Stream randomly hitting 0 kbs and disconnecting. Tried everything. Please help!

[QueenkaijuPixel]

I've posted about this before and got very little help on the topic, so here we go again.

Hi, for the last month now I've had a reoccurring issue where my stream's bitrate will plummet down to 0, and then usually reconnect, though the last few days, I've had to manually reconnect it or wait nearly a minute for it to reconnect on its own. Today was the tip of the iceberg, as I couldn't even start my stream without it immediately hitting 0 and remaining there unless I restarted, and as soon as I did, it happened again. The weirdest part is that when these disconnects happen, nothing else on my network seems affected. Online games keep playing, discord calls keep running, and youtube videos have kept playing without even skipping a beat.

EDIT: The issues started around 7/7/2023

I feel like I have tried everything with this issue.
I have tried bandwidth and speed tests that seem to show up with no issue.
I have contacted my ISP and had them reset the modem and troubleshoot my connection health several times.
I have contacted twitch to see if there was anything they could do or help with.
I have used twitch's inspector and it doesn't come up with any errors, it seems to look like I'm disconnecting from the stream willingly.
I have done a fresh reinstall of OBS and even downgraded to a previous version.

I have streamed consistently on this same connection in the same way for nearly two years now without any issue. This is completely new and no matter what I try, nothing seems to work.

I ran a test stream where the connection dropped three times to grab the log, and hopefully someone can see the issue where I can't
Here are the logs.

 

[rockbottom]

Ditch the wi-fi & cable up.

 

[rockbottom]

Not related to your connection problems but, OBS & your Headphones are @ 44k, everything else is @ 48k. Also, you should fix your Scenes. Only (1) Display, Game or Window capture per Scene.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

There is a FAQ on Disconnects, you know?
And you can't have tried everything if you used WiFi the entire time. Are you in a high-density environment (apartment, etc) where you can see neighbors WiFi (meaning they can also see/interfere with yours). Do you understand WiFi channels? Did you power off and unplug EVERY WiFi device on your LAN? Did you set up real-time monitoring of WiFi usage, as well as WAN bandwidth utilization?

 

[QueenkaijuPixel]

There is a FAQ on Disconnects, you know?
And you can't have tried everything if you used WiFi the entire time. Are you in a high-density environment (apartment, etc) where you can see neighbors WiFi (meaning they can also see/interfere with yours). Do you understand WiFi channels? Did you power off and unplug EVERY WiFi device on your LAN? Did you set up real-time monitoring of WiFi usage, as well as WAN bandwidth utilization?

I literally cannot have a wired connection.
I have worked on wifi for two years without issue.

 

[qhobbes]

Do all of the following in this order:
1. At least one of your audio devices has a sample rate that doesn't match the rest. This can result in audio drift over time or sound distortion. Check your audio devices in Windows settings (both Playback and Recording) and ensure the Default Format (under Advanced) is consistent. 48000 Hz is recommended.
OBS Sample Rate: 44100 Hz (You can change this in the Audio settings)
Headphones (SE7 Stereo): 44100 Hz
Microphone (Voicemod Virtual Audio Device (WDM)): 48000 Hz
Headset (SE7 Hands-Free AG Audio): 16000 Hz
Microphone (Blue Snowball): 48000 Hz

2. Run OBS ad Admin. Right click on the OBS shortcut, properties, advanced, check box, ok, apply, ok.
3. Open OBS as Admin, go to Output settings, uncheck the boxes for Look-ahead and Psycho Visual Tuning and click [Apply].
4. Go to Advanced settings, Network, check the box for Dynamically change bitrate to manage congestion (Beta), [Apply].
5. Change OBS Sample rate if necessary.
6. Create a new scene collection with only 1 Game Capture source.
7. Close OBS.
8. Close any other apps that may use Internet unless they are necessary for your game to run.
9. Turn off any devices that may use the same Internet connection that are not necessary for streaming. If your phone is not required, turn WiFi off on your phone.
10. Open OBS as Admin and try to stream your game.

If still having issues, use the log analyzer. If still having issues after that, post a new log here.

 

[Harold]

The log clearly shows you using wifi instead of wired
Additionally you have not mentioned if you are on a lenovo brand machine. Their network booster is known to break things.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I literally cannot have a wired connection.

I don't believe you. Inconvenient, sure. impossible - no
I literally am not aware of any modern consumer system that can't have a wired ethernet connection (at least for testing). A USB-to-Ethernet adapter is something like US$10->15 (or less). Long Ethernet cables are relatively cheap as well. The primary scenario I'm aware of where one couldn't is where one is stealing Internet service and don't want to make it obvious by asking to temporarily plug in Ethernet to test

I have worked on wifi for two years without issue.

Ok, so? 1. good to know it worked for last 2 years, but that literally isn't relevant to now
For example,
- Are there ANY new WiFi devices in the area (ie your location and anywhere within 100+ meters.. seriously)?
- Have you've measured the RF output from your WiFi access point? (yes, they can degrade over time, or AP or client driver/firmware update may change connection behavior, going from seamless to problematic). Yes, I've seen it all
- Have you checked for any new/unexpected Access Points, especially anything causing channel interference?

Many folks will consider my above question to be unnecessary or technical gobbledygook. However, they are WiFi troubleshooting 101

Ok for 2 years and not now is EXACTLY why experienced IT folks will ALWAYS recommend wired over WiFi, unless you have real-time network RF utilization monitoring in place. Lots can change, suddenly, in WiFi airspace, and assuming you are like 99.99%+ of folks who are NOT doing any monitoring, you'd never know what is causing your WiFi issue. A single mis-behaving client (ex. Apple not known for following standards, or cheap IoT devices) can cause havoc on a WiFi network

I'm guessing something has changed in your WiFi network (though not necessarily your AP or client devices). No one can remotely troubleshoot that for you. Testing via wired Ethernet will enable you to confirm or rule-out WiFi as your issue.

Then again...[looking at log, seeing lots of CPU impactful filters and effects]. then ugh... I see you are using streamelements alerts... strong correlation with transient network timeouts previously caused by their PoS code
You could have configured OBS Studio to get content from the Internet (like alerts) and source timeouts cause OS traffic issues.

Have you tested with a NEW Scene Collection and kept it simple, and CERTAINLY nothing from StreamElements, no color correction, etc and run a test stream (with minimal non-OBS Studio processing in background)?