Youtube videos not playing on my mac

Question

Level 1

4 points

Youtube videos not playing on my mac

Youtube and some other videos do not play on my iMac. I have Chrome and Safari, and the videos do not play on either browser. I am running Catalina 10.15.5, Safari 13.1.1 and Chrome 83.0.4103.6. The iMac was purchased in August of 2018.

Here are the things I have tried:

Netflix streams without problems. I can play videos on QuickTime. I have the WhatsApp app, and videos uploaded there work well, but embedded videos from YouTube do not play.
The problem was there before I upgraded to Catalina, for about 1 year. I installed Catalina to try to solve it, and the problem continues with Catalina.
I uninstalled Flash using AppCleaner, installed it again, uninstalled it again using the Adobe Uninstaller, nothing changed.
I logged back in as a guest, and the problem does not happen on the guest account. I can watch videos fine, so it is something that has to do with my account.
My other computers, iPhone, iPad all running with the same iCloud account all play videos fine.
I unchecked all Safari extensions. I deleted all Safari extensions. I cleared cookies, I made sure JavaScript was enabled (it was). Nothing worked.
I reset the NVRAM. Nothing happened.
I reset the SMC. Here the videos started to work for about 5 minutes, but the problem came back.
I reset all permissions. Videos worked for about 20 minutes (so happy!) but problem came back in the middle of a video.

I may have done more things, but at this point I don't remember. Any idea about what is causing this? Anything I should try?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on May 27, 2020 11:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,459 points

May 28, 2020 1:11 PM in response to nizarala

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712

System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

Sys Prefs>Network>highlight the Interface you're using>Advanced>TCP/IP>Configure IPv4: Using DHCP.

If using Wifi, instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

System Preferences>Network>choose interface>Advanced>Proxies Tab, make sure none are set, like for HTTP & HTTPS.

System Preferences>Network, unlock the lock if need be, highlight the Interface you use to connect to Internet, click on the advanced button, click on the DNS tab, click on the little plus icon, then add these numbers...

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

1.1.1.1

9.9.9.9

Apply.

Reply

Answer 2

May 28, 2020 12:57 AM in response to nizarala

3/ Flash has been abandoned for YouTube (and most anything else) for many years now (since 2015). It is all HTML5 Video these days.

4/ Excellent test.

The fact that it happens in two independent browsers, tells us that it is unlikely in the settings of either of these, and more likely in some other settings that affect both.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Safe mode can help you to determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up.

Reply

Answer 3

nizarala Author

Level 1

4 points

May 28, 2020 11:32 AM in response to Urquhart1244

Thanks!

I rebooted on safe mode. Videos play but stall a bit. There is no sound.
I rebooted normally. Videos started playing again normally, with sound. Five minutes later, same thing happened: videos stopped working. (This means that they stop playing and a little round thing circles as if it is loading forever, and any other video does not load any more on both Safari and Chrome).

I rebooted on safe mode a few more times, and it is always the same thing. Videos play, image is not smooth, as if it stops a bit some times, but mostly it plays. No sound.

Reply

Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

245,459 points

May 28, 2020 11:48 AM in response to nizarala

EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report if you capture the URL while there…

https://pastebin.com/

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...

Reply

Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

245,459 points

May 28, 2020 4:45 PM in response to nizarala

If it cures it then likely a DNS or VPN issue, but the Location set uses many different preference & cache files, so corruption of any one of those can cause problems, but a New Location uses mostly all new prefs & caches.

Reply