 8pm PST. I was trying to run a test and unfortunately, I cannot connect the streaming software to my event. When I hit "start streaming" on OBS, it says "could not access the specified channel or stream key, please double-check your stream key."

My logfile is below.

I originally created this event with a persistent stream key, but I have since toggled it off and used a new stream key, but it doesn't work.
I have also been able to successfully go live by creating a new event and immediately going live, which DOES work.
I have also tried adding a backup stream key to the event, but I'm still getting the same error message.

We have about 3 hours to get this to work; desperately seeking help! Thank you in advance.

 

[Improvactor]

Well, that was a crazy day of hell. The event wouldn't stream no matter what we tried. With the idea that maybe it had to do with the persistent stream key we created a new event and started inviting people to that. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem, and that show also wouldn't stream. We were able to stream outside of our events using restream.io, and were able to get it to go live using a non event url. We created a fake event that was going live earlier in the day thinking maybe we couldn't stream until after the event started, but that wouldn't stream. We eventually had to give up and started messaging people that we were going to ditch our events and just stream to our profile feed with no invites. But 16 minutes before the event, we changed the event time to 7:45 to try one last time, and the event came to life at 7:45 and it finally started letting us stream. I don't know what the issue was. I don't know how to fix it for next time. I'm glad it randomly started working at the last second, but I really don't want to go through this again. I would love any insights about streaming events on Facebook people might have. That's 4 hours of hell I don't want to repeat again.

 

[AaronD]

Yet another report of FB being stoopid. Good thing we stream to YouTube. Not a problem there at all. Maybe other services like Twitch would work too; I really don't know.

YT requires a Google account to stream to and to comment on it, but you can watch anonymously if you're okay to keep quiet or to chat somewhere else. Once you have the account, you'll have to Verify it with a phone number that they can text or robocall a code to, then once that code works, they wait 24 hours before turning it on. Those hoops are to keep spambots out.
Don't wait for the last minute to hastily set up your account, because it won't work. Then it will the day after.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

As much as I've been using FB live stream Scheduled events for over 3 years now.... and it has totally tripped me up on occasion ... the real cause has tended to be FB changing the user interface, me/us not noticing/paying attention, not following FB forums/announcements/etc (if such exists) and getting tripped up. the joy of using a free service... like OBS Studio... onus is on user to keep up...

I have seen FB behavior with Scheduled Events change over the years. 2+ years ago, I'd connect 1+ hour early, confirm stream key, etc... stop Stream in OBS Studio, do other prep work, then follow FB rule of streaming to Scheduled Event 10+ minutes ahead of time. Somewhere along the line, FB stopped handling the disconnect workflow i was using. I haven't tried again... so don't know if that was coincidental, limited time issue, or ?? Anyway, I have seen that once you start streaming, but something is wrong, that getting back to that same event is a real hassle. Been there/done that on creating new event, changing stream keys, etc... all to no avail.
I suspect the issue is RTFM (FB) on disconnecting and re-connecting... I haven't bothered reading FB's latest documentation (its pretty bad) or finding someone else's documentation that is more thorough.... though I probably should. I'm sure there are some FB process rules about what can & can't be changed, stream key (or even IP address connection) with a disconnect... etc .. that controls the behavior you came across. The first time it happened to us, I'd have sworn we didn't do anything wrong. I'm also fairly confident that isn't true. Unfortunately, I don't know how to review FB Event Logs after an event (never really looked) ... and whether there is end-user meaningful info to glean in such..
I'm fairly confident the issue is entirely within FB and FB Event settings (and not OBS Studio)

Most often, when we go through FB event settings, we've found something that was off. Did FB change it randomly? unlikely. Did something change and we not notice? very possible. a volunteer glitch (in my case)? maybe. really don't know. It has meant that when we go to FB/Live/Producer to get stream key and check stream preview, we tend to be a bit more thorough than we used to be on checking various settings that have not been as expected at one time or another.