"Touch to Retry"
November 27, 2015 8:53 AM Subscribe
You have a new cell phone (and contract) and you are totally in love for six months or a year. You receive the scheduled system upgrade (!) and everything is peachy. Until one day, YouTube decides it doesn't work on your phone anymore.
I have a feeling this is a lot like the weather; everybody complains about it but nobody does anything about it. The complaint is on every forum.
My Google-Fu and Android-Fu are both pretty strong, but I still haven't had anybody explain to me why YouTube picks a day when it will not work on your phone anymore.
I've tried removing the last updates, clearing the cache, auxiliary drivers, MX add-ons, new Flash updates, and every.single.other.thing ever recommended on an Android forum, up to and including the dreaded Factory Reset, but they all overlook one thing: Why does YouTube, presumably the most ubiquitous thing on Earth at this point, always do this?
I'll admit I'm an over-user. I can find one thing and explore every YouTube video ever posted on the subject, sometimes multiple times. Actually, many multiple times on some things How It's Made. I know they know, because those thumbnails always say "Watched."
If it drives the market for new cell phones, why do they do it a year before the contract on the old one expires, when I can't do anything about it?
Give me the insight I have been unable to find. Tell me the magic formula and button sequence. Help me feed my need for Pentatonix videos and updates.
I have a feeling this is a lot like the weather; everybody complains about it but nobody does anything about it. The complaint is on every forum.
My Google-Fu and Android-Fu are both pretty strong, but I still haven't had anybody explain to me why YouTube picks a day when it will not work on your phone anymore.
I've tried removing the last updates, clearing the cache, auxiliary drivers, MX add-ons, new Flash updates, and every.single.other.thing ever recommended on an Android forum, up to and including the dreaded Factory Reset, but they all overlook one thing: Why does YouTube, presumably the most ubiquitous thing on Earth at this point, always do this?
I'll admit I'm an over-user. I can find one thing and explore every YouTube video ever posted on the subject, sometimes multiple times. Actually, many multiple times on some things How It's Made. I know they know, because those thumbnails always say "Watched."
If it drives the market for new cell phones, why do they do it a year before the contract on the old one expires, when I can't do anything about it?
Give me the insight I have been unable to find. Tell me the magic formula and button sequence. Help me feed my need for Pentatonix videos and updates.
Yeah, I've never run in to this on any device, Android or iOS, I've ever owned, and I've never heard anyone else complain about it either. If it's happening to you consistently across devices, maybe it's some glitch with your Google account for some reason? Have you tried logging in with a different one?
posted by Itaxpica at 9:17 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Itaxpica at 9:17 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Did you try changing your DNS to google DNS servers?
Did you try changing the media player to "Awesome Player"?
posted by bluecore at 9:29 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Did you try changing the media player to "Awesome Player"?
posted by bluecore at 9:29 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
You don't say if you're using the youtube app or a browser. If you're using the app, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling it? What about a different browser?
posted by eatcake at 10:42 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by eatcake at 10:42 AM on November 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
This wouldn't, by chance, be a data package limit that you are exceeding? Does your contract have a daily or weekly or monthly cap you're maxing out? Maybe it's the internet itself -- does it happen on data or wifi or both? You've made sure you have the latest version of Flash?
What kind of phone do you have, and what OS is it running? That would help to know if there are specific work-arounds.
posted by ananci at 1:03 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
What kind of phone do you have, and what OS is it running? That would help to know if there are specific work-arounds.
posted by ananci at 1:03 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, this has never happened to me despite being a heavy Youtube user on Android, so attempts to troubleshoot would be much helped by knowing a lot more specifics about your device, carrier, exactly how it's "not working", etc.
posted by Sequence at 2:00 PM on November 27, 2015
posted by Sequence at 2:00 PM on November 27, 2015
This happened to me for, I want to say a month or two? on a Nexus 5 back in Lollipop days earlier this year. One day it just started working again, presumably due to an update or other sunspot subsidence. I also seem to recall it being before the picture-in-picture version of the app.
posted by rhizome at 2:05 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 2:05 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Sorry folks. Asked the question at lunch break and just got home from work. Wall of text:
-The phone is Moto X (XT1058) from November 2013, which I picked up in May 2014. It was the MOTO/Google cross phone, so I figured Google Apps, no problem, right? In every other aspect, it is truly a fantastic phone.
