Patterico's Pontifications

4/19/2008

Tech Bleg

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:15 pm



After I foolishly installed an “update,” Flash videos no longer play in Firefox. I have to grab the URL, open IE, and paste it to watch the video.

It’s been like this for weeks. I have searched the web for solutions and can’t find any that work.

Any ideas?

16 Responses to “Tech Bleg”

  1. Vista, XP, Mac, or what?

    Whatever, I would suggest you delete Firefox completely and then install the latest version. Then go to Adobe and install the latest Flash. I think this is the latest one if you have Windows:
    link.

    Aplomb (61ab33) — 4/19/2008 @ 8:21 pm

  2. I’ve been having this problem for awhile now too. Windows 2000/Firefox 2.0.0.14/Flash 9.0.115.0

    I’ve resorted to using DownloadHelper (a Firefox extension) to download the .flv file and using Moyea FLV Player to play the file after it downloads.

    Hmm…there’s a version 9.0.124.0 available, let me see if that fixes the problem.

    Timothy Watson (734661) — 4/19/2008 @ 8:45 pm

  3. A better page to download from (tells you your version and the newest version available):

    http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/

    Timothy Watson (734661) — 4/19/2008 @ 8:47 pm

  4. I would guess he’s using Windows (but what version?), since he seemed to easily switch between Firefox and Internet Explorer (unless you’re using a really old version of IE for Mac, or running IE under WINE in Linux, but I don’t think so).

    Anyway, there is a recent Mozilla forum thread about sort of the same thing, although it seems as if everyone posting is either using different operating systems, different versions of Firefox or different releases of Flash, so who knows if anything will help!

    Here’s The Link

    Good luck!

    Eric Fleming (a9da5e) — 4/19/2008 @ 8:49 pm

  5. Seems to be fixed (knock on wood) with the update to Flash 9.0.124.0

    Timothy Watson (734661) — 4/19/2008 @ 9:01 pm

  6. Well, one thing you can try is look through “about:config” (use that as an “address”)

    You might also check to ensure Javascript is enabled.

    See also here

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 4/19/2008 @ 10:36 pm

  7. Another thing is to clear the cache in Firefox. Under “Tools”, select “Options”, then select “Advanced” (far right on the top). Under the “Network” tab (second one in) you’ll see a “Clear Now” button and click it.

    Reboot the computer. This worked for me.

    Stashiu3 (460dc1) — 4/19/2008 @ 11:16 pm

  8. If none of the above works, you might have a conflict with one of your add ons. Go to Tools>Add Ons, and disable them all. If that solves your problem, enable them one at a time until the problem returns. Then you’ll know which one is causing it.

    Pablo (99243e) — 4/19/2008 @ 11:51 pm

  9. You possibly got something that may have not installed correctly during an update.

    Just go to the FireFox site and download a total current new install and lay it in right over top your current installation which will not mess with any of your settings or config changes.

    SlimGuy (ea6549) — 4/20/2008 @ 12:53 am

  10. When I run into a flash problem watching videos, (Which is constantly with Fox’s web site), I use this little plugin for Firefox:

    http://unplug.mozdev.org/

    It “unplugs’ The flash and allows it to be opened in a seperate window. None of this cut and paste into “Microsoft Security hole 7.”

    evilned (429c11) — 4/20/2008 @ 2:46 am

  11. I had the same problem with Firefox 3.0 beta5 (WinXP) and fixed it with the advice in comment #7.

    Thanks, Stashiu3, I thought it was the beta version causing the problem. Sometimes the easiest fixes are the answer; it pays to try them first.

    capitano (03e5ec) — 4/20/2008 @ 7:24 am

  12. Look here as well

    http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19166

    Jimzinsocal (52b843) — 4/20/2008 @ 7:25 am

  13. What “update” was it that you installed?

    A good workaround is to keep an old computer around (or in my case, several) for use when the main one goes down. Then you can fix the problem at your leisure. You can synch important files over a home LAN.

    I’m typing this on a Windows 98 machine a friend gave me a couple of years ago. After I added more memory and reinstalled Windows, it works quite well. I can do everything on my blog I need to — and it plays Flash video on Firefox.

    Bradley J Fikes (1c6fc4) — 4/20/2008 @ 10:37 am

  14. The simple way is to use MSIE whenever you have trouble. Firefox seems to have a lot of bugs that they are decidedly not too interested in correcting. The latest being (for me) the way “double click” jams my system.

    Howard Veit (cc8b85) — 4/20/2008 @ 2:48 pm

  15. Have you ever considered the irony of advising someone to “keep an old computer around for use when the main one goes down”? (I am not knocking your advice Bradley, I do exactly the same thing. Mostly, I am drawing attention to the truism that, as my friend reminds us, “Computers suck.”). Do you keep an extra car around so that when your main one dies, you have something to get around in? The sad fact is that computers are so temperamental that we put up with behavior from them that we would never consider putting up with in any other commonly used appliance or device. Someone once said that if cars were as advanced as computers, every car could go 300 miles per hour, get 1000 miles per gallon of gas and would randomly explode every 120 miles or so, killing everyone inside.

    Just remember: “Computers Suck”

    David

    (Who has been programming the beasties for over 20 years, and has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR extra computers lying around for when the main one/two/three ones aren’t working right.)

    David J Harr (b77e07) — 4/20/2008 @ 2:55 pm

  16. Could it have anything to do with this?

    A problem with stability which resulted in crashes and evidence of memory corruption was remedied in Firefox 2.0.0.13, however apparently the fix did not completely close any holes.

    In fact, it seems as if it introduced new stability issues, where crashes occurred during JavaScript garbage collection. That feature allows a developer to reclaim the memory occupied by strings, objects, arrays, and functions that are no longer in use.

    The article concludes that “The latest fix for Firefox 2, version 2.0.0.14, addresses the problem raised by the Mozilla advisory.”

    DRJ (a431ca) — 4/20/2008 @ 5:08 pm


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0814 secs.