Firefox, Flash, and video hangs

[yerubal]

There seems to be such a frustrating variety of versions of this problem
on the web, that I'll avoid being too specific.
I've experienced a number of hangs (and even spontaneous reboots)
on my Windows XPH PC, and it seems to happen on video clips
(youtube and some others), especially if I pause certain videos
and then try to restart.
Among other things, I've updated my video drivers, I've tried
doing without hardware acceleration, and I've very aggressively
uninstalled (and cleaned afterwards) my flash programs and
then installed the latest. None of those worked. But, then I noticed
a) Even in Firefox safemode without any of the addons, I have the problem.
b) But I do not have it in Google Chrome.
c) The trick of appending &fmt=18 to the URL of the video seems to help.
d) similar problems abound and are reported, including at the Mozilla forums,
with varied solutions, a few of them hardware ones. And, some people found
that the problem did not occur in some earlier versions of Firefox.
I'm only intending this post to alert folks, and offer some options.
It looks to me as though a combination of FF and Flash is involved for many,
including for my case. I'm clearly out of my depth.
Even the &fmt=18 trick is puzzling, because all I know about it is that it signals
a higher resolution setting (under what circumstances?),
and that doesn't explain directly why it should be helpful.

[Roderunner]

yerubal, what plug ins have you in FF, this is mine.

[attachment=89782:ff.JPG]

[yerubal]

Note that
a) I've disabled the first plugin (this morning), and
b) I couldn't reproduce the crashes this morning. I have no idea why, but I assume it's intermittent, and might have to do with availability of the servers, how much of the flash file has been downloaded, whatever. Maybe something was searching for an update. Or even some intermittent connection outages. I suspect a combination of factors.
c) Note: the question about what plugins there are is particularly relevant as "Safe Mode, with no addons", actually means none of the extensions are there, but the "plugins" are still there.
[attachment=89785lugins.jpg]

[geoffgg]

I have the same problem and every time I close Firefox with Application Manager, I get an error message that says the Plug-in Cabinet stopped working.

Does that give anybody a clue to the problem?

Cheers, Geoff

[Roderunner]

yerubal, I don't see Adobe Flash Player plug-in.

[PaulB]

yerubal, I don't see Adobe Flash Player plug-in.

[attachment=89810:Capture.PNG]

This is the up-to-date version.

[Roderunner]

PaulB, just noticed its not on my list also

[anniewr]

[attachment=89810:Capture.PNG]

This is the up-to-date version.

Having a similar problem with Flash crashing today, but I have the up to date version. The Flash plug in is shown in my "add/remove programs", but as you show above, I don't have it listed in the FF plug ins. What does that mean?

[jscher2000]

Having a similar problem with Flash crashing today, but I have the up to date version. The Flash plug in is shown in my "add/remove programs", but as you show above, I don't have it listed in the FF plug ins. What does that mean?

It should appear as "Shockwave Flash." If that is not listed, is it possible you have only the IE (ActiveX) version?

[anniewr]

It should appear as "Shockwave Flash." If that is not listed, is it possible you have only the IE (ActiveX) version?

You're right, it's there as "Shockwave Flash". The whole Adobe thing has my head spinning and must have confused me, easy to do! I'm going in circles with an update. Adobe's info says we need 10.1.85.3 version, but will only download what I already have. I'd better quit for today before I throw something at the computer.

PS I just re-read the other thread on Flash updates and found a solution! Success at last using a link given there. See the thread on FF and Flash updates.