Flash stops working after a certain period of time (non-standard issue)
Ok, here i am with this problem again, the first time it really made me reinstall the entire OS (yes, it's THAT BAD), and now it's back again. Not that i really wanna waste time looking for that which is impossible to find, yet i really don't wanna reinstall the entire thing again. Here goes:
1) It happens in Firefox ONLY. Other browsers don't seem to be affected by whatever issue this is. 2) It happens in any Firefox version, old/new - no difference. It can go all the way back to 9 even, i've tried quite a handfull of those. 3) Yes, i did reinstall Firefox many times (with preliminary complete deinstallation using Revo Uninstaller) 4) Yes, i did reinstall Flash countless times, and no, it doesn't matter which version of flash it is, just as in case with the browser. All the same. 5) Yes, i did check the PC for any possible malware using several different anti-malware apps. Nothing. Clean. 6) I checked the event viewer, no messages there.. just nothing.
What happens is, that it simply stops playing ANY flash after some time. Animation, video... whatever. So it's not youtube specific thing. When on youtube i just get black frame and an annoying blinking/pending tab on the taskbar. That's it, stuck in a cycle. If i restart the browser it's all back to normal again. But a little while later (i dunno when exactly, about 15 minutes later perhaps) it goes into glitch again. Ever since my last reinstallation (which is due to this prob) it's been quite a while without any issues. But now it's back again, so instead of reinstalling everything i simply wanna know: what THE HECK is this crap? It really pisses me off now. And no, i don't wanna use another browser, i need Mozilla.
Chosen solution
Glad you seem to have fixed the problem.
I will mark Computer Whiz's answer as the thread solution, as that has the protected mode link.
The FlashPlayer's protected mode seems to be involved in more than one problem.
I know that the Firefox Aurora channel has a new and experimental reporter that deals with Flash Hangs and crashes. At present we tend not to be able to get to the bottom of many of these issues.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (11)
May you please provide troubleshooting information?
Please do the following:
- Click the Firefox button at the top left, then click the Help menu and select Troubleshooting Information from the submenu. If you don't have a Firefox button, click the Help menu at the top and select Troubleshooting Information from the menu.
Now, a new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
- At the top of the page, you should see a button that says "Copy text to clipboard". Click it.
- Now, go back to your forum post and click inside the reply box. Press Ctrl+V to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.
If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues.
Application Basics
Name
Firefox
Version
23.0.1
User Agent
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:23.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/23.0
Build Configuration
about:buildconfig
Extensions
Name
Version
Enabled
ID
Adblock Plus
2.3.2
true
{d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}
Easy YouTube Video Downloader
7.0
true
{c0c9a2c7-2e5c-4447-bc53-97718bc91e1b}
Visual Bookmarks
1.9
true
vb@yandex.ru
HTML5 location provider
3.6.2
false
{B100D0FF-0001-8CE4-2790-AACE49B8AE35}
Important Modified Preferences
Name
Value
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar
0
browser.cache.disk.capacity
358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run
false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max
false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value
337920
browser.newtab.url
yafd:tabs
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion
4
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID
20130814063812
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone
23.0.1
browser.tabs.onTop
false
dom.mozApps.used
true
dom.w3c_touch_events.expose
false
extensions.lastAppVersion
23.0.1
font.internaluseonly.changed
true
gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx
0
gfx.direct3d.prefer_10_1
true
network.cookie.prefsMigrated
true
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server
4
places.database.lastMaintenance
1379514679
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages
41499
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types
application/pdf
plugin.importedState
true
plugin.state.flash
2
plugins.load_appdir_plugins
true
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled
true
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs
true
privacy.sanitize.timeSpan
3
storage.vacuum.last.index
1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite
1378092833
user.js Preferences
Your profile folder contains a
user.js file, which includes preferences that were not created by Firefox.
Graphics
Adapter Description
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240
Adapter Drivers
nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Adapter RAM
512
ClearType Parameters
Gamma: 2100 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50
Device ID
0x0ca3
Direct2D Enabled
true
DirectWrite Enabled
true (6.2.9200.16571)
Driver Date
1-18-2013
Driver Version
9.18.13.1106
GPU #2 Active
false
GPU Accelerated Windows
1/1 Direct3D 10
Vendor ID
0x10de
WebGL Renderer
Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GT 240)
AzureCanvasBackend
direct2d
AzureContentBackend
direct2d
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend
cairo
JavaScript
Incremental GC
true
Accessibility
Activated
false
Prevent Accessibility
0
Library Versions
Expected minimum version
Version in use
NSPR
4.10
4.10
NSS
3.15 Basic ECC
3.15 Basic ECC
NSSSMIME
3.15 Basic ECC
3.15 Basic ECC
NSSSSL
3.15 Basic ECC
3.15 Basic ECC
NSSUTIL
3.15
3.15
Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.
- Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
You can check for problems with current Flash plugin versions and try these:
- disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Flash 11.3+ on Windows Vista and later)
- disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
That's what i thought of doing myself. BUT.. there remains only one question: why didn't it happen earlier?? Why did it take so long to occur? As first time, so as second after reinstallation of the OS. By the way.. Win 7 here. Just saying.. this thing doesn't happen immediately. It comes with time. I dunno, seems like either something gets overloaded with stuff somewhere, or each time i accidentally run into an obscure installation of some conflicting apps.. i have no other assumption. But anyway.. i'll try your recommendation. Thanks for now, but stay tuned for more, cause probably it ain't the case.
Recent crashes of certain multimedia contents (this includes Youtube videos, certain flash games and other applications) in conjunction with Firefox are most probably caused by a recent Flash update and/or a malfunctioning browser plugin such as Real Player.
In order to remedy the problem, please perform the steps mentioned in these Knowledge Base articles:
Other, more technical information about these issues can be found under these Links:
Please tell us if this helped!
Ok, thank you. For now i simply reset firefox settings and such. Just in case. It's still ok, but i bet it will be back pretty much soon. So i'll let you know if i performed all the things from above.
Alright, i did as you told. Disabled hardware acceleration, disabled protected mode, created mms.cfg file and put it in windows/system32/macromed/flash:
ProtectedMode = 0 AutoUpdateDisable=0 SilentAutoUpdateEnable=1
The problem still persists. After a little while as earlier flash goes into glitch. It clearly does not depend on flash seetings. It's related to how firefox works and processes memory as it seems. Maybe it's not even mozilla issue, but how come it occurs in Firefox ONLY?.. That's the question... awaiting your reply. Meanwhile i'm gonna try using firefox in protected mode and see what happens...
If you haven't already, try installing Firefox using the method below:
Please follow these steps:
Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
Please report back soon.
Wait.. i think i just fixed it. The problem was.. i edited the wrong mms.cfg... i just found SysWOW64 folder, edited mms.cfg the same way and boom... things went straight to normal even without restarting Firefox.... i think this really did the trick. However.. the question still remains: why doesn't it happen immediately after complete reinstallation... it would take months for it to turn up. Oh well.. who cares. Thanks for everything.
Chosen Solution
Glad you seem to have fixed the problem.
I will mark Computer Whiz's answer as the thread solution, as that has the protected mode link.
The FlashPlayer's protected mode seems to be involved in more than one problem.
I know that the Firefox Aurora channel has a new and experimental reporter that deals with Flash Hangs and crashes. At present we tend not to be able to get to the bottom of many of these issues.
Yes, i can now confirm that disabling protected mode in flash has definitely solved the issue. Ever since i did it there have been no problems whatsoever playing flash elements. Thanks a lot again, and.... SOLVED.