Unable to find internet connection (error code:4) only on desktop app

[Frickett]

Plan

Premium

Country

United Kingdom

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

After being able to use the desktop app perfectly fine, it's now saying it's offline and unable to find an internet connection. Spotify is working fine on my other devices (tablet and phone) and also the web browser. No other apps on my desktop are having any issues.

So far I've tried quite a lot in terms of fixing the issue - I've reinstalled Spotify, ensured it was the most updated version, changed proxy settings, disabled any active firewall/anti-virus, restarted my router and changed to a different DNS. Any help will be appreciated.

[JoergGaBo]

same issue here, tried to uninstall and re-install the Desktop App, no chance, simply says I'm offline. Firewall, proxy settings all ok.

[rjabse]

same here too 😞

[Feli_X]

I have the same problem since 2 days, it´s really annoying.

[Petya · Accepted solution]

Hey @Frickett, @JoergGaBo, @rjabse, @Feli_X,

Thanks for posting about this here! 

We're aware there are issues with the app showing you're offline even though you're not. That's why we've created an Ongoing Issue while the right teams are investigating this. 

To contribute to this getting fixed you can add your vote by clicking on the +VOTE here. Below the description there are some suggested steps you can try like @Frickett did.

We also encourage you to subscribe to get relevant updates about it. You can do this by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner, next to the title. 

We appreciate your time to do this, stay tuned 🙂 

[sumwon]

That known issue doesn't say it affects Windows, and it set to "not now". How long do we have to keep putting up with this for? This is NOT a computer or network fault - this is a Spotify fault. It ONLY affects Spotify. Rebooting the computer or turning WiFi off and on usually makes it go back online, but it just does it again later. Listen very carefully, I will say this only once: I'm a senior computer & network engineer and this is NOT a computer or network problem. EVERYTHING else works perfectly.

[Jeremy]

Hey there @sumwon,

Thank you for your post and feedback.

Can you confirm if you followed the troubleshooting steps that's provided in here?

It would also be great if you can let us know which version of the app you have?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Once again - thanks for the feedback, we appreciate it.

[sumwon]

Hi Jeremy,

For context - mostly Spotify works, then sometimes for no reason it
suddenly says it's offline and can't connect (error 4) which is rubbish.
Connection is fine, all my 15 other programs running over the network in
various ways continue to work perfectly. Usually a reboot, or turning WiFi
off and on makes Spotify go back online - presumably by resetting whatever
part of the application / network stack Spotify is getting upset about. The
network stack itself seems fine after the problem occurs.
Possibly something in the app stack Spotify is using is going wrong.


- - Thoroughly reinstall the app with these steps

.
- Uninstalled and removed all files and registry entries then clean
installed either the download and store version. I've never installed the
store version before. Both affected. I've removed and reinstalled the
download version 10+ times in the past few months - it does not help.
-
- - Check your firewall and antivirus software/apps to make sure
Spotify is whitelisted or set as an exception.

it is ALLOW listed.


- - Remove ALL entries from the Windows hosts file

(not
just the Spotify ones).

There are no entries in the hosts file on this machine.


- - Uninstall any ad-blocker apps.

I'm not removing AdBlock Chrome extension which is the only ad blocker
installed. I'd rather scrap my Spotify subscription.
If that's the problem - you need to fix it because it's a problem with
Spotify which only affects Spotify. This is as easy for you to test and
reproduce as it is for us.


- - Run Windows in Safe Mode with Networking - if the app works with no
issues there, we'd suggest adjusting different network settings and
uninstalling any software that might be conflicting with Spotify's
connectivity.

That's just impractical.This is my work machine I need to use to earn my
money. I can't spend hours or days running crippled in safe mode waiting to
see if the problem occurs or not.
Network settings are perfect and the machine has full IPv4 and IPv6
(native) connectivity to the Internet over 150 / 150 Mbit FTTH which is
virtually uncontended. Speed test is rarely less than 147Mbit up or down.
The internet connection is via Linksys home router built this year and
running latest software - providing pure NAT with no DPI or filtering rules
etc. No software installed on this machine should be conflicting with
Spotify's connectivity - however it's not practical for me to wreck my
working environment by uninstalling each of 120 packages one by one and
waiting hours / day to see if Spotify throws a fit again before doing the
next one.

-
- - If possible, try connecting your desktop to the internet via a
mobile hotspot. Should the app work through it, consult with your router's
manufacturer.

This is not a router problem. Toggling computer wifi off and on, or
rebooting the PC makes Spotify problem go away for a while. However I
cannot stress this enough - everything else on this machine works
perfectly. CHKDSK /F is clear, SFC is clear, DISM is clear. No other app
has any problems at all - and I spend 10hr a day working remotely with lots
of things going over the network connection - they all work fine even for
hours or days after Spotify declares it has no connection (against all
evidence to the contrary). No proxy is in use, and I have now set Spotify
to No Proxy instead of Automatic.
Where are the logs for Spotify and how do we debug why it thinks it has no
connection? Send me a debug build if you like.
I'm very happy to send you a Wireshark of the issue - though this assumes
whatever Spotify is failing to do is actually making it down the stack to
layer two.


- - If you're on a non-personal device or network (student laptop,
student network, corporate laptop, corporate network) get in touch with the
administrator for more help.

I am a senior network and computer engineer (25 yrs experience) in an MSP.
I am the administrator for all the machines and networking in our
company.. I make my money designing and fixing computer systems and
networks for our customers. That's why I know this is not a network or
computer problem.

