Clicking local file / regular songs suddenly causing Spotify to 'freeze' up

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz]

Plan: Premium

Country: UK
Device: Computer / PC / desktop

Operating System: Windows 10

My Issue:

Randomly whenever I click on a song, I am suddenly unable to click any other song and cant hear any songs. Clicking on playlists causes a long loading screen which then displays "Couldn't find that playlist". So far the only thing accessible is the settings during this state.

Whenever I close it, it will display a warning "The Spotify application isn't responding." and will only reopen in a normal state if I use task manager to terminate the program. It'll operate correctly until this suddenly happens again.

The Spotify website has none of these issues for me, but it's frustrating as some of my favorite songs are local file songs which unfortunately aren't accessible on the website.

The things I've tried in order to fix this. (which has all failed.)
Updating my drivers
Removing connections from discord
Uninstalling and reinstalling
Clearing my cache
Turning off hardware acceleration in Spotify settings

Note: 
It seems to happen more with local files but I think its happened with regular songs too, although less likely. Take this with a grain of salt however

[Joan]

Hi there @c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz,

Thanks for reaching out. We'll be glad to help resolve this and get the app working properly again.

Besides what you added at the end, have you noticed any sort of pattern as to when and how this happens? More specifially, does it happen more often when going from local files to regular songs or vice versa? If it happens predominantly with local files, consider disabling that setting, re-enabling it and then adding the folder sources again. We had a somewhat similar issue that was resolved here, so hopefully this and the steps from the other thread will resolve it.

Let us know how it goes.

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz]

Hello Joan, I've looked through the post and used your advice, however the bug is still occurring.

Here's the results of using some of the advice: When I turned "show local files" off, it seems to happen less but is not gone, and turning it back on is the same as it was. Changing the sources has resulted in no change, and removing or adding new mp3's has no changes either.

(I'd like to note that my local songs are still playable and present in my playlists despite turning show local files off? for whatever reason..)

It does seem to mainly happen with local files, and can occur throughout any playlist. Also similarly to the other person, it bugs out I switch between a regular song to a local song or vise versa.

Please keep me updated if you have any more ideas, and I'm more then willing to provide some recordings or screenshots if it helps.

Thank you for your support.

[Susan_GP]

Hi there @c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz,

Thanks so much for your reply and for following our recommendations.

Did this start happening recently? If so, did you notice if it was after an update or recent change? This is simple, but go to the app > Click on the 3 dots on the top left > Help > Troubleshooting > Reset app data and restart. Once done, you'll have to log back in. Check if that makes a difference.

If the issue persists, could you try restarting your computer in Safe Mode and check if you experience the same behavior? Also, make sure that Spotify is set as an exception in your firewall and antivirus.

Lastly, yes, it'd be really helpful if you could send over some screenshots or a video recording of this behavior. You can attach it in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can visualize it.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply!

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz]

Hello Susan and apologies for the late reply, it had slipped my mind that I posted about this.

Im sure Spotify is an exception in my firewall, and I've also tried to reset the app data and restart but the issue is persistent regardless.
Regarding safe mode, it wont allow me to open up Spotify because its a 3rd party program and 3rd party programs cannot be opened in safe mode.

I've provided a Youtube video for ease of convenience (dully note, its two videos of the bugs merged into one.) Aswell as screenshots of Spotify being an exception and its behavior (it should be currently playing a song -- but it's not allowing me to, and my playlists have a blank profile when they should have custom pictures set for them.) 

Thank you for your assistance, If you would like the raw mp4 of my captures let me know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njr_eobA0j4

[OscarDC]

Hey @c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We appreciate all the info you've shared and the troubleshooting steps you have tried so far. In order to continue investigating this behavior, would you mind confirming if you've any active VPN? If so, we'd recommend turning it OFF to see if it makes any difference. 

If the issue persists and you installed the app from the official website, we'd recommend installing the version available in the Microsoft store (or vice versa) to see if it has the same behavior. 

Lastly,  include in your next response the Spotify version you're currently running to continue investigating the case.

We'll be on the lookout. 

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz]

Hello Oscar,
I don't have any VPNs turned on and my version of spotify is in this photo.

Oddly enough, I'm having trouble with the Microsoft version, I've uninstalled my Spotify and I tried to download the Microsoft version but giving me an error? I've retried installation 3 times to no luck.

Looking into it further, when i tried to get it from the official website through the website of Microsoft (rather then the app) its claiming im not eligible for it, but this is my personal account I've always used without any issue prior.
I've checked through my settings on Microsoft but I cant find anything either regarding this, but I may not be looking correctly.

Thank you for the further advice, I'll be keeping you updated if you have any suggestions regarding this.

[OscarDC]

Hey @c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz ,

Thank you for keeping us posted.

If your PC is not letting you download the app from the store, it could be related to the OS version you're currently running. So first, we'd recommend checking if you've any pending OS updates.

If not, we'd also recommend clearing any entries which contain Spotify from the host files on your computer. To do so, you can follow the instructions mentioned in this post.

Lastly, could you try with a different network connection (if possible)? If you don't have another one available, you can use a mobile data hotspot to test it.

Hope this helps. We'll be on the lookout. 

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz]

If you wouldn't mind Oscar, is there any video tutorial for this? I've checked through the instructions but I'm not sure if what im looking at is correct. All I see within the pathway  C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc  are sample files. This is the only host file I see.

Maybe my host's are gone thanks to uninstalling, but I'm not sure, as I still cant download Spotify back and I'm no expert with this stuff?

However, my OS is up to date.

Regarding my network, I'll be testing that in a bit because I have other things to attend to online.

I'll keep you updated, Thanks.

[c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz · Accepted solution]

I've found a solution, thanks to the help of a more tech savvy family member.

First of all though, I made a mistake previously late at night. I hadn't noticed the direct installation of Spotify and instead saw the buttons on the Spotify website. My apologies.

What fixed it was:
Getting rid of old corrupted files that remained in the Spotify folder after uninstalling, and then reinstalling Spotify from the direct installation on Spotify's website rather then the Microsoft version. Now I can listen to local files without issue.

Thank you all for the support and advice given to me.

[OscarDC]

Hey @c0wiq7o3wxzblpgr0trz,

Thank you for keeping in contact. 

We're glad to know that everything is working fine now. We appreciate the time you took following the process and sharing what works for you. Hopefully, this tip will help other users too.

In case you need anything else, remember that we're just a post away.

Cheers!