OBS diagnostic issues

Full troubleshooting articles with symptoms, fixes, verification, and rollback.

Dropped frames

Congested ingest server causing drops

Network drops appear on one platform server even when local upload tests look healthy.

Crackling & clipping

Crackling from audio buffering problems

Crackles and pops from buffering, USB issues, or CPU spikes.

Crashes

Crash loop on launch

OBS crash-loops during startup before you can change settings.

Crashes

Crash when starting stream or recording

OBS crashes at Go Live / Start Recording during encoder or output init.

Black screen

Display Capture is black or blank

Display Capture is entirely black even though the monitor shows a normal desktop.

Stream disconnections

DNS failures reaching ingest hosts

OBS cannot resolve or intermittently fails DNS for ingest hostnames.

Hotkeys

Duplicate OBS hotkey rows fighting each other

The same action is bound twice or two actions share one combo, so hotkeys feel random.

Audio failures

Duplicate or doubled audio on stream

Viewers hear doubled game or mic audio.

Encoding lag

Encoder queue spikes after transitions

Encoding lag spikes when stingers, scene switches, or sudden overlays hit.

Encoding lag

Encoding lag from thermal throttling

Encode keeps up until temperatures climb, then skipped frames appear mid-stream.

Encoder overload

Encoding overloaded warning in OBS

OBS reports Encoding overloaded! while the stream stutters or looks damaged.

Auth failures

Firewall or security suite blocking RTMP

Outbound RTMP/RTMPS blocked by firewall, antivirus network shield, or corporate policy.

Capture failures

Game Capture fails to hook the process

Game Capture never attaches, or logs a hook failure for the target process.

Black screen

Game Capture shows a black screen

Game Capture preview and output stay black while the game is visible on the desktop.

Encoder overload

High CPU from scene processing plus encode

CPU is high from filters, browser sources, and software encode combined.

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