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digiday
Inspiring
April 2, 2012
Answered

Why does the newest Flash player for Windows crash so much?

  • April 2, 2012
  • 5 replies
  • 16633 views

Why does the newest Flash player for Windows crash so much?

I'm using the newest Flash player update that has come up on this computer.  It is Flash player version 11.1.102.62 on a Windows 7 machine.  I've experienced excessive Flash player crashes in Firefox and Internet Explorer.  It seems since the last two Flash player updates that have come from Adobe there is a big problem with Flash player crashes.

Previously, there was no problem... then there was the update before last and the problems started.  I was hoping the latest update would have that problem fixed, but now it is only worse.

Is it possible to go back three updates and install on older Flash player?

Will Adobe ever get this issue fixed?

Thanks,

digi

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer libflashplayer_so

    being able to reproduce crashers consistently helps to narrow down specific problems.  the random crashers are difficult to track and otherwise fix.

    the latest Flash Player version, 11,2,202,228, was release last week.  that would make 11,1,102,62 two version behind.  would you mind to upgrade to the latest player?  there are some crash fixes in our latest offering.  you can go here to update: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

    it is possible to downgrade, but that is not advisable as the older release will not always be up to date with secuirity patches.  if you option for this, you can grab older builds here: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html#main_Archived_versions

    Note: make sure to completely uninstall the existing version.

    thanks...

    5 replies

    S
    SteveInMalta
    Participant
    December 3, 2012

    I have had constant problems with Flash Player for the past couple of years using IE and Firefox - so today I downloaded Google Chrome (I had refused to use it before today because it was always being 'forced' on me when I downloaded other things)

    I have just had one hour free of Flash Player crashes so it if continues like this then I will be a convert of Google Chrome!

    :-)

    D
    digidayAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 4, 2012

    SteveInMalta,

    Google Chrome, while being inferior in terms of how it is designed, inferior in how its bookmark manager appears as a separate tab instead of an easy to use bookmarks bar on the left side of the browser like in Firefox, and many of its convoluted, non-intuitive, hard to find features, it IS in fact superior in how it handles Flash content and Flash videos.

    I was having so many crash problems with my beloved Firefox browser, even with one of the slightly older Flash Player plugins that worked the best, so I finally gave up on Firefox for playing Flash videos and I tried Google Chrome.  As much as I hate to admit it, I've NEVER had one single Flash player crash with Google Chrome, whereas I was having them all the time with Adobe's lousy Flash Player plugins in Firefox.

    I guess since Google Chrome has some sort of built-in Flash Player, it doesn't have the problems that Firefox has with the problematic Flash plugins and their continually botched updates that Adobe is always forcing on users unless the user has the wherewithal to turn off the stupid Flash updating control on their machine.

    I posted to the Google Chrome forum asking why their bookmark system is so convoluted and poorly designed, and I asked if there was a Google Chrome plugin that allowed it to have a normal bookmark bar on the left side of the browser where you can drag and drop bookmarks easily to, like Firefox, but there isn't.

    So when you have the Google Chrome bookmarks "tab" open, you can't see your bookmarks at the same time that you're looking at any other web page tab... so you can't drag and drop bookmarks in to your bookmarks bar.  And you can't see the bookmarks underneath the bookmarks folder that you are viewing... you only see the bookmarks within a bookmarks folder in a second column to the right of where all of your bookmark folders are, so it makes it very difficult to find any given bookmark that you've saved in to a bookmark folder... it's just more poor design by Google.

    And there is no normal menu bar at the top of the Google Chrome browser, like any other application in the world.  Actually, I think Google may be taking lessons on how to create poorly designed, non-intuitive applications from Microsoft.

    But the Flash content plays without a hitch and it never crashes no matter how many videos you have loaded in multiple tabs... that is, the number of videos that you have loaded in Google Chrome is only limited by the amount of RAM you have in your machine, and if you have a little desktop CPU/RAM monitor widget, you can always see if you are approaching your maximum RAM usage.

    My Google Chrome NEVER crashes with multiple Flash videos loaded, and Firefox with the Adobe Flash plugin was always crashing.  Google Chrome does pause and the little wheel spins for a couple seconds once in a while, but it always recovers and it never crashes.  So for Flash video anyway, Google Chrome seems to be the way to go.

    S
    SteveInMalta
    Participant
    December 4, 2012

    Hi there, excuse me but I am no techie!  :-)

    When you say that your Google Chrome doesn't handle bookmarks very easily what do you mean?  I have added all the bookmarks that I had on Firefox and now have a Bookmarks bar showing the favourites.

    It wasn't apparent how to do this but a simple google search gave me the answer - if I remember correctly I had to add an 'app' or plugin that someone had written and then my bookmarks were visible - and it actually says 'Imported from Firefox' as the label.

    So I can now open a new tab and select the bookmark that I want.

    Are you saying that you cannot add bookmarks to the list because there is a white star which lets you bookmark any wen page.

    Please forgive my lack of technical knowledge but I was not understanding what your problem with bookmarks was exactly.

