Any video on Google Chrome, is a black screen that perpetually loads

Bugs
1

Starting Tuesday the 4th, any video I have loaded on Google Chrome to watch with my friends is a perpetual black screen with the white loading bar in the centre. Clicking on the video does nothing on my end, with the time being stuck at 00:00, but apparently changes the time and video for my friends.

As well as, at the top of the video, I get a yellow bar that says ‘please click on the play icon in the player below to start playback.’

I have tried updating my graphics drivers, Disabling any of my adblockers, as well as disabling graphics hardware acceleration to see if any of those work, to no avail. I have also tried booting it up in incognito.
So far, it seems to load in Microsoft Edge however, on a new temporary account. But i would prefer to keep my normal account for it

-In addition, I was using it fine on Google Chrome a day or two before this issue happened, and had made no drastic changes.

2

Thanks a lot for your feedback! The videos you are trying to play are from YouTube? Does it work when you open an incognito window in Chrome and load the room in there?

3

Yes, all the videos I have tried playing are from YouTube.
It does not work in an incognito window on Chrome, and has the same issue. Where it perpetually loads.

4

Can you send me two screenshots to florian@watch2gether.com

  • 1 of the loading screen
  • 1 of the browser console. (When you see the loading screen, right click on the site and select „Inspect“. In the dialog that opens up, make sure that the „Console“ tab is selected and take a screenshot of it)

I‘ll look into it asap.

5

Alright, I shall send those.

6

well still broken! how do you fix this

7

Thanks for your feedback. Videos are not loading for you as well? Does it work when you try to load Watch2Gether in an incognito browser window or when you try to disable your VPN (if in use)?

8

I’m im the same situation, in my own room and in the others too. I can’t see the videos but the rest of the people can.

9

Thanks, are you using a mobile or desktop device? Did you try to disable any adblockers or VPN services?

10

Hi! This is happening to me as well now, I see a bunch of errors like the one below in the console related to cross-origin issues. I also tried in incognito with all extensions disabled. I’m on the latest version of Chrome.
Tried on Edge and it works fine.

Access to XMLHttpRequest at ‘https://rr2---sn-hpa7kn7d.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1745984286&ei=vkYRaP-6H9bPi9oPp-eC0AE&ip=87.6.48.121&id=FoaE5da3v8E.1&itag=140&source=yt_live_broadcast&requiressl=yes&xpc=EgVo2aDSNQ%3D%3D&met=1745962686%2C&mh=01&mm=44%2C29&mn=sn-uxaxpu5ap5-ca9l%2Csn-hpa7kn7d&ms=lva%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=2&pl=24&rms=lva%2Clva&initcwndbps=2170000&siu=1&bui=AecWEAZNN8cvi-9JE6Mwo-bLso2uKAv_ITonjwW_c4qoF4o5CLWzqToc1wpBrOFER_no5hXB1A&spc=wk1kZhURAxNWXoDr3dMUFClQskxV5aEUjjZ2hjsHgUcPfnlaswAgCMtXnj-opD8&vprv=1&live=1&hang=1&noclen=1&svpuc=1&mime=audio%2Fmp4&ns=9kbpSwu-6bfNEq1ilAr1XusQ&rqh=1&gir=yes&mt=1745962347&fvip=2&keepalive=yes&c=WEB_EMBEDDED_PLAYER&sefc=1&n=N9qA2D630q-V2Q&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cxpc%2Csiu%2Cbui%2Cspc%2Cvprv%2Clive%2Chang%2Cnoclen%2Csvpuc%2Cmime%2Cns%2Crqh%2Cgir&sig=AJfQdSswRAIgVl5rKrB0wn-UAoXUK41DzACYL7ENpADV1uXIxuxqeLoCIDssnqeFKKVoDdGhbyOU3F8C_Kl8ea26cDfjUH3yuxAe&lsparams=met%2Cmh%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Crms%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=ACuhMU0wRgIhAL0K-sxzBsHonopON0OoMChiVoQaERDBZmYxKPgNHxybAiEAzsI7qXeyqpQUCBCBHiaVAfoeKxeSdGSswin83QwXBow%3D&alr=yes&cpn=O8VCOB3HELILTxHG&cver=1.20250427.21.00&fallback_count=1&headm=2&rn=5&rbuf=0&pot=MnBYTdueXRXkrVh1neauOXy0DO8tbHFEihaMk-wBN4k0gM1MnKxVc6w60DtkYOaboT7hNUxALhWJc5Uuv_vzhIHe-hfT2UIlshaaHBRc80uyAnV0Jg-3FDvfHpKuNVcGA7gepN2PIhxi_AKwVtFd35e3&ump=1&srfvp=1’ from origin ‘https://www.youtube.com’ has been blocked by CORS policy: No ‘Access-Control-Allow-Origin’ header is present on the requested resource.

11

Thanks for your bug report! Does this happen to all Youtube videos you are trying to play? Are the videos playing for you on this site? https://listenonrepeat.com/

12

Yes it happens on all youtube videos and also happening on that website you shared as well. Same errors in the console. I opened it in incognito, with all extensions disabled (also not logged in on YT)

13

Thanks for the details. It must be something between your browser extension and any embedded Youtube video. Are you sure you disabled all extensions and security software possibly affecting your browser?

14

Hi, I tried with a full clean-up/re-installation, uninstalled Chrome and deleted its folder in AppData/Local, this fixed the issue. Apologies, I initially thought it was only w2g.
Thanks anyways for the support!

15

I’ve been having the same issue. On my main Chrome window/instance, I cant get the videos to play. I’ve tried all sorts of videos, disabled all extensions, deleted cache and cookies, and still nothing.

Here’s the kicker, when I open up a different profile on a new Chrome Window, go to the same link, it works.

Screen shot shows main account starting it (big window, nothing playing), with the Incognito window (nothing playing), and my secondary profile (music/video playing).

Please help. Thanks!

16

Thanks a lot for your bug report. I assume that videos are not playing as well on other sites that embed Youtube videos? (For example https://listenonrepeat.com/)

Do you have any extensions installed that are active in Incognito Mode as well? Please check the URL chrome://extensions/ in your browser.

Other users in this thread reported that it started to work again after a cleanup of the installation. So i assume it’s somehow related to your profile. Unfortunately i’m unable to reproduce the issue at the moment to provide more detailed instructions.

Florian

17

Correct. I’ve tried the link and can not play that embedded video.

Yes to the incognito question. I’ve turned off all extensions and tried both my W2G link and the link you just sent.

18

Sorry didn’t catch the edit when I posted. When you say “Cleanup of the installation…” are you saying to reinstall chrome?

19

Yes, you can read about it in the post above yours. Maybe @user_6d0ff25393f8625 can provide some details.

BTW are you logged into your Google account when using Chrome? Does it make a difference when you temporarily log out?