Issues with Windows Media Player playlists

First off, I'm running Windows 7 64... everything is fully updated—drivers, software, the whole works.

The issues start popping up after the computer has been running for a while—maybe 7 or 8 hours of uptime or more. Both Windows Media Player and VLC act up the same way.
If I try to run a playlist, the software just skips straight through every single track... 😕 Usually, the song playing stays highlighted blue, but here, the blue highlight just races down the list—nothing actually plays. It’s the same deal in VLC. However, if I just open a single file by itself instead of using a playlist, it plays perfectly fine—even on repeat. It’s strictly a playlist issue.
With VLC, it gets weirder when I'm watching a movie—as soon as I hit anything, like pause, full screen, or even a right-click, the video freezes up and glitches out... it acts like someone is spamming the pause button. Sometimes the screen even turns white for a second.

On a smaller note, there's this weird UI bug—if I minimize several windows from the same app and they stack up on the taskbar, I can't maximize any of them... except through Task Manager. If I hover over the icon to see the tiny preview windows and click one, they just vanish instead of opening. And if I click the main icon directly, nothing happens—like if I have two Chrome windows open, I can't maximize either of them.

As soon as I reboot, all these problems disappear and everything goes back to normal for a few hours. It's frustrating... having to constantly restart my machine after only 5 or 6 hours of work.

I've tried searching online, but I haven't found anyone else dealing with this, let alone a fix.

Thanks in advance for any help.

mellowowl73 said:The issues start popping up after the computer has been running for a while—maybe 7 or 8 hours of uptime or more. Both Windows Media Player and VLC act up the same way.
If I start a playlist, the program just skips through every single song 😕 usually the track being played turns blue, but here, the blue highlight just races down the list without any of them actually playing. It's the same thing in VLC. But if I just play a single song—like opening an individual file instead of a playlist—it plays perfectly fine, even on repeat. Everything is okay there; it's just when it involves a playlist that things break.

These kinds of symptoms usually happen when a player can't find the files at the location listed in the playlist. Have you moved the songs since the playlist was created? Or maybe try making a new playlist directly in the folder where the music is stored?

mellowowl73 said:It's the same with VLC—when I try to watch a movie, as soon as I hit anything—pause, full screen, or even just a right-click—it freezes and starts acting weird, almost like it wants to play but someone is constantly spamming the pause button. Sometimes the screen even just goes white on its own.

Playback issues can stem from several different things. Does the movie work fine in a different player? Have you tried reinstalling or updating VLC? From a hardware standpoint, it could be the graphics card or the drive, but I guess it would be best to rule out software problems first.

mellowowl73 said:On a smaller note, if I minimize multiple windows of the same program so they stack on the taskbar, I can't maximize any of them anymore—not even one—unless I go through the Task Manager. If I hover over the icon, those little preview thumbnails pop up, but when I click one, it doesn't open; it just disappears. And if I click the actual icon itself, nothing happens if, say, two Chrome windows are open; I can't maximize either of them.

As soon as I restart the PC, all these problems vanish, and everything works normally again for a few hours. It’s silly, but it's frustrating having to constantly reboot after only a short amount of time—sometimes this starts happening after just 5 or 6 hours.

I searched Google, but I couldn't find anyone else with a similar issue, let alone a solution.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

What are the temperatures like in the PC after those few hours of use? You might want to check using some software like SpeedFan (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php). At first glance, I guess this looks like it might be an issue with the graphics card.
How old is the computer, and when was the last time you cleaned out the dust?
Also—is this a laptop or a desktop?

George Sanders37 said:These symptoms usually pop up when the player can't find the actual song file at the location specified in the playlist. Have you moved any files around since you first built the playlist—or maybe try creating a brand new one directly in the folder where the music is actually sitting...

I haven't moved any files—if I try to point to them, that red exclamation mark pops up and gives me that exact error... then, once I restart, everything goes back to working normally. Most of these playlists haven't been touched in ages...

George Sanders37 said:Playback issues can stem from a few different things. Does that movie run okay in a different player? Have you tried reinstalling or updating VLC yet... maybe that would fix it? As far as hardware goes, it could be anything from the graphics card to the disc itself—but I’d suggest ruling out the software side first.

It’s just not working—every single media player I try is running into the same issues. Even VLC is fully updated... nothing helps.

George Sanders37 said:What kind of temperatures are you seeing after running it for a few hours? You might want to check it with some software like SpeedFan...http://www.almico.com/speedfan.phpAt first glance, this looks like issues with the graphics card...
How old is this PC—and when was the last time it actually got a good dusting?
And is we talking about a laptop or a desktop...?

I'll check the temperatures and let you know... The PC isn't exactly old—picked it up from Best Buy maybe a year or a year and a half ago. It's a desktop...

Regarding the dust issues—I ran into the exact same thing a few months back. The fan was incredibly loud... just spinning like crazy. I didn't have the extra cash to get it professionally cleaned, nor did I really have the time to drop it off somewhere, so I just opened it up myself. I did my best to clean it out using some advice from a couple of friends—though they aren't exactly experts... Anyway, the noise gradually died down until it finally stopped altogether. It’s been running quiet since then, though these problems didn't resurface immediately—it took a while. I might need to give it another cleaning soon... if anyone has any advice on that, I'm all ears. 🙂

mellowowl73 said:Maybe I should give it another deep clean, which is actually why I'm asking for tips 🙂

Look, I'm not entirely sure what's going on with those files, but honestly? It smells to me like the player just can't find where the file is actually located. I've never run into anything like that myself, so I can't really give you a fix for that part.

As for cleaning advice—grab some Q-tips and just take your time with them. It’s a slow process, but they’re pretty much the only way to get into those tight spots properly. Also, if you're feeling brave enough to pull out something like your GPU, you can just blow into it until all the dust flies out, then use the Q-tips to catch whatever's left behind. Takes time, I know. You could do the same with the CPU cooler if you're up for it. Taking components in and out isn't actually that hard, and if you hit a snag and don't have anyone to call for help, YouTube is your best friend. But hey, if you'd rather not mess with pulling parts out, just stick to the Q-tips—go blade by blade (on every single fan 😬 ) and get in between each one...

I’ve been monitoring my CPU temperatures, and they're spiking like crazy the longer the system stays up—it's getting pretty bad. I'm running an AMD quad-core at 3.6 GHz, but it clearly needs a deep clean... it never used to run this hot. Honestly, I'm a little nervous about taking things apart since the hardware was expensive and I didn't build the rig myself 😬 I'll probably spend some time on YouTube to see what I can figure out regarding the teardown

Just unclip the CPU heatsink—it’s got a little lever on the side you can pull to release those two socket pins. Just watch your step with the power cable so you don't yank anything... Once it's off, you can actually clean it properly, maybe even swap out the thermal paste if you grab some at Best Buy for about $5.00.

Same deal with the power supply; just hit it with a hairdryer on the cool setting to blow the dust out of the case... easy enough.

William Richardson12 said:You could also just use a fan at room temperature to blow the heat out of the case past the power supply and call it a day.

But seriously, what are you supposed to do if you don't have a fan running at room temp? 😬

Roger Gray8 said:What if there ain't no fan when it gets cold? 😬

Just keep dreaming, kid... 😬