Premiere Pro CC 2018 playback stop working after a while

[andreamrg]

Hello everybody,

Actually I've started editing some videos on my Surface Book with the latest version of Premiere Pro CC 2018, and I'm facing a very annoying bug.
Checking this forum I've seen other users are having the same or similar problem.

Description of the problem:
After a while using Premiere and randomly when editing a project and I click play on Program/Source monitor the play icon become the usual stop button and it stays like that. I can't revert it to play button.
Timeline doesn't play at all, it shows the last video frame. The software is working correctly, I can move the play head, select clips, but Source and Program monitor looks like frozen.

When this problem shows I can't close Premiere as usual. I've to force closing using Windows Task Manager.
The project is started from scratch.

Some further infos below:
PC: Surface Book, i5 6300U, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Intel HD520, GPU Nvidia Geforce, Toshiba 256GB SSD, 13,5" 3000x2000 display
Pr Pro version: version 12.0.0 (build 224)
Multimedia cache: on main SSD, with "if possible store cache files near the original footage" option enabled (so it creates the cache on the external SSD specified below);
Footage: Actually is on an external SSD, a Samsung T3 512GB USB3 portable drive;
Codec of footage: H264 in MOV Quicktime container (original Canon DSLR MP4 clips);

Effects on clips: none

Memory settings: 6.5GB dedicated to Adobe apps on a total of 8GB.
GPU: Cuda acceleration enabled, Nvidia Geforce Custom GPU from Nvidia for Microsoft Surface Book (Maxwell architecture). Actually is vital for me using the GPU acceleration, I can't work with just the software rendering performance.GPU Driver version: 23.21.13.8813, obtainable via Windows Update or Microsoft Surface website (I've installed from MS website). Updated the drivers Yesterday, I had the same issue even with the previous driver version;

Windows 10 x64: build 16299.98, latest updates installed (checked few minutes ago)
Other infos: Windows Defender AV disabled, no Others softwares running, just Premiere Pro

Thanks in advance who helps me troubleshoot this problem.

Added further info on Premiere CC settings.

[mateuszw84507484]

I have identical trouble.

I've cleaned up all comfoming and audio pick files, I've redesigned and reinstalled pro premiere, I updated the graphics card drivers. It still does not work 😞

[andreamrg]

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I'm sad that you are facing the same trouble.
Seems to be a bug of this version of Premiere. There are many users complaining.
Actually I'm trying to isolate the potential source of the problem.
In my case could be Lumetri or the autosave option in Premiere. The problem showed right after few seconds the project autosaved.
Also, I've deleted all the cache files in the dedicated Premiere Pro folder (with the path set in cache preferences menu).
Till now it's about 45 minutes the issue didn't show.
Finger crossed.

[mateuszw84507484]

Hello, thank you for the message.

For me, the audio comfoming and pick files did not help me.

Can you describe and describe what cache files you have cleared? Where is it on the adobe premier menu?

I read a lot a lot now. This problem has many users. Several people have helped reset the Premiere settings. It is done so that when you start Premiere we hold the Alt button. We will need to reset the entire layout and keyboard shortcuts later. A lot of work... 😞

I will just try this way.

Thank you for your message.

[andreamrg]

Clearing the cache in the appdata folder, didn't helped me too. The issue came back after some minutes.

Actually I've cleared Premiere settings and plugin cache, first using the ALT key and then ALT+SHIFT key for plugin cache cleaning, and I've worked with no issue for about 2 hours.
Yes, unfortunately you lose all the layou and kb shortuct.
One solution is importing the preset file for keyboard layout.
Maybe could be some settings corruption from upgrading the suite from CC 2017.
I'll try it today again, I've a lot of work to do, so I'll try it hard.

Yes, I'm reading the same issue on the web too for some users.

[Sergio_rocha]

I had the same problem and others as well. I couldn't work at all - Premiere keeps crashing all the time to do just simple things like moving objetc in the timeline. I had a project that I saved like, 8 versions after constantly crashes. I also read that a lot of people are having similar problems and Adobe responds that is something wrong with the computer, plug-ins, video cards or the kind of files you are using etc - I noticed that PC and Mac user are both having problems with the new version.

