Streaming videos and audio won't play on my desktop

Question

Streaming videos and audio won't play on my desktop

Matthew 0

Hi..

I'll try to be as brief, clear and concise as possible;

Certain streaming platforms on my computer will no longer play : These are so far, YouTube and Spotify (to name the 'big boys'). I also noticed today that a royalty-free music site (on a platform that mimics the look of Spotify) won't play either.

By "won't play," I mean, I press the 'play' button and it doesn't begin to stream. However, on YouTube, I notice that when I press 'play,' it will actually move for the millisecond that my clicks down on the mouse, and I hear sound. So, basically, to make it play, I would have to keep clicking furiously up and down on the mouse in order to make the video 'move' and make sound.

This is an issue I am getting from both Google Chrome and Edge. Firefox too.

As well as 'Tube and Spotify, I've tried some other sources including embedded video-news bulletins on NBC - and it's the same there.

For a living, I edit sound and video on Adobe, and that is all fine.. no problems there. Also, I downloaded a YouTube video to MP4 to check if I could watch it without any problems on my apps including Media Player, etc. Again, no problems. It plays like a dream.

I've looked on a few trouble-shooting forums and tried the usual web cache clear-outs, etc.

I'm wondering if the issue is connected to a recent addition to my desktop - a new drive. My previous drive was getting full. So now, the added D drive is the full drive, the C drive is the 'new' one, if that makes sense.

I would take the computer back to the shop to be looked at (it's under a year's guarantee), but I'm snowed under at work with different projects all going on at the same time, and my computer is the tool that makes this all happen. To send it away at this point is almost an impossibility.

Perhaps the 'fix' I need doesn't require taking it in for a look at a shop for what could be days, weeks even.

Thanks.

Regards,

Matthew.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for sharing your detailed description. I'm glad to help!

I understand that online videos and music are no longer playing in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox although downloaded media and your editing software continue to work normally.

The issue may be related to Windows audio, graphics, or network settings. The additional drive is unlikely to be the cause unless Windows was moved or cloned during the installation.

Please try the options below and check whether the issue continues:

Restart the computer first, then test YouTube before opening other programs.
Press Windows + R, type services.msc and press Enter. Find Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder, then right-click and restart both.
Temporarily turn off hardware acceleration in one browser, restart it, and test again. In Edge, this is under Settings > System and performance.
Open the Get Help app and run both the Audio troubleshooter and Video playback troubleshooter.
Test briefly using a phone hotspot. If streaming works there, the router, VPN, firewall, or network filtering may be involved.

If the drive was recently cloned or Windows was moved, ask the repair shop to check the graphics, audio, chipset, and network drivers under the warranty.

Please let me know how it goes after trying these steps, and I'll be glad to continue looking into it with you.

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