OBS Recording Disconnects the Wi-Fi Network

[sbpablo]

Hi, I am having problems with OBS 27.0.1 W10 64 bits while recording internet videos (not streaming, just recording courses from Internet).

After a couple of minutes, the wi fi connection is completely lost (The rest of devices in the house are still connected). I can try ping -t for example to 8.8.8.8 and check that all the packets are lost, but as soon as I stop the recording, packets are not lost anymore and the network connection is back again.

Any ideas? It is weird because I am not streaming, just recording.

Thanks.

 

[sbpablo]

For more details, Ive checked that the moment I press the Start Recording Button, I have a lot of packet loss, which dissapears when the recording is stopped.

Why would this happen?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Why? typically because you are using a lower-end computer than required for this usage scenario, or your settings are otherwise WAY too high for the computationally demanding task of real-time video encoding. Laptops are optimized for battery life, not performance

Recording itself should not cause a network issue... unless.. you overload your system, in which case the packet loss may be one of many OS instability symptoms, but happens to be the one you notice.
For example,
- if you are low on RAM, using a HDD, memory swamping may cause disk I/O contention and cause all kinds of issue
- etc
Again, no app should cause WiFi to drop unless driver is bad, OR system is just completely overloaded (and again, lots of symptoms, you just might not notice the others)

Most computer users drive blind and don't recognize when they are doing the equivalent of driving into a wall. I recommend monitoring hardware resource (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc) utilization [for ex. using Task manager’s Performance tab and/or Resource Monitor] to see if your system is being maxed out with your settings. if it is, then you have to back off the demands to not exceed system capability, or get a new more powerful computer. One thing that can help is optimizing the Operating System so that unnecessary background processes/tasks are not consuming required resources

 

[sbpablo]

Hi Lawrence. Thanks for your answer. This is my PC, and I used to record without any problems, and it is not a low end PC for this simple task.

GF63 Thin 9SC Geforce GTX 16 Series 4GB VRam

19:02:37.909: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
19:02:37.909: CPU Speed: 2592MHz
19:02:37.909: Physical Cores: 6, Logical Cores: 12
19:02:37.909: Physical Memory: 16229MB Total, 10802MB Free
19:02:37.909: Windows Version: 10.0 Build 19042 (release: 2009; revision: 1237; 64-bit)

Strangely, I am not out of resources, and the task manager does not show any resource being maxed out, in fact, it is almost identical while recording vs while not. The only difference is the packet loss. Ive tried updating the wireless drivers, with no luck.

OBS does not crash or show any error. I can do everything with the pc while the packet loss is there, and the task of recording the screen is being done, the only problem is the packet loss, its like the wifi is being disabled.

Any other idea?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[sbpablo]

I found a solution, but I really dont know what is exactly happening.

Tests I've done:

- After OBS Failure, I tried another recording software and found the same issues!!!
- Ive checked that when using a codec that uses the GPU, the wifi was disconnected, that not happened with a cpu codec.
-After this, I realized that the problem was between the GPU and the Wireless Adapter. If the GPU has some load, not stressed at all (10, 20%), the wireless got disconnected.
- I realized that connecting to a 2.4 Ghz Wireless, prevented the issue. The GPU can have a load of 100% and the wireless network was just perfect ! The issue was only with a 5.8Ghz Network !

What solved the wifi disconnection was setting the network adapter bandwith for the 5Ghz network from AUTO to 20MHZ. Btw, the Wifi card is a Wireless-AC 9560 160Mhz.


Any expert can explain or know why changing that solved the issue?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I'm only guessing and throwing out food for thought... nothing more
that sounds like a hardware fault and getting electronic interference from GPU impacting WiFi

Now, is wifi built in? or USB adapter (in which case impact could be any high bandwidth USB items, not just WiFi)
if built-in WiFi, have you tried a USB WiFi adapter (though WiFi NEVER recommended for reliable connection with consistent latency and jitter sensitive data traffic)
Have you tried using Wired Ethernet (USB adapter if need be)?
If issue with USB port on one side of laptop, have you tried port on other side of laptop? or a docking station?

