Android TV: Songs won't play

[Ken4153]

The app opens on Chromecast with Google TV. However, the music doesn't play. So I'm forced to uninstall the app and reinstall it and then it works. A bit of a pain.

Moderator Edit: Changing title for clarity

[TannerPandora]

Hi @Ken4153!

Just to confirm, when casting from your Android device to your Google TV Pandora will connect but it won't play any music.

Does it appear to play, but there is no sound or does the song load and freeze?

Can you let me know some details about your phone and if you've tried any troubleshooting before reaching out?

• Make and model:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version (If you need help finding this, let me know):

[mtik00]

I have a very similar issue.  After a while, Pandora stops playing music.  I can select playlists just fine, however, the song just sits there not playing.  The little equalizer/visualizer at the top moves around, but the songs are always stuck at 0:00-0:00.  The artwork loads, though, so the application has connectivity.

I do not have to uninstall the Pandora application to get things working again.  I'm able to reboot the Chromecast to temporarily fix the issue.  This problem happens about once every day or two.

Pandora is the only application that has any problems.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @mtik00! Welcome to community. 👋

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with Chromecast and Pandora. If you haven't already I would recommend trying some of the troubleshooting steps found on Google's support page.

In the meantime, I'm happy to pass this along to our engineering team for further review. Can you let me know some info about your phone?

• Model:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version:
  

[mtik00]

Model: Chromecast with Google TV 4k

Android TV OS version: 12

Kernel version: 4.9.269

(Fully updated)

Pandora application version: 4.2.4

[TannerPandora]

Hi @mtik00! Thanks for the info.

To clarify, are you casting Pandora to your TV from your mobile device or are you listening to the Pandora app on your Google TV?

If you're casting from your phone to your TV, can you please include:

• The make and model or your mobile phone:
• The OS version:
• The Pandora version:

[mtik00]

I am running Pandora directly on the Chromecast with Google TV. I am not casting from my mobile device.

[Ken4153]

Tanner:

Thank you for your response.

My problem is well stated by mtik00 - his post appears right after mine here.  Looks like it's playing but no sound.  

I can get it to play again by Uninstalling/Installing the App or restarting Chromecast with Google TV.  But of course either of these is a pain every day or two.

I'm not casting from my Android phone - I have the Pandora app running natively on Chromecast with Google TV.  I recently bought the new 4K model - this is when this issue started.  (never had this problem with the old model)

My Chromecast with Google TV is running Android TV OS build: STTE.220920.015.A1.9261725.  And the Pandora app is Version 3.0.0 | static.

[TannerPandora]

Thanks for the clarification @mtik00 and @Ken4153!

I'm happy to pass this along to our engineering team for further investigation. In the meantime, let's try the following steps to see if they may help.

1. On the supplied remote control, press the HOME button.
2. Select the Settings Gear icon  ⚙️
3. Follow the steps according to your TV menu:
• Select Apps → See all apps → Show system apps.
• Select Apps.
4. Under System apps, select Pandora.
5. Select Clear cache, then select Ok.
• If the issue still occurs, move on to the next step.
6. Select Clear data, then select Ok.
• If displayed, select CLEAR ALL DATA, and then Ok.

[Ken4153 · Accepted solution]

Tanner:

Problem solved!

Thank you so much.  For years I've been clearing cache and clearing data on apps on my Android phone.  Never thought to look at this same possibility on my Chromecast with Google TV.  Wow.  

++

Solution Steps

[mtik00]

I cleared only the cache tonight.  Hopefully that will solve my problem too.  🤞

I'll clear the data next.

[TannerPandora]

So happy to hear that those steps helped, @Ken4153! 🙌 🎉

@mtik00 Let me know if you're still having trouble. Hope clearing the data helps. 🤞

[mtik00]

Still no joy.  I first tried clearing cache and rebooting, but it came back.  I then tried clearing data and rebooting, but it came back again.

I wonder if it has something to do with the "Are you still listening" prompt?  I noticed today that after I clicked the "Yes" button, the player got stuck playing an ad.  I had to reboot to get music playing again.  One odd thing about the prompt is that I explicitly paused the music because I wasn't going to be around.  The prompt was there when I went back into the app.