Well, the only solution that I came across it was the simplest one - I reinstalled the 2017 version - it is running smoothly with no crashes.

I just cannot understand why Adobe keeps puting the blame on the users and their equipment, when it is clear as water that they messed up this time with a new version that is full of bugs.

[ashleyenicholson]

I'm new to video editing, been a graphic designer, my new job asked me to do this and I figured oh this shouldn't be that hard to learn I know my way around Adobe and I've help in video editing sessions before. NOPE, the newest Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018 12.01 version is literally killing me and apparently many other users, glad I'm not the only one.  I've downloaded it to both a PC and Mac. Mine is doing the same thing, I was working on my first video and I was watching all the tutorials, following those steps, it was going great the program was working until it wasn't. On the PC the program kept crashing, probably did the project 15 times, tried to make simple edits, color change or audio changes and it would just shut down. Then the audio started going mute and/or cutting in and out. So then I tried it on my MacBook pro, it's only crashed once or twice so far. However, the audio and video playback in the Program monitor is still messed up on both the PC and Mac. The Audio cuts in and out now the video is getting pixelated and I can't edit the audio when it sounds terrible because I can't tell if what I'm doing is fixing anything. Strange thing is it exports fine thus far, but as far as editing the audio I'm kind of at a halt because I can't do anything.

I tried doing some things suggested in the different responses but I'm not having any success. Downloaded the previous 2018 version but it didn't fix anything, then I downloaded the 2017 version, but it won't let me open my project it in the 2017 version (I really don't want to start over again) and the 2018 version won't let me save as a lower version. Help, Please!

I'm doing the most basic video; a continuous shot, overlaying some photos and working with the audio from the native video file, it's not a complicated project but it's driving me insane, it should not take this long to do that. Also being my first video, I realize that next time I probably need to mic them, bc the video audio is picking up background talking/noise, I used some of the effects (essential sound dialogue and the Adaptive Noise Reduction) but you can still hear them, does anyone have some quick fixes other than reshooting as far as reducing the background voices/noise? Next time I will mic them or overlay the track on the video.

Update: it's now exporting glitchy files, the video picture is getting jumpy and pixelated and it wasn't before...help. however the audio is exporting okay..what the heck is going on ADOBE!!!

[mateuszw84507484]

I've cleared the settings to keep Alt running, and it's fine for now. I hope that the trouble will not come back because personalization of the program has taken me again for 4 hours.

I am embarrassed that Adobe does not really have technical support for people who pay for using software every month. The only support is the forum where we guess how to solve the problem from other users.

No wonder that more and more people are giving up on Adobe and buying Final Cut.

From thursday, my assemblies are not working and these are real losses for my company.

[andreamrg]

Unfortunately the problem came back again after clearing the preferences and plugin cache, today.
This is a very annoying bug and Adobe should fix this as soon as possible, it happens very often and ruins any workflow and mind sanity.

[Dan Jak]

I have exactly the same problem. Restarting Premiere helps for few minutes, then randomly stops. Usually at 4:30. Music plays but I can't see videos and images beyond 4:30

[jucabTK421]

Adobe is losing their damn minds or something. 2018 Premiere (on my office iMac) has this audio issue where I have to Shift/CTRL/OPT and click open and do this SEVERAL TIMES for the sudio to play like normal. SOMETIMES is does this in the middle of an edit where things were working just fine then BOOM, no audio.

DAMMIT! Ever since the Cloud, my workflow has been disrupted almost constantly by these wierd bugs everywhere. The CS's never REALLY had major issues like this for me. Sure, maybe a color picker didn't work (CS5.5) but dang man.... I really don't want to go to FInal Cut X (for various reasons) but I see the Final Cut editors here at work just happily editing away...

Just sayin. Get your act together, Adobe.

[Dunya94]

I have the same problem as well. However, I've managed to find a quick work-around solution - just press the solo button on any track, then deactivate the solo, and that should make it work again... At least it's easier than restarting Premiere all together!

