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Videos won't play even in safe mode. Why?

  • 6 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 52 views
  • Last reply by lazenbyn

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In the past, I have been able to view all videos on Firefox. Slowly, some have stopped working. Now all videos have stopped working. I have updated Firefox and opened it in safe mode. Videos still won't play - they just endlessly buffer. Any suggestions?

In the past, I have been able to view all videos on Firefox. Slowly, some have stopped working. Now all videos have stopped working. I have updated Firefox and opened it in safe mode. Videos still won't play - they just endlessly buffer. Any suggestions?

Chosen solution

Hello,

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  3. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  4. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

In Firefox 55 and above:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the General panel.
  3. Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
    Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  5. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

Thank you.

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All Replies (6)

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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.

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Chosen Solution

Hello,

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  3. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  4. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

In Firefox 55 and above:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the General panel.
  3. Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
    Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  5. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

Thank you.

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It did solve some of the problem. Thank you. I can now watch videos on Youtube, abcnews.go.com, lesmills.com, etc. Now I'm getting an error message on Yahoo. It says that I need to update my flash player. I did. Still getting the same error message.

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If you use extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) that can block (wanted) content (e.g. Adblock Plus, NoScript, Ghostery, uBlock Origin) always make sure such extensions do not block (wanted) content.

You can check the Web Console for messages.

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lazenbyn said

Now I'm getting an error message on Yahoo. It says that I need to update my flash player

. Whenever you get a message / popup that software / files need to be updated;

DO NOT USE ANY OF THE PROVIDED LINKS

While this may be a legitimate message, it could also be Malware or a Virus. Anytime you want or need to check for upgrades, go to the website of the True Owner of the program in question. For example, to check out Firefox, go to https://www.mozilla.org {web link}

You can report such a site at; Google Report Phishing Page {web link} which is the same when done while on site by going to Help > Report Web Forgery

Help us safeguard Mozilla’s trademarks by reporting misuse {web link}

For almost a year, an epidemic of Fake Update Notices have been popping up all over the place. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-response-i-found-fake-firefox-update

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I updated Flash and everything is now working. Thank you so much for the help. Also, I appreciate the warning about the potential for malware. The link looked very strange, so I didn't click it.