This certainly has something to do with fundamental way Google TV treats the Pandora app, since:

1) Google TV never actually reboots
2) The pandora app continues to play in the background when you navigate to the Google TV home screen

[CrispyCritter]

This problem looks unresolved and it  seems to best match my problems of the past couple of weeks.

My problem: Over the past couple of weeks I've had 4-5 instances of Pandora, when invoked, not playing the first song.  The album art appears, the equalizer icons start moving, but there is no sound and no advancement of the time bar.  I can skip and advance to the next song, but the same status remains. My tries to fix it are below.

My setup:

Google TV device (hardware ethernet) connected to older TV. No other devices involved; Pandora app Version 3.0.0|static on Google TV.   Model: Chromecast HD,   Android TV Version: 12. Kernel: 5.4.180-andorid12-...  Android TV build: STTE.220030.012.H1

Attempts yesterday and today:

Nothing within Pandora helps.

Yesterday: Deleting cache (from Settings/Apps/Pandora on Google TV) didn't work. Then signing out of Pandora and back in did work then (but see below).  At the end of the Pandora session I halted the music and went back to Google TV (I thought not doing that might be the problem)

Today: When I next invoked Pandora, it was back to the not playing state again.  I tried deleting Data from Settings/Apps/Pandora.  I had to log back in and it was still frozen, claiming Genesis was being played.  I software restarted Google TV (from Settings/System), and everything then worked, playing the Genesis song it had been stuck on before.

So signing out and signing back in doesn't reliably fix it, and is painful typing in my email address!  Restarting the Google TV device has always worked, whether power pull or software restart.  But that's also painful and I shouldn't have to do that!

[mtik00]

Correct. The issues is intermittent.  It worked for weeks, then off and on for a few days, then fine for a few weeks, etc.

The quickest way I've found to temporarily fix it is to "Force Stop" (or something like that) the application from the System menu.  The next launch of Pandora should work.  At least with this method you do not have to reboot Google TV, or enter your credentials in Pandora again, since you do not have to clear any data.

Hopefully this issue gets a permanent fix "soon".  🤞

[CrispyCritter]

Thanks!  I see the option (indeed Settings/Apps/Pandora/Force Stop) - I'll try it the next time it happens (Pandora is working now.)  Is there any indication that the Pandora engineers have enough data or have located the bug?

[mtik00]

---

@CrispyCritter wrote:

Thanks!  I see the option (indeed Settings/Apps/Pandora/Force Stop) - I'll try it the next time it happens (Pandora is working now.)  Is there any indication that the Pandora engineers have enough data or have located the bug?

---

There's no indication, unfortunately.

[CrispyCritter]

It happened again yesterday, about 11am ET.  Force Stop worked (at least to get the music going again)!  Thanks, it is a much easier work around than restarting the Google TV device.

Just in case Pandora is actually trying to solve the problem: one correction to my earlier status, I am running Version 4.2.4 of the Pandora app (it is reported in two places with one clearly not updating). It was attempting to play Rush, Cygnus 1 with equalizers churning, no sound, time bar 0 on each end.  After the Force Stop, it actually played the song, though the time bar was still 0 on both ends.  I skipped to the next song (The World Became the World by some Italian group) which also played, but with a time bar 0 on both ends.  I suspect the Force Stop itself was the cause of the time bar problems; we'll see more later today.

My suspicion remains that this gets occasionaly triggered by going directly to Google Home while playing and turning the TV off with the music still playing (and that's how I ended the previous session before the problem this time.)

[CrispyCritter]

Force Stop by itself didn't work today, 10:50am ET  I tried 3 times (with and without pausing the non-playing song (by Gentle Giant)).  I then did a Delete Cache followed by a Force Stop, and it worked.  I don't know whether that will work in the future or whether everything is just random!

Yesterday I halted the music before leaving Pandora and then turning off the TV.  So my previous guess as to a trigger looks incorrect, though this time my wife played Pandora on another device in between my invocations so perhaps that affected things.

Pandora, can we at least get an acknowledgement that this is a known problem?

[SJL55]

Pandora, can we at least get an acknowledgement that this is a known problem?