Please tell us exactly what Spotify is doing to determine if it's online /
offline so we can help debug this.

Please note that virtually every time this happens Spotify continues to
play fine including tracks it doesn't have downloaded or cached. So it says
it's offline and disabled half the UI, but it's clearly not offline because
it's still streaming tracks it doesn't have downloaded or cached.

Thanks

Alex

[Ver]

Hey @sumwon,

Thanks for getting back to us 🙂

We understand you've tried several steps however, it'd be very helpful for us to keep troubleshooting. That way can we can have more information about the issue.

We're unfortunately not able to reproduce this on our end as it seems to be limited to specific network set-ups. 

In this case, if possible, we'd suggest you try with another network using the same machine. That might help narrow things down. Just keep in mind that in the end we might not be able to guarantee that it will work on your company network and the specific set-up.

Let us know how it goes. We'll be right here if you have any questions.
 

[sumwon]

Thanks.

I think I should clarify - I'm working from home, so this network is a
common home network. A /24 internal network with a simple PNAT "firewall"
that allows all traffic to the Internet. There's nothing complex here.

Please can you tell me how we get debug logs from Spotify for this
"connection detection" which is clearly suboptimal?

What EXACTLY is it trying to do at the network level to detect if its
online or not?

I'll be very happy to supply a Wireshark of this when the issue occurs
again.

Thanks

Alex

[CarlosE]

Hey again @sumwon,

Thanks for the clarification. We appreciate the time you've taken to share all this with us. 

Unfortunately, we're not able to provide that info, but we'd like to narrow down the possible causes of this issue, and it would be helpful for us if you could try using a different network to see if the issue persists.

Keep us posted. We'll be on the lookout.

[sumwon]

Hi @CarlosE
Thanks for coming back to me. I've now reproduced the exact same
issue while connected to my 4G mobile via Wi-Fi.so as I said, this is not a
network issue because this is a completely separate network. Again,
dropping the OpenVPN tunnel causes Spotify to go back online. Bringing the
tunnel back up doesn't cause Spotify to go offline. No other app has any
network problems at any point. Internet access doesn't go via the VPN
tunnel, and remains through local NAT.

Please advise next steps in debugging?
As I see if you either need to be getting extensive debug logs from my
machine already from the stock build - or you're going to need to send me a
build with debug logging enabled.
Thanks

[Mihail]

Hey @sumwon,

Thanks for getting back to us and for the cooperation so far. We've passed all the feedback gathered from this case to the relevant team.

Unfortunately we're not able to troubleshoot this further, as we're not able to recreate your specific setup. As we haven't seen any similar reports about such issues recently, we feel this is most likely isolated to your device or specific setup. We recommend that you run a check of the packages installed on your device.

We appreciate your understanding on the matter. let us know if there's anything else we can help out with.

[sumwon]

Hi Mihail,

I'm not asking you to recreate my environment - I already have the
environment. I'm asking you to give me details of the offline detection so
I can debug it and / or send me a debug build / tell me how to get the logs
on this detection so we can resolve the error.
I'm offering you technical help in resolving an issue with your software
which is affecting me and others.
If you want a copy of the environment, I can send you a disk image of this
machine which you can run in a VM without the need to recreate anything.

If you haven't seen similar reports - I suggest you're not looking very
closely as I see plenty of other reports of similar issues with offline
detection in the forums. Many of those issues have been left unresolved.
Is it actually the case that you're not interested in identifying and
fixing issues to improve the software and user experience?

"We recommend that you reach out to your internet service provider for
further info"
As I've just stated today - at your insistence I have recreated the issue
on two completely separate networks supplied by two
completely separate ISPs using two completely separate
bearer technologies. Do you suggest I contact BOTH those ISPs and try to
report a fault that only affects your software? A fault that would have to
be present on both ISPs networks? That suggestion is ridiculous and not
helpful.

"run a check of the packages installed on your device" - I can tell you
exactly what packages are installed (not that you've asked), however unless
there are packages which you know have incompatibility with Spotify that
check is pointless.
Are there packages with which Spotify has a known incompatibility?
Would you like a full list of packages for you to analyse?

Right now, this is where we seem to be:
- Both Spotify builds for Windows have a fault in offline detection and
decides it's offline despite clearly accessing the internet and taking
actions that can only be performed online.
- No other apps on this machine that make extensive use of the network
have any problems at all - only Spotify.
- You won't supply details of how offline detection is supposed to work,
even though you are able to get them (from the codebase if nothing else).
- You have blamed; my network, my firewall, my WiFi, both my ISPs, and
"packages" on my machine (without stating which or why). The only thing you
haven't blamed yet is the only thing that clearly IS faulty - Spotify's
software.
- You've declined to offer me a debug / logged build (which you must have)
so we can work together to investigate and resolve this.
- If you have logs available from this build, you've given no indication
you've investigated them.
- I've given you extensive information and offered deep technical
assistance and analysis of the issue.
- I'm actively trying to solve this issue for the benefit of other
customers and myself, but you're declining to be involved further or supply
any real technical detail to allow me to investigate further.

If that's a fair summary, please arrange for a monthly rebate of 60% of my
Spotify fees because this issue affects the machine on which 60% of my
Spotify usage happens. Otherwise please provide direct (not forums) contact
details for tech support and / or customer services to progress this.

Thanks

Alex