If this is happening with built-in WiFi, I'd check with laptop vendor for a fix/repair (hopefully still under warranty)

 

[sbpablo]

I'm only guessing and throwing out food for thought... nothing more
that sounds like a hardware fault and getting electronic interference from GPU impacting WiFi

Now, is wifi built in? or USB adapter (in which case impact could be any high bandwidth USB items, not just WiFi)
if built-in WiFi, have you tried a USB WiFi adapter (though WiFi NEVER recommended for reliable connection with consistent latency and jitter sensitive data traffic)
Have you tried using Wired Ethernet (USB adapter if need be)?
If issue with USB port on one side of laptop, have you tried port on other side of laptop? or a docking station?

If this is happening with built-in WiFi, I'd check with laptop vendor for a fix/repair (hopefully still under warranty)

Thanks. Its really strage. It's built in. 2.4Ghz and wired works fine. Not 5.8 Ghz. Its not under warranty unfortunately. I will keep investigating.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

It's built in. 2.4Ghz and wired works fine. Not 5.8 Ghz. Its not under warranty unfortunately.

That sounds like a hardware fault
or maybe a bad design you didn't notice before? Did 5GHz WiFi bands work fine before?
it could be the hardware was laptop fine and now isn't (it happens)? or a new WiFi access point that is less tolerant? or you have new signal interference that pushes connection behind capability... lots of possibilities

if a hardware fault and everything else is fine, and replacing laptop is overkill, and you really need to/insist on using WiFi, and need higher throughput of 5GHz band, maybe try a WiFi USB adapter? [as though would move the processing and signal further away from GPU and possibly such that problem stops??]

 

[sbpablo]

That sounds like a hardware fault
or maybe a bad design you didn't notice before? Did 5GHz WiFi bands work fine before?
it could be the hardware was laptop fine and now isn't (it happens)? or a new WiFi access point that is less tolerant? or you have new signal interference that pushes connection behind capability... lots of possibilities

if a hardware fault and everything else is fine, and replacing laptop is overkill, and you really need to/insist on using WiFi, and need higher throughput of 5GHz band, maybe try a WiFi USB adapter? [as though would move the processing and signal further away from GPU and possibly such that problem stops??]

I know that a couple of months ago it worked fine. Around 20 days ago the Internet company changed my router, but I did not notice anything strage unitl now.....

Its really strange....as soon as I start using the nvidia graphic card for something like gaming or video encoding for recording with obs, I lost conection.

 

[Nagusia]

I have found the same thing happening (on a PC Windows 10 64 bit with latest updates etc). Independently of what I am doing with OBS, if opened and the GPU (AMD Radeon HD 8000M series) activated, 5 Ghz Wifi gets choked off (from 100+ M to scarcely 10M). This on two different usb dongles. The built in wifi (2.4 Ghz) is not affected, neither is one of the dongles with a 2.4 Ghz option. If I make sure OBS doesn't use the GPU (integrated power saving graphics option selected), there isn't a problem. I've tried numerous tests with Ookla and confirmed for myself that there is an issue. The isn't a problem for me and I'm not looking for a solution, I was just curious to find someone else with the same experience and wonder what the cause might be.

 

[efrongia]

I found a solution, but I really dont know what is exactly happening.

Tests I've done:

- After OBS Failure, I tried another recording software and found the same issues!!!
- Ive checked that when using a codec that uses the GPU, the wifi was disconnected, that not happened with a cpu codec.
-After this, I realized that the problem was between the GPU and the Wireless Adapter. If the GPU has some load, not stressed at all (10, 20%), the wireless got disconnected.
- I realized that connecting to a 2.4 Ghz Wireless, prevented the issue. The GPU can have a load of 100% and the wireless network was just perfect ! The issue was only with a 5.8Ghz Network !

What solved the wifi disconnection was setting the network adapter bandwith for the 5Ghz network from AUTO to 20MHZ. Btw, the Wifi card is a Wireless-AC 9560 160Mhz.


Any expert can explain or know why changing that solved the issue?

I have the same problem, but although I tried your solution of setting the bandwith to 20Mhz, it didn't work. But I found this other thread that could be somehow related as well, and it may have to do with the ISP's router that may not handle high bitrates. https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/urgent-obs-causing-internet-to-stop-working.103573/

Anyway, to add something else, it happens more specifically with one plugin: stroke-glow-shadow https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/stroke-glow-shadow.1800/reviews. Maybe that plugin is more GPU demmanding and somehow affecting the wireless adapter.

I'll keep on testing