These steps can be tried when Elgato Facecam video freezes in Camera Hub, OBS Studio, or other software. 

Troubleshooting steps: 

• Change USB transfer mode
• USB cable
• Bandwidth
• Reduce Resolution or Frame Rate
• Double Check The Port
• USB Controller Drivers
• Try All USB ports
• Advanced - AMD B550/X570 Motherboards
• Contact Customer Support

Change USB Transfer Mode

USB 3.0 includes two different types of transferring data, known as USB transfer modes. The two available modes are bulk and isochronous. 

By default, Facecam is set to Automatic.

In some cases, switching to the other USB transfer mode can help with freezing issues. We suggest trying isochronous first. 

Learn here how to switch USB transfer modes.

USB Cable

Try using a different USB 3.0 cable. 

Cables for Facecam must conform to USB 3.1 Gen1 (USB 3.0) specifications or higher and support 5Gbps transfer speed or faster. 

Bandwidth

There could be bandwidth issues if too many devices are connected to the same internal USB hub or controller. Please make sure the USB hub is USB 3.0 compatible.

Disconnecting other devices or connecting them to different ports can help.

USB ports are controlled by what is called a USB controller. These controllers are used for pairs of USB ports. If both USB ports are occupied by high bandwidth devices such as USB capture devices, external hard drives, webcams, etc the available bandwidth may be used up.

Reduce Source Resolution or Frame Rate

Elgato Facecam sends uncompressed video to the computer. Lowering the incoming source resolution or frame rate directly results in Elgato Facecam using less USB bandwidth. 

Try lowering the resolution, or frame rate. For example, 1080p60 to 720p60 or 1080p30 to 720p30. 

This needs to be done in the application in which Facecam is being used. Setting the format in Camera Hub does not set Facecam to that resolution/frame rate in other applications. 

Double Check The Port

Ensure that the port the Elgato Facecam is plugged into is a USB 3.0 port. These ports can often be identified by their blue interior color. On some motherboards, these ports may be other colors such as red or yellow.

USB Controller Drivers

Make sure to install the latest drivers provided by your motherboard or notebook manufacturer for the USB 3.x controller. 

Other controllers usually also work fine with Microsoft's drivers.

Some USB controllers, such as Intel, do not have separate drivers. Instead, these ports use basic Microsoft drivers which cannot be re-installed.

Try All USB 3.0 Ports

Many motherboards have USB 3.0 controllers from different manufacturers, therefore it's worth trying to connect Elgato Facecam to a different USB port, which is internally connected to a different USB controller.

Other USB ports, such as USB 3.1 and USB 3.2 are backward compatible and support USB 3.0 devices. Try connecting Elgato Facecam to those USB ports as well. Those are most often teal-colored. 

Advanced troubleshooting - Set PCIe to Gen3

Update: AMD has announced that a new AGESA update, AGESA 1.2.0.2 will fix USB issues on affected B550/X570 motherboards. BIOS updates containing the new AGESA version is rolling out now. 

Please check your motherboard manufacturer site for a new BIOS update. 

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The latest version of PCIe, PCIe 4.0, has been reported to cause USB bandwidth issues and USB device dropouts on AMD B550 and X570 chipset motherboards. These issues may appear when using a PCIe 4.0 capable motherboard with a PCIe 4.0 capable device such as a graphics card (GPU) or NVMe SSD (Solid-state drive). 

Setting the PCIe lane speed from Generation 4 (Gen4) to Generation 3 (Gen3) may help in cases where USB devices such as Cam Link 4K are freezing or disconnecting at times. 

Setting PCIe generation from Gen4 to Gen3 can be done in the motherboard BIOS. 

Each motherboard model and manufacturer will have a different name and location inside the motherboard BIOS for the PCIe generation setting. 

The setting is usually found in Onboard Device Configuration settings and will be labeled as:

PCIEX_MODE

• [AUTO]
• [GEN 1]
• [GEN 2]
• [GEN 3]
• [GEN 4]

Select [GEN 3] then save and exit the BIOS. 

Contact Elgato Customer Support

If all these suggestions have been tried and the Elgato Facecam video still freezes, please contact our customer support team by going to https://help.elgato.com/hc/requests/new