Xpand is not a demo version in PTF and should not be stalling. Without knowing much about your system, it’s difficult to tell what may be the problem. Does audio in general work okay in PTF? Xpand is sample based, so how much memory do you have? Are your drives fast enough to support sample playback?
You can read through the
Help Us Help You thread for general setup, optimization and troubleshooting tips.
Also take a look at the
Pro Tools First System Requirements to make sure you meet the minimum requirements.