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Flash plugin crashing constantly

Napalmhardcore
Napalmhardcore
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For the last few days (I'm not exactly sure since when) Flash Player has been crashing immediately when a page with a Flash video loads up and reloading the page does not fix it. I've tried visiting the same pages using Microsoft Edge and the videos seemed to play fine, so I assume this is an issue with Firefox. I'm on a Windows 10 64 bit machine.

I've updated my graphics card drivers, updated Flash Player and disabled a video download app/extension that I thought could possibly be causing problems but none of these steps worked. The next step I'd normally take is to disable hardware acceleration in the Flash Player settings, however I can't access them. When the Flash Player crashes it comes up with a sad face graphic and asks me if I'd like to send a crash report. Right clicking does not bring up the option to enter the Flash Player settings menu. I don't know whether this problem (being unable to access the settings) is caused by Flash or Firefox.

For now I've disabled hardware acceleration in Firefox. Videos now play but when I scroll down a page I get a lot of screen tearing. I've not had enough time yet to see if this has caused any other ill effects.

I'm guessing that I shouldn't need to disable hardware acceleration if the browser is working properly (and everything else is up to date), so I hope that this issue is fixed soon.

For the last few days (I'm not exactly sure since when) Flash Player has been crashing immediately when a page with a Flash video loads up and reloading the page does not fix it. I've tried visiting the same pages using Microsoft Edge and the videos seemed to play fine, so I assume this is an issue with Firefox. I'm on a Windows 10 64 bit machine. I've updated my graphics card drivers, updated Flash Player and disabled a video download app/extension that I thought could possibly be causing problems but none of these steps worked. The next step I'd normally take is to disable hardware acceleration in the Flash Player settings, however I can't access them. When the Flash Player crashes it comes up with a sad face graphic and asks me if I'd like to send a crash report. Right clicking does not bring up the option to enter the Flash Player settings menu. I don't know whether this problem (being unable to access the settings) is caused by Flash or Firefox. For now I've disabled hardware acceleration in Firefox. Videos now play but when I scroll down a page I get a lot of screen tearing. I've not had enough time yet to see if this has caused any other ill effects. I'm guessing that I shouldn't need to disable hardware acceleration if the browser is working properly (and everything else is up to date), so I hope that this issue is fixed soon.

All Replies (2)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Hello,

Some problems with Flash video playback can be resolved by disabling hardware acceleration in your Flash Player settings. (See this article for more information on using the Flash plugin in Firefox).

To disable hardware acceleration in Flash Player:

  1. Go to this Adobe Flash Player Help page.
  2. Right-click on the Flash Player logo on that page.
  3. Click on Settings in the context menu. The Adobe Flash Player Settings screen will open.
  4. Click on the icon at the bottom-left of the Adobe Flash Player Settings window to open the Display panel.

    The image "fpSettings1.PNG" does not exist.
  5. Remove the check mark from Enable hardware acceleration.
  6. Click Close to close the Adobe Flash Player Settings Window.
  7. Restart Firefox.

This Flash Player Help - Display Settings page has more information on Flash Player hardware acceleration, if you're interested.

Does this solve the problem? Let us know.

Napalmhardcore
Napalmhardcore Question owner
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FredMcD said

Hello, Some problems with Flash video playback can be resolved by disabling hardware acceleration in your Flash Player settings. (See this article for more information on using the Flash plugin in Firefox). To disable hardware acceleration in Flash Player:
  1. Go to this Adobe Flash Player Help page.
  2. Right-click on the Flash Player logo on that page.
  3. Click on Settings in the context menu. The Adobe Flash Player Settings screen will open.
  4. Click on the icon at the bottom-left of the Adobe Flash Player Settings window to open the Display panel.

    The image "fpSettings1.PNG" does not exist.
  5. Remove the check mark from Enable hardware acceleration.
  6. Click Close to close the Adobe Flash Player Settings Window.
  7. Restart Firefox.
This Flash Player Help - Display Settings page has more information on Flash Player hardware acceleration, if you're interested. Does this solve the problem? Let us know.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Before disabling Firefox's hardware acceleration I wasn't able to access Flash Player settings at all. Now that I am able to, it appears that I already had Flash Player's hardware acceleration option disabled.

Enabling hardware acceleration in Flash Player while Firefox's hardware acceleration is off causes videos to crash as soon as I begin playback. With Firefox's hardware acceleration enabled, Flash Player crashes as soon as the page is loaded (before trying to play the video) and doesn't allow me to enter Flash Player's settings (as I get the sad face crash report window).

So in summary, the only way I am able to view Flash Player videos is without hardware acceleration in both Flash Player and Firefox. Before a few days ago, I was able to view Flash Player content with Firefox hardware acceleration enabled and Flash Player hardware acceleration disabled (I assume I disabled Flash Player hardware acceleration a while back due to some issue I can't remember now).

I assume hardware acceleration is a good thing and should work under ideal circumstances, otherwise why would it be enabled by default? Is there some other issue that may be causing hardware acceleration (in both Firefox and Flash Player) to cause the plugin to crash?