    Regarding flash player - I watch a lot of UK TV online via BBC iPlayer (a wonderful tool) and all the other players for Channel 4 / 5 etc.  And the Flashplayer crashes were getting really annoying especially with ITV Player as every time you start a session again you get six new ads to watch before your program starts - I was watching the same adds maybe six times in a twenty-five minute program!

    So Google Chrome is wonderful even though it may not be as great as Firefox - :-)

    pwillener
    pwillener
    Legend
    April 3, 2012

    Please refer to this topic http://forums.adobe.com/thread/945765 and check if there are any newer drivers available for your display adapter.

    pwillener
    pwillener
    Legend
    April 3, 2012

    Received the following PM from digiday:

    Hi Pat,

    Thanks for your reply.

    I can't reply on my thread... there is no reply button that appears.  I'm not sure if I'm locked out or something... sometimes things don't seem to work correctly on the Adobe forum.

    My display driver info is...

    NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

    version 8.17.12.7533

    05/20/2011

    I sent a private message to "libflashplayer.so" too, but I never received a reply from him.  I asked him why I wouldn't have received a desktop notice of the previous two Flash player updates since I always have received them in the past... I haven't changed any system update notification settings.

    I just updated the Flash player about three weeks ago... and "libflashplayer.so" is telling me there has been two updates since then, but I didn't receive any updater download notice... is there a Flash player update every week now, but Adobe doesn't send desktop update notices any more?

    Thanks,

    digi

    Can you please post in this topic that you are also having difficulies to reply in your own topic: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/984429

    If you also cannot reply in that topic, please start a new topic in that forum http://forums.adobe.com/community/general/forum_comments

    pwillener
    pwillener
    Legend
    April 3, 2012

    Also, what is your display adapter, driver version & date?

    pwillener
    pwillener
    Legend
    April 3, 2012

    From digiday:

    Pat,

    I posted on the thread about not being able to post on a thread.   :^(

    The problem isn't with my display driver... everything else with it works fine.  I updated my display driver months ago and the problem with the Flash player crashing only started a few weeks ago with the version before 11.1.102.62.  I don't update my display driver or audio driver every time they come up with a new one because that can cause problems... ie - Windows driver updates that used to come through and install themselves automatically in Vista would cause major problems and one time it completely destroyed my audio and it was never recoverable... after weeks of troubleshooting that back in 2010 I had to finally just upgrade to Windows 7 and wipe my hard drive clean... therefore, driver updates only happen with me if the driver gets corrupted and doesn't work at all.

    The problem isn't with the display driver... it is with the Flash player.

    Thanks,

    digi

    I understand if you are reluctant to update your device drivers, although a System Restore Point will make 100% certain that you can revert if something goes wrong.

    Sometimes new Flash Player versions require new device driver features (or fixed device driver features) in order to function correctly.

    If you are reluctant to update your drivers, disable Hardware Acceleration, and Flash Player may work better (see http://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337).

    D
    digidayAuthor
    Inspiring
    April 4, 2012

    Well, now I'm able to reply... guess they got it fixed.

    Pat,

    My display driver info that I sent you last night on PM was,

    NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

    version 8.17.12.7533

    05/20/2011

    And the Flash player that I have now is version 11.1.102.62, dated 02/15/2012, but I haven't received any notices for any newer Flash player updates since then, and according to the Flash player download page, there are four newer versions... so what happened to the notices for those updates from Adobe?  Is Adobe doing silent releases of the Flash player updates?

    And the last version Flash player that I had that worked well and didn't crash was version 11.1.102.62, dated 11/10/2011.

    My current display driver is dated 05/20/2011... it was only replaced because the previous original stock display driver that came with Windows 7 got corrupted in a tragic video app previewing accident... that original display driver dated back at least to mid 2010 and I never had any crash conficts between it and the then current Flash updates, in spite of not updating that display driver until July of 2011.

    The question is, if my Flash player is suddenly causing conflicts with a slightly dated display driver, why did Flash updates previously never cause Flash player crashes even though I was updating the Flash player with every update but not replacing my display driver with every update?  Why is it suddenly a conflict only with the last the last few Flash player updates?

    By the looks of all the results that come up when I do a search on this forum for "Flash crash", it seems there are many other people who are having problems with their Flash player crashing.

    I can see there is a difference and a problem with current Flash players crashing more than usual, so to attribute that to a display driver that is one or two updates old doesn't seem to really answer this problem.

    Thanks,

    digi


    libflashplayer_so
    libflashplayer_soCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    April 2, 2012

    being able to reproduce crashers consistently helps to narrow down specific problems.  the random crashers are difficult to track and otherwise fix.

    the latest Flash Player version, 11,2,202,228, was release last week.  that would make 11,1,102,62 two version behind.  would you mind to upgrade to the latest player?  there are some crash fixes in our latest offering.  you can go here to update: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

    it is possible to downgrade, but that is not advisable as the older release will not always be up to date with secuirity patches.  if you option for this, you can grab older builds here: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html#main_Archived_versions

    Note: make sure to completely uninstall the existing version.

    thanks...

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