Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was closed and archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Shockwave Flash is CONSTANTLY not responding and crashing

  • 56 replies
  • 646 have this problem
  • 29 views
  • Last reply by NoahSUMO

more options

Hello there,

I've had this problem for a long time, and I've done most everything suggested in other forums regarding this matter. I've disabled "disabled protected mode, disabled hardware acceleration, made sure everything is updated, and nothing works. Unfortunately, this makes Firefox so unusable that I've had to switch to another browser for the time being, but it's having it's own issues. Very frustrating! I like Firefox and would like to have it working, but this "shockwave flash plugin" problem has been a persistent problem for the last year.

I've seen many other users who have not been able to fix the problem via the above suggestions, so--what's the verdict? Is there something else I can try?

Cheers

Hello there, I've had this problem for a long time, and I've done most everything suggested in other forums regarding this matter. I've disabled "disabled protected mode, disabled hardware acceleration, made sure everything is updated, and nothing works. Unfortunately, this makes Firefox so unusable that I've had to switch to another browser for the time being, but it's having it's own issues. Very frustrating! I like Firefox and would like to have it working, but this "shockwave flash plugin" problem has been a persistent problem for the last year. I've seen many other users who have not been able to fix the problem via the above suggestions, so--what's the verdict? Is there something else I can try? Cheers

Chosen solution

I fixed it. I found a Flash bypass alternative extension in Firefox Add-ons, called "Video WithOut Flash" https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-without-flash/ installed it, and disabled Flash. No more problems. I know, sounds to good to be true, but there it is.

Now, if only there was a more solid alternative for Flash, or heaven forbid, Adobe get's there sh*t together.

Cheers--I hope this fix helps a few people!

Read this answer in context 👍 33

All Replies (20)

more options

Sorry to hear about the crashing. When Firefox or Flash crashes, it usually records information about what was happening at that moment. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Sometimes this provides helpful information, although often Flash crashes don't have enough detail.

Please check the support article "Firefox Crashes" (especially the last section) for steps to get those crash erport IDs, and then post some of the recent ones here.

Meanwhile, do you notice any pattern to the type of Flash content that causes problems, i.e., games, videos, Flash-based sites?

more options

Hi there,

Yes, I've tried all the fixes in "Firefox crashes--troubleshoot, prevent and get help fixing crashes." Been there, done all of that! (Disabling "protected mode," and disabling hardware acceleration. Firefox is up to date, and the Shockwave flash plugin is also up to date.

Firefox crashes consistently on Youtube, and pretty much any Flash based website won't open and I'll get the error message.

I've tried the suggested fixes, and while it seemed better for an hour--it quickly went back to crashing regularly.

In the meantime, I'll get on looking into the crash reports and get back to the forum with the reports.

Cheers

more options

So...no one is going to come along and help me with this? Hello? This is a very annoying problem and I'm going to have to ditch Firefox if I can't fix it. I've poured over all the suggestions for trying to fix the problem, and none of them have worked. I'd greatly appreciate some help here!

Cheers!

more options

Hi gforcewarp9, you were going to get us some crash report IDs to see whether that points to a specific problem. I think you already have found all the general advice.

more options

Since it is Shockwave Flash/Adobe that is crashing and not Firefox, how do I get these reports?

Thanks!

more options

O.K, never mind. Found the crash reports, just figuring out how to get them here.

Cheers

more options

Here is a handful of the latest crash reports. They happen nearly every time I open a new tab in Firefox.

bp-4ebd7f70-bac5-4039-bfa2-ff9302141021 2014-10-21 9:51 AM 8540ec0e-6425-4af4-8d5f-079f199ea1e4 2014-10-21 9:46 AM fb20c201-91a8-4c4b-be12-494ff80b52ee 2014-10-21 9:43 AM 4c0779a9-8415-4613-a3de-b35798070c59 2014-10-21 9:42 AM 1e7854fc-86a4-49a6-9aaf-3d27f17d2fa8 2014-10-21 9:33 AM

Let me know if anything else is needed,

Cheers

more options

Hi gforcewarp9, as you can see, the first one of those is easily clickable to access the report, but the others may require an extra step on your part: can you click them on the about:crashes screen and then copy/paste the URLs of those report pages into a reply? If they are all basically the identical report (startup crash with the "hang | ntdll.dll@0x3aaac" signature) then I'm not sure it would provide much more information to post those links.

