CamLink 4K occasionally stops, particularly under heavy GPU usage
CamLink 4K occasionally stops, particularly under heavy GPU usage
Hey folks, I'm experiencing intermittent USB dropouts of my USB CamLink 4K, especially during high GPU loads. The issue itself doesn't manifest in degraded experience, only that I occasionally hear the windows "hardware disconnected" sounds. (Only the disconnected ones, and I don't experience issues with the camera itself, even if it's in use.) I'm using https://github.com/robmikh/PnPWatcher to monitor issues, but not all disconnects/reconnects show up there. One place I've found to consistently show the reconnects at least, is the event viewer > windows logs > security area. Here's a screenshot (the 2nd and 4th event specifically calls out the CamLink 4K): My complete build is here https://pcpartpicker.com/user/tomzorz/saved/tT4Wcf but the TL;DR; is ASUS X670E ProArt, Ryzen 9 7950X and nVidia RTX4090. I'm running the latest drivers everywhere (chipset, gpu etc...), and the 2nd latest BIOS version (0705, they don't mention any improvements in 0805). Things I've tried so far: - update drivers (the issue has been around for a while, although it didn't immediately start when I built my new PC) - switch around which USB port I use - try moving the CamLink into a https://www.startech.com/en-eu/usb-hubs/hb31c2a2cb relatively fancy USB hub. This caused my camera picture to freeze every few minutes, and I had to re-enable my camera to fix it. I looked up Elgato's recommendations to fix this and to change the USB mode in the advanced settings of the "Elgato 4K Capture Utility" but that didn't help whatsoever. - cause high CPU loads to see if that affects the disconnects, it doesn't seem to - cause synthetic GPU loads to see if that affects the disconnects, it also doesn't seem to (tried furmark and blender GPU tests - e.g. launching fortnite even in the menus I can already hear a disconnect sound in a minute or two) If anyone has any extra ideas I'd love to hear them. A few bonus tidbits that may or may not be related: - my PC seems to boot muted every time for some reason, as soon as I touch the volume it fixes itself - I originally thought the issue was these "microsoft streaming service proxy" devices https://superuser.com/questions/1756738/...and-others but as it turns out no, the disconnect sounds correlate with the CamLink events. I still don't know what those 3 devices mentioned are, or what they do. (Oh and they also occasionally disconnect/reconnect.)
Is this problem specific to Windows? Have you attempted to reinstall the operating system?
It's a nearly brand new setup. There were comparable problems with X570 boards—probably not related to Windows.
Have you explored the newest Bios? It represents an updated AGESA version, similar to a microcode upgrade for Intel. For the most recent Elgato Camera Hub firmware, visit the provided link.
I also own the newest Elgato products just in case, but it seems everything was fine on my older PC from October, so the problem isn’t likely with CamLink. It’s getting worse as GPU performance improves. Something else I discovered: when I open the camera app and actively use the CamLink feed, the disconnects stop. I’m curious if this could be connected to selective USB disconnection, though I’ve already turned off those settings in the power options.