Discord Stuck on Starting Mac: Causes and Fixes That Actually Work

The “Discord is starting up” message that pops up when launching the Discord application can be quite a frustrating screen to see. If you’re stuck on that message for too long, there may be a fix. But what do we know about this problem? And how do you actually go about fixing it?

The reasons why you might get stuck in Discord’s “Starting Up” message are varied, but many of them have one common theme: they involve corrupted cache files or some kind of background process that wasn’t properly killed off. There’s also a chance that Discord is dealing with a temporary server outage.

In addition, the majority of fixes for this problem usually don’t require anything more than clearing Discord’s cache, which should be tried first. However, some users might have hardware acceleration enabled, which could be causing this error. A few users report success disabling hardware acceleration entirely, while others have found that simply disabling it doesn’t solve the problem — you’ll need updated graphics drivers instead.

As always, keep an eye on the date and time as well, since incorrect settings could cause problems with the app. It’s also worth checking whether malware or adware programs might be interfering with Discord’s ability to connect to its servers.

Clearing Discord’s Cache

If your issue is the app freezing on its “starting up” screen, clearing the cache is likely going to resolve the issue.

Clearing Discord’s cache will delete temporary data stored by the application, which can become corrupt and interfere with its functionality. Clearing the cache is usually one of the first steps you take when trying to solve any type of application issue. While other solutions exist, clearing the cache is often the easiest fix to try, and fixes the problem for the vast majority of people.

To clear Discord’s cache:

Launch the Discord application from Launchpad or by using Spotlight.

Right-click on the Discord icon in the dock and choose “Quit.”

Locate the Discrod cache directory, which is at ~/Library/Caches/com.hipchat.Discord.

Hold down both the Option and Command keys (the top-left key on your keyboard) and then click on the Go menu.

Click “Go to Folder…” and enter the following path:

~/Library/Caches/com.hipchat.Discord

Delete everything in the folder.

Close the finder window.

You’ve successfully deleted all of Discord’s cached data.

After clearing out the cache, quit and relaunch the Discord application. Hopefully, the “starting up” message won’t appear again.

However, if it does appear again, another possible culprit is hardware acceleration. If so, you’ll want to try that fix before moving on to more drastic measures like reinstalling the entire application.

Hardware Acceleration

According to several user reports, roughly 32% of all stuck-on-starting reports were due to enabling hardware acceleration in the Preferences panel. In those cases, simply disabling it fixed the problem.

To disable hardware acceleration in Discord:

Launch the Discord application.

Choose “Preferences” from the main menu.

Select the “Advanced” tab.

Uncheck the box labeled “Use hardware acceleration.” Then, restart Discord.

If you enable hardware acceleration and the issue reappears, you’ll need to update your outdated graphics card driver software. The same applies to your operating system; it should always be updated with the latest patch or release.

It’s important to note that merely disabling hardware acceleration isn’t sufficient — if your hardware acceleration settings are outdated, you’ll still run into problems. Updating your graphics drivers and macOS version will address the underlying problem.

Another workaround reported by Reddit users was running Discord once as an administrator and then quitting and restarting without admin mode, which worked after that.

Check the Date/Time Settings

Some users report being stuck on the connecting screen rather than the loading screen, which seems to indicate that something else is wrong. This screen appears to load the Discord server and establish a connection. If the server doesn’t respond to a request, you’ll eventually get this message. One user reported seeing the following error message: “Connection failed. Please check that you are connected to the internet, and try again.”

When that happens, check that your date and time are set to automatic, and scan your Mac for malware and adware.

Support guidance recommends that you scan for threats, which includes adware and potentially unwanted applications. They also recommend checking the integrity of the Discord app itself.

Finally, the most complete solution available for users who have exhausted all options involves completely uninstalling and reinstalling the Discord application, which can typically be done via the App Store.