Steam Link - freezing/lag

[Inept Pig]

Hi all,

I have been using the Steam Link hardware for a few years now and all has been going well, however recently all games have developed a tendency for the screen to freeze on the TV whilst the action on the PC continues - nothing has changed with regards to my network setup, or system performance, but any troubleshooting tips to figure out why this is happening would be very welcome.

The freeze is only for a few seconds at most, but obviously in some games a few seconds can make a lot of difference.

Thanks

[Patschge]

yeah, same for me. i wasn't sure if its my connection (i'm using WiFi) but even after trying everything i found in the last few days, i get some hefty connection drops with the same connection.
event though everything worked before the last 2 patches.

i would have to try it with a cable. but that would mean to tear my whole setup down

[Inept Pig]

Thanks for replying - I have mine connected via Powerline plugs, so not as good as a direct connection to the router, but good enough for everything else I use. It's odd that it has worked fine for so long until now, and that games that previously ran fine are now lagging.

[Baphomaat]

I've been having a similar issue too but seemed to happen using a wired connection and also only in Terraria 1.4. I had to do a factory reset to get sound working again over wifi, it was about this time I realised the network cable was plugged into the steam link but wasn't recognised. I adjusted the cable and then started to play using wired and that's when I ran into the freezes just like you described. I went back to wifi and the freezing stopped. Never had this issue before but then again I figured I was on a wired connection.

The main difference is that when this happens, the steam link stays frozen on the tv while streaming from the pc stops, the game and inputs are fine back on the PC. I have to hard reset the steam link to fix it.

[slouken]

Originally posted by Spils:

I've been having a similar issue too but seemed to happen using a wired connection and also only in Terraria 1.4. I had to do a factory reset to get sound working again over wifi, it was about this time I realised the network cable was plugged into the steam link but wasn't recognised. I adjusted the cable and then started to play using wired and that's when I ran into the freezes just like you described. I went back to wifi and the freezing stopped. Never had this issue before but then again I figured I was on a wired connection.

The main difference is that when this happens, the steam link stays frozen on the tv while streaming from the pc stops, the game and inputs are fine back on the PC. I have to hard reset the steam link to fix it.

Can you post a link to the Steam logs\streaming_log.txt file from your computer after this happens?

Thanks!

[Baphomaat]

Originally posted by slouken:

Originally posted by Spils:

I've been having a similar issue too but seemed to happen using a wired connection and also only in Terraria 1.4. I had to do a factory reset to get sound working again over wifi, it was about this time I realised the network cable was plugged into the steam link but wasn't recognised. I adjusted the cable and then started to play using wired and that's when I ran into the freezes just like you described. I went back to wifi and the freezing stopped. Never had this issue before but then again I figured I was on a wired connection.

The main difference is that when this happens, the steam link stays frozen on the tv while streaming from the pc stops, the game and inputs are fine back on the PC. I have to hard reset the steam link to fix it.

Can you post a link to the Steam logs\streaming_log.txt file from your computer after this happens?

Thanks!

https://pastebin.com/FChJEBfU Here you go. It took longer this time for it to happen.

[Inept Pig]

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

not sure if this will help or not, but a lot of people have been resolving audio/video issues after recent updates by doing a factory reset and letting the link update cleanly. if it's network issues, try rebooting or power off then on the router/switches/powerline adapters/pc/link at the same time.

Thanks - I can give this a go, for the most part I have left the steam link alone since setting it up so maybe a restart of the Steam Link (plus router, etc) could work.

Strange to see that the other problem was solved by going wireless though, maybe if a reboot doesn't work I can switch to wi-fi (it gets a good signal, I am just a fan of wired connections)

[slouken]

Originally posted by Spils:

Originally posted by slouken:

Can you post a link to the Steam logs\streaming_log.txt file from your computer after this happens?

Thanks!

https://pastebin.com/FChJEBfU Here you go. It took longer this time for it to happen.

I'm not seeing it anywhere in this log. Can you go to the computer, stop Steam, delete the Steam logs folder, restart Steam, wait for the lockup to happen, stop the stream, and send the log?

Thanks!

[Baphomaat]

Originally posted by slouken:

Originally posted by Spils:

https://pastebin.com/FChJEBfU Here you go. It took longer this time for it to happen.

I'm not seeing it anywhere in this log. Can you go to the computer, stop Steam, delete the Steam logs folder, restart Steam, wait for the lockup to happen, stop the stream, and send the log?

Thanks!

I wasn't able to reproduce the issue tonight after playing for 1h45m. There were a couple times when the red broadcasting icon came up and there was a big stutter. I was sure it was going to freeze but it picked up and resumed with some video quality loss for a couple seconds.

[_I_]

if you are using wifi, alot can create interference
microwave oven, florescent lights, cfl lights, clf monitors, plasma tvs, 2.5ghz devices, bt devices, wireless k/m/controllers, cell phones, other wifi networks ect...

[Inept Pig]

Tried a Steam Link factory reset - no joy.

Playing Hypercharge: Unboxed splitscreen (local only) towards the end of the session to repeatedly froze in a way that made the game unplayable. Can try to switch to wi-fi next, but would be puzzled as to why I wi-fi connection would be better than wired.

[_I_]

if wired is laggy, it could be router settings

make sure you can ping the link ip directly from the host

[Baphomaat]

I reinstalled Windows 10 and still had the issue with Terraria on a wired connection, I haven't been trying wireless lately. I set the dns in the windows settings to use the Google dns and managed to play an hour and a half of Terraria without any hiccups whatsoever. No idea if this actually solved it because I haven't played much lately but it's at least what I'm trying.

[Baphomaat]

I just had the freeze again tonight even with the Google dns. There's never anything in the log that looks like an error. Once I quit Terraria on my PC, and the game is still frozen on my tv, big picture on my desktop crashes and takes me back to my regular desktop.

[solo]

I've also been having intermittent stuttering lately. Funny thing is we just upgraded to a couple of gigabit switches which should have made things better. The games I'm playing are AC Odyssey and RE3make. A couple weeks ago the performance was pretty much flawless.

[slouken]

Originally posted by solo:

I've also been having intermittent stuttering lately. Funny thing is we just upgraded to a couple of gigabit switches which should have made things better. The games I'm playing are AC Odyssey and RE3make. A couple weeks ago the performance was pretty much flawless.

Can you attach the Steam log streaming_log.txt so we can see what's happening here?

Thanks!