Windows app refuses to play after a song or two

[Saturnine33]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10/11

My Question or Issue

This is a new issue.  Just started in the last week or two.  I open the application and start playing something.  Everything goes fine for 1 or even two songs, but then the player just stops.  It doesn't matter what I click, the player looks like it has loaded up the right song, but the progress bar just stays stuck at 0:00.  If I close the player and re-open it, I can get it to play one more song, but then it gets stuck again.  Rebooting has not helped.

[Eni]

Hey there @Saturnine33, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this and welcome to the Community. 

Just to confirm, does this happen with local files or with the app's content? Also, are you getting any error messages when the playback stops? 

You mentioned this started happening recently and you already rebooted your device. In this case, would you mind checking if the same happens while using a different internet connection? If you've been using Wi-Fi, now you can try with mobile data. To test this, try creating a hotspot on your phone and connecting to it. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[Saturnine33]

I have only tried this with streaming content in the player.  I have tried several stream qualities, but the behavior is always the same.  There are no error messages that I can find.  The song just won't play, even though the icon switches to pause, as if it is playing.  I can even drag the time bar all around and click the play button multiple times, but it just sits there.  I am on the same wi-fi I have been using for years without any issues.

[Eni]

Hey @Saturnine33, 

Thanks for your quick reply. 

Is this only happening on the desktop app or on other devices as well? Also, could you check if the same happens on the web player? 

If this is only happening on the desktop app, it's well worth running a clean reinstall of the app to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble.

If the issue persists, sending us the exact Spotify version of your PC would come in handy. 

Keep us posted. 

[Saturnine33]

I only see this behavior on my desktop PC.  My Android streams just fine, so I do not think the issue is tied to my account.

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.75.510.g8f748905

[Eni]

Hey @Saturnine33, 

Thanks for letting us know.

Since this issue is only occurring on your PC, would you mind confirming if you've already performed a clean reinstall of the app on it? If not, we'd recommend following the process I sent above. Also and just to check, could you replicate the issue on the web player? 

If the clean reinstall doesn't do the trick, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your PC to see if the same happens with their account? 

Keep us posted. 

[Saturnine33]

No luck.  I just did an uninstall, reboot, install, reboot, and the problem came right back.  Only managed to play 2 songs before it refused to play any more.

[Saturnine33]

As for the web player, when I opened it and hit play, it refused to do anything, as it was trying to channel the audio through the desktop app from the web player.  I selected to play directly from the web app, and it did start to play.  I have not had it lock up, yet when bypassing the desktop app.

[Eni]

Hi @Saturnine33, 

Thanks for getting back to us.

Since the playback works fine on your Android device and the web player, the issue seems to be isolated to the desktop app. In this case, make sure to perform another clean reinstall of the app, but if you installed the app from the official website before, this time try installing the version available in the Microsoft store (or vice versa) to see if it behaves the same way. 

If so, could you check whether toggling Hardware Acceleration on or off in the app settings (under Compatibility) makes any difference after restarting the app? 

Keep us in the loop.