-I received Lollipop 5.1 in July/Aug, but have not received the 5.1.12 upgrade. Network is AT&T, which is the best one here. I have a 4G data plan, but rarely use more than 1.5G because home wi-fi and work wi-fi, also AT&T. This problem began occurring before the Lollipop upgrade; I convinced myself that the update would cure it.
-Usual browser is Chrome; Firefox is installed since day one. Initially used the YouTube app (installed, reinstalled, factory reset, update blocked, etc) and resorted to using the Browser/s to open with mixed results, tired of both.
Excellent trouble shooting answers, and yes, I've tried all except the DNS reassignment to Google Public. I'll need more info on that. The Awesome Player/NuPlayer toggle is in Developer Options, and Awesome Player seems to work the "better" of the two.
From a fresh reboot, YouTube will play maybe two five minute videos, then start with the not loading, "Touch to Retry" stuff, even on the ad before the clip. Clear YouTube cache, clear browser cache, try again. Two more videos. Then, no matter how I clear the caches, nothing else will play until there's a system reboot. I have cleared the Main Cache at boot level, many, many times.
I am glad to know that many people are having zero problems, which leads me to believe it's phone related, not Android. However, the forums list many of the brands you've mentioned with the problem, so be aware. Also, YouTube itself covers this in its general Android troubleshooting guide, so it's not a unicorn. They fail to suggest why, though.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:01 PM on November 27, 2015
-The phone is Moto X (XT1058) from November 2013, which I picked up in May 2014. It was the MOTO/Google cross phone, so I figured Google Apps, no problem, right? In every other aspect, it is truly a fantastic phone.
-I received Lollipop 5.1 in July/Aug, but have not received the 5.1.12 upgrade. Network is AT&T, which is the best one here. I have a 4G data plan, but rarely use more than 1.5G because home wi-fi and work wi-fi, also AT&T. This problem began occurring before the Lollipop upgrade; I convinced myself that the update would cure it.
-Usual browser is Chrome; Firefox is installed since day one. Initially used the YouTube app (installed, reinstalled, factory reset, update blocked, etc) and resorted to using the Browser/s to open with mixed results, tired of both.
Excellent trouble shooting answers, and yes, I've tried all except the DNS reassignment to Google Public. I'll need more info on that. The Awesome Player/NuPlayer toggle is in Developer Options, and Awesome Player seems to work the "better" of the two.
From a fresh reboot, YouTube will play maybe two five minute videos, then start with the not loading, "Touch to Retry" stuff, even on the ad before the clip. Clear YouTube cache, clear browser cache, try again. Two more videos. Then, no matter how I clear the caches, nothing else will play until there's a system reboot. I have cleared the Main Cache at boot level, many, many times.
I am glad to know that many people are having zero problems, which leads me to believe it's phone related, not Android. However, the forums list many of the brands you've mentioned with the problem, so be aware. Also, YouTube itself covers this in its general Android troubleshooting guide, so it's not a unicorn. They fail to suggest why, though.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:01 PM on November 27, 2015
How much free space does the phone have? When my phone started malfunctioning in bizarre/unpredictable ways like that, it was because the internal memory was nearly full. Note that this can happen at a lower memory usage point than you might think. If current free space is less than 10-20% of the total I might suspect this. If less than 5%, I'd be suspecting it very, very highly.
Also, note that there are different memory partitions you may need to worry about--internal memory, SDCard, etc. Maybe your SDCard has oodles of free space but your internal memory is nearly full--that type of thing. If any of your various memory areas are nearly full, that can lead to bizarre/inexplicable behavior.
Depending on your Android version, you can probably view current storage used/free under apps/storage. Otherwise, try googling something like "moto x how to check memory usage".
posted by flug at 3:47 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, note that there are different memory partitions you may need to worry about--internal memory, SDCard, etc. Maybe your SDCard has oodles of free space but your internal memory is nearly full--that type of thing. If any of your various memory areas are nearly full, that can lead to bizarre/inexplicable behavior.