The crash report seems to show Hola Unblocker running. Last year, a user discovered that extension can cause problems with Flash. Have you tried disabling it? One way would be to test the same pages in Firefox's Safe Mode. That's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions and some advanced features of Firefox. More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

Not all add-ons are disabled: Flash and other plugins still run

After Firefox shuts down, a small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset).

Any difference?

more options

Hello,

Yes, running Firefox in Safe-Mode certainly seems to make a difference so far. I've opened a handful of videos successfully on Youtube and gone to other sites where it's a problem (and that is seemingly most sites!) and I'm not getting the error.

I'm assuming my next step is to enable each plugin one at a time?

more options

Hm, don't see my other response! I meant to tell you that I just added Hola Unblocker last week, and that this has been a problem that has been occurring on and off for a year! So I doubt it's that extension.

Cheers

more options

Hi gforcewarp9, I'll need to distinguish between plugins and extension. Safe Mode only disables extensions, which have their own section on the Add-ons page. Plugins are allowed to run.

Safe Mode also disables Firefox from using hardware acceleration, which can cause problems with Firefox is not fully compatible with your graphics card/chipset driver software. I think you said you already switched it off before, so that may not be relevant.

more options

O.K,

Also, I just closed "safe-mode" and went back to normal Firefox, tried Youtube videos and all the same sites again, and I all the videos played and I got no error messages upon opening any webpages. This is what happened after I disabled hardware acceleration and disabled "protected mode." Everything worked for a bit, and then went back to hanging and crashing.

more options

Is it possible that I didn't disable protected mode properly? I tried following all the steps carefully, and like I said, it seemed to work for a while, but then the hanging and error messages came back.

more options

Yep, worked for 10 minutes, and started crashing again. I'm going back to Safe Mode for 10-15 minutes to see if it happens there at all.

more options

For protected mode, you basically need the mms.cfg file in this folder

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

to contain this line

ProtectedMode=0

Mine has these 3 lines; I think the first two get updated every time the Flash updater runs and I tell it I prefer to be notified of updates rather than having them installed automatically:

AutoUpdateDisable=0
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0
ProtectedMode=0

Since that is a protected system folder, you need to make a special effort to edit the file, as you may recall. It's easier to describe how to start Notepad as Administrator in Windows 7 than Windows 8.1, but if you create a shortcut for Notepad on your desktop, right-clicking it should have that option. Then you can use File>Open from inside Notepad to edit the file.

more options

Hi there--

I am pretty sure that I disabled protected mode correctly as per your description. I think I've actually discovered the extension that is likely causing the problem, and very unfortunately, it seems to be Adblocker Plus :(

There were no problems in Safe Mode again, and I had an intuition that it might be Ad blocker. I went back to normal Firefox, disabled Adblocker, and sure enough, I've had no problems for at least 10 minutes. I'm going to keep it this way for a while longer to see if the problem reappears. However, if does not, what to do then? I HATE ADS!

Thanks!

more options

Well, that was fast. It worked again for 10 minutes or so, and now I'm getting error reports again. Not Adblocker. Hmmmm. I'll try disabling Hola, but as I said, it was added last week, and I've had this problem for a long time.

So, here is the pattern: I upon reopening Firefox, things work quite well for about 10 minutes max, and then the error reports start reappearing.

Everything I try seems to work at first, but then as I said, the error messages come back.

Cheers

more options

O.K--

I've run in safe mode, no problems for 10 minutes. I went back to normal mode, and disabled Adblocker and Hola one at a time. The problem kept coming back. In fact the Shockwave plugin is crashing more than hanging now.

Now what?

I'll go back and double check that I disabled protected mode correctly. But if I have, then what?

Cheers

more options

Closing Firefox, hmm, do you have Firefox set to delete any history when you close it, or does external utility/privacy software clear anything between Firefox sessions?

more options

No, I have selected it to remember history and cookies.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3