[Dylan Whitester]

I was having the same problem so I reinstalled and held down alt and shift at start up to reset settings and now it works!!! Hope this helps any of you!

[felixk27962142]

I figured out the F * * * * * * problem!!!

It's all about the audio hardware. I still can't believe that it's the cause, but it seems it sure is.

I figured it out when using a bluetooth speaker. As soon as I turn it off, Premiere f* up completely. Starting to freeze, crash, die. And this is me using a 3000 $ brand new pc with 32 gigs ram and a 1080ti etc.

So when the playback just hangs on the stop button and I get no picture, I have to manually go to preferences > audio hardware > output > (in my case:) Realtek Digital Output (not the bluetooth speaker)

Voilá (not wallah as most forum users keep saying ), playback works again!

W T F . . .

[davidcatt]

Thank you Felix. On my system, Playback would just stop randomly in any sequence normally close to a scene cut. I deselected the Blackmagic Decklink card for the audio playback and selected Line out. Now no more stopping so problems appear to be due to the audio playback functionality. Not sure exactly what your problems were but your post pointed me in the right direction to fix mine.

Thanks again.

[ceejay84]

I have exactly the same problem. But maybe it only occurs when I have a "grown project" with about 150 single clips. None of the suggestions above helped me (cache reset, soundcard, switching a track to "solo" and back). I have a rather powerfull pc (Intel 6-core, 32GB RAM, (M2-) SSDs, 1070ti gfx-card). I always used the internal soundcard (nothing too fancy) and the error occurred (*). So I switched to an external ASIO soundcard, the ECHO AudioFire 4 Firewire. The same problem happened again. I also hat the problem messing with my patience when I used my old computer (early version of the Premiere cloud version)

(*) By "error" I mean this:

I use the program as always, until the timeline stops playing. It freezes the last shown image in the preview and scrubbung the timeline has no effect anymore (neither image nor sound). This happens randomly after like 5 minutes to maybe 1 hour. The rest of the program seems to work fine. But when I close it using the "x" on the upper right part of the window, it freezes completely and I have so switch to the task manager to kill the process.

The problem seems to be present for some years now... with no solution. That is really really frustrating, Adobe!

[emilyf7133201]

I'm having exactly the same issue.

[dzenanh96914271]

Same Here.

[johnpix]

Good fellas! As someone said it. The solution is in the audio configuration. The problem is that at a certain time the new computers perform updates every time and that could brake down the initial settings.

As someone said here again, believe or not, the playback problem is in the audio settings mostly.

For example, if you have installed new speakers on your computer (you'll never know that thing caused the issue). You must ensure that Adobe Premiere Preferences must be routed to that channel. The output sound of the computer must be paired with the same Adobe settings. So, make sure everything is the same audio settings and hopefully in 90% the playback will work.

Good luck!!

[ceejay84]

Hi johnpix,

please understand, that it is not helpful, when you write as if we all (in this post) did not check the audio settings and - in the same line - write that the audio settings are the solution "mostly" or "hopefully in 90%".

When I wrote "None of the suggestions above helped me (cache reset, soundcard, switching a track to "solo" and back)" I might not have been explicit enough. Before I go into details, please keep in mind, that I have German as my screen language and can only guess what Mcrosoft or Adobe call several labels.

When I go to my sound settings in Windows 10 (newest updates) it offeres me two outputs: 1. Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio), 2. VX2363 Series (NVIDIA High Definition Audio). The first routes the audio to my Headphones, the second to my HDMI-connected display. I always work with my headphones, so I have always chosen (1) when working with Premiere.

In Premiere settings I have chosen MME with no standard inputs and the same output as it is in the Windows settings, a delay of 200ms and a samplerate of 48 kHz. Further down the settings say "Adobe Desktop-Audio" which is the only option there.

Now I have two questions:

1. If it's the sound settings: what's wrong there? My options are limited. And I experienced the exact same problem with a demo of the program 3 years ago on a completely different computer.
2. More important: If it's the sound settings I still don't unterstand, why the program stops working (audio AND image in the playback) and if I want to close the program I even have to kill the process forcefuonly just because the sound-settings should be wrong? I would expect the application to simply play no sound but to work as expected in any other way. Then as a user I'd see: "No sound? Let's check the sound settings" and boom: problem fixed. But it does not seem to work like this.