Depending on your Android version, you can probably view current storage used/free under apps/storage. Otherwise, try googling something like "moto x how to check memory usage".
posted by flug at 3:47 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
This happens to me maybe once a month. Samsung Galaxy Mega. Restarting the phone always fixes it for me, though. Sorry :[
posted by fiercecupcake at 4:14 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by fiercecupcake at 4:14 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just in case you didn't already check, there's this thread on Reddit, There are a couple work-arounds in it you could try.
posted by ananci at 4:38 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ananci at 4:38 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've tried all except the DNS reassignment to Google Public. I'll need more info on that.
Google makes known good DNS servers available to the public, with the addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Setting your DNS server to one of those is a solution for when your cable company's default DNSes have issues (which is more often than you'd think, depending on the company). Here's a guide for changing your DNS server on Android; just use one of those two addresses for the DNS.
posted by Itaxpica at 10:33 PM on November 27, 2015
Google makes known good DNS servers available to the public, with the addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Setting your DNS server to one of those is a solution for when your cable company's default DNSes have issues (which is more often than you'd think, depending on the company). Here's a guide for changing your DNS server on Android; just use one of those two addresses for the DNS.
posted by Itaxpica at 10:33 PM on November 27, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks, Itaxpica for the info. I tried this with the home wi-fi server, and while it will let me change the options from DHCP to Static (which were already assigned to the Google DNS settings, btw) it grays out the option to connect when I do. This may be the problem, since my two primary wi-fi sources at home and at work are from AT&T. I'll do more research on that, since this may be the throttle that Ananci suggested.
Flug, I have 11.6 GB out of 16 available on internal storage . I don't have an SD card slot, and I'm thrifty with apps, movies, music and photos. Good to check.
Thank you everybody for the suggestions. I wanted to make sure that I hadn't overlooked something painfully obvious while troubleshooting this problem. I will mark this solved tomorrow in case somebody shows up with a magic wand. Otherwise, it will just be marked SAD.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 4:06 AM on November 28, 2015
Flug, I have 11.6 GB out of 16 available on internal storage . I don't have an SD card slot, and I'm thrifty with apps, movies, music and photos. Good to check.
Thank you everybody for the suggestions. I wanted to make sure that I hadn't overlooked something painfully obvious while troubleshooting this problem. I will mark this solved tomorrow in case somebody shows up with a magic wand. Otherwise, it will just be marked SAD.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 4:06 AM on November 28, 2015
FWIW, I've also been having this problem and it started directly after I upgraded from Jellybean to Lollipop (before which point I also hadn't upgraded the Youtube app for a long time). The latest Youtube app upgrade has helped a little, but it's still unreliable compared to what it was before. Since the update, the Gmail app has also developed an interesting tendency to "queue" outbound mail and not register incoming mail unless restarted.
I'm kind of surprised to see so many people have had zero problems, to be honest.
posted by trig at 4:31 AM on November 28, 2015
I'm kind of surprised to see so many people have had zero problems, to be honest.
posted by trig at 4:31 AM on November 28, 2015
Response by poster: Resolution: Neither AT&T or Motorola were able to offer any insight on this issue. YouTube tech support obliquely suggested that perhaps Lenovo (new owners) might have issued a software update with a conflict (there is no cabal.)
Shortly after this ask, I started to have trouble with the sealed battery, and then it just wouldn't work at all unless plugged in, and that's a land line.
My insurance replaced the phone. So I guess the answer is save yourself a month, and get a new phone. Thank you all for your suggestions and assistance, and may all your Android experiences be righteous.
Oh, and the new phone is an LG G Vista 2, which is the size of a laptop. A whole new experience awaits!
posted by halfbuckaroo at 1:52 PM on December 27, 2015
Shortly after this ask, I started to have trouble with the sealed battery, and then it just wouldn't work at all unless plugged in, and that's a land line.
My insurance replaced the phone. So I guess the answer is save yourself a month, and get a new phone. Thank you all for your suggestions and assistance, and may all your Android experiences be righteous.
Oh, and the new phone is an LG G Vista 2, which is the size of a laptop. A whole new experience awaits!
posted by halfbuckaroo at 1:52 PM on December 27, 2015
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It doesn't. We have four Android devices in this house and none have ever encountered this problem.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:14 AM on November 27, 2015 [6 favorites]