If someone can give me instructions on this, you are more than welcome! I'll try them all (and already tried a lot).

If it turns out and it's the sound settings, my critique and suggestion to the development team remains: please try to let the program NOT crash only because of the settings.

[DrewStephens]

SOLVED (for me).  After trying all the solutions mentioned for others (MME audio device, etc) with no success, I simply unplugged my webcam. Bizarre bug. But it worked. Hopefully, that's the only fix I needed. We'll see.

[Matmatmat]

Hey everyone. Seems like the problem is solved for me.

It's like 4th or 5th time now, when I'm dealing with the problem. Last time (month ago?) it was just a 'problem' with external soundcard. Another time it was something with gpu drivers and windows 10 updates. But now, looks like it was something completely new and incomrehensible to me. I've spent around 5 hours doing everything, reading everything, searching for the solution. There was no reason for the problem with playback. I decided to take unusual methods starting with disconnecting every device and DC from my laptop (it's conntected with screen monitor and wireless mouse usb device) and connecting again and it helped instantly! I have no idea what caused the problem. I hadn't been disconnecting any devices before for weeks. Anyways, try to use even the least probable methods. And Adobe, please, do sth with it. As you can see, this bug is really frustrating for many of us!

[PapeSwe]

same issue here... now its about time Adobe fix this!

I have tried everything, Now im about to reinstall my computer from scratch..

I have tried to change audio input/output, from realtek, Asio (Saffire Pro 24), Earphones, what ever..

.I Have updated ALL drivers and ALL firmware, reinstalled Premiere for like 1218907429817487321 times.

I have got bluescreens in premiere by changing hardwaresettings on audiocard, from like nothing?!

I use a AMD 16 core cpu, 32 GB of ram, Nvidia 2080 RTX, SSD-drives for the media, softraid (windows) for fast storage on rotating disks, All this, have worked until for a year ago... No its just not working at all.. I can work in a project and create the timeline.. then from nothing it just stops playback, the audio disappears, the thumbnails just MEDIA F**KING PENDING)(/&"¤#(/&%"(/¤%!(/&"%¤/&%"!¤ and then the program freaking greys out and CRASH... and it does not close entirely, I NEED TO GO TO THE taskmanager to forceKILL the application... what is this ? a big joke?!

Talked to Adobe on the support, he offered me 3 month of free use... Thats like 0,000000000001 % of the amount of lost income by troubleshoot this... Frustrated.... my god!!!

[Soulo ruffian]

I've tried all solutions in the reply but no change I updated all the necessary drivers still the same problem 

[Rémi22141177l52f · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I had exactly the same issue on Premiere Pro 2022, on a new computer.

I noticed that each time this bug occurs, an event appears in the Event Viewer of Windows, tagged "Source = Display", with the following message: "Le pilote d'affichag igfx ne répondait plus" ("The display driver igfxn has stopped responding.").

In addition, the bug never occurs when my sequence has only audio tracks (all video tracks empty).

The following 2 solutions work perfectly for me:

I tried to translate menu names from my French computer, the exact names might be different.

1. Check if you have the latest driver for your display card.

Note that the card manufacturer (in my case: Intel) may have a newer version than the computer manufacturer (for me: Dell). Windows Update seems to check only the latest version from the computer manufacturer, you may have to download the driver directly from the card manufacturer website.

- or -

2. If the previous option does not work, deactivate the GPU acceleration.

On Premiere Pro, open your project, File > Project Settings... > General, change the video renderer to "Mercury Playback Engine Software Only", then [OK].

By the way, if you use After Effects, you are likely to face the same issue.

Here again: open your project, File >  Project Settings... > Effects & Video Renderer > Use: "Mercure Software Only".

and, always in After Effect, Edit > Preferences > Display : uncheck the option "Material acceleration for panels Composition, Layer and Yardage"

I hope this will help anyone Google will bring here 🙂