Chromebook gives message: "A plugin (Shockwave Flash) isn't responding"

Report · Jun 27, 2016

Hello all,

So I get a new HP Chromebook 14, and upon using Chrome for the first time, I quickly get the message: "A plugin (Shockwave Flash) isn't responding."

I have tried the widely recommended steps of going to chrome://pluggins to ensure that Adobe Flash player is enabled. It is. Nothing has changed.

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but according to the Adobe Flash Player site, I have version 18,0,0,233 installed. However, the chart on the very same page says that Adobe recommends having the latest version for ChromeOS, which is version 22.0.0.192. When I try to update it to that version, I am told that Chrome is already pre-installed with the latest version , so there is nothing else to do.

I'd appreciate any pointers. Thanks!

Report · Jun 28, 2016

Type about:chrome in the address bar and press enter. This should open a page telling what version of Chrome OS you have. There should be a button on that screen to check for updates. Click that button and wait for the update to download (this can take a while on a slower Internet connection). After the update has downloaded, there will be a button to restart. After restarting, Chrome and Flash should now be the latest versions (Chrome 51 and Flash 22 currently).

Report · Dec 18, 2016

I am having the same issue with 2 chromebooks that my children are using for their online classes. Adobe connect meeting runs for a while but then the screen freezes and the message "A plugin (Shockwave Flash) isn't responding" appears in a yellow bar below the bookmarks bar. A few seconds later the Chrome "page unresponsive" message appears. Chrome and and Shockwave flash version info are below. Both are the latest version. Note that this problem has persisted for about a year across different versions of chrome and the shockwave flash player. I got a trial license to host adobe connect meetings and I am able to recreate the problem. Help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Chrome OS

Version 55.0.2883.87 (64-bit)

Platform 8872.70.0 (Official Build) stable-channel swanky

Firmware Google_Swanky.5216.238.5

Adobe Flash Player - Version: 23.0.0.207

Shockwave Flash 23.0 r0

Name:

Shockwave Flash

Description:

Shockwave Flash 23.0 r0

Version:

23.0.0.207

Location:

/opt/google/chrome/pepper/libpepflashplayer.so

Type:

PPAPI (out-of-process)

MIME types:

application/x-shockwave-flash

Shockwave Flash

.swf

application/futuresplash

FutureSplash Player

.spl

Report · Dec 18, 2016

Try this: In chrome Settings go to Advanced Settings, then Content Settings under Privacy, then scroll down to Flash. The default setting is "Detect and run important Flash content (recommended)". Leave the default setting as is but click the Manage Exceptions button and then add "adobeconnect.com", or whatever the domain name of the service you are using is, and set to "Allow." We tested this in a an adobe connect meeting with a chromebook as host and another chromebook and an iphone as attendees and could not make it crash in over 1.5 hours of kids horsing around with adobe connect. Before Flash was crashing after just a few minutes. My kids use chromebooks and adobeconnect for online classes so we will have plenty of opportunity/users to see if this solution holds. I'll update this post if we still have problems.

Report · Dec 19, 2016

To investigate, I'm going to need to specific links to content that demonstrates the problem:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1195540

Report · Dec 22, 2016

A chromebook and an adobe connect meeting to sign-in to is all you need to re-create the problem. The problem originates with the chromebook. We don't have this issue on our MAC or iPad. Just looking for advice on how to setup a chromebook to resolve the issue, if there is a way.

As an update to my post from Dec 18, 6:08 pm, above, on Monday both my children had no flash crashes during their adobe connect online classes. However, the problem resumed on Tuesday. I did more digging and found that I need to enter the flash exception as "[*.]adobeconnect.com". Did that, now I just need to wait till online classes resume after the holidays to here from my kids if they are still having problems.

Report · Jan 03, 2017

Interesting. We attempted to reproduce this using Connect and a number of chromebooks (both 32 and 64-bit) running M55 stable with Flash Player 24.0.0.186 and aren't having the problem that you describe.

Can you give me some additional details, like the specific Chromebook model that you're using? Is there perhaps a demo site for the provider for your kid's classes? They may be using a specific Connect plug-in or something that's using a lot of CPU. Just trying to figure out how to reproduce this.

Thanks!

Report · Jan 03, 2017

Hi,

Thanks for your interest in my issue. Both of our Chromebooks are the same model, Toshiba CB35-B3340 Chromebook 2, part # PLM02U-009008.

I don't think the problem is specific to the online class provider since we were able to replicate the problem by simply setting up an Adobe Connect meeting using a free trial of Adobe Connect that Adobe was kind enough to provide for me for the purpose of troubleshooting this problem. When we did this test one chromebook was the presenter and the other was a meeting attendee, the Flash player crashed on both at about the same time, but not before working for more than 5 minutes.

You wrote: ".. running M55 stable with Flash Player 24.0.0.186 and aren't having the problem that you describe." Since Flash is built into Chrome OS, how is it possible that we could be running the same version of Chrome and different versions of Flash? My flash player version info is in my Dec 18 post above.

Online classes resume tomorrow for my kids. We have not had a chance to see if the Flash Exception syntax change I described in my 12/22 post has had any effect. I'll post an update when we have more information. Please let me know if there is anything specific that your suggest we try to solve the problem or collect more information about it.

Thank-you,

Philip Barkes

Report · Jan 04, 2017

We update the major version quarterly, so if you're still on Flash Player 18, it sounds like you're probably on the version of Flash Player that was installed when you got the laptop. Something isn't right there, but we don't control the distribution or installation on ChromeOS. Google is going to be a better source of support on that front.

Since it sounds like you're missing a couple years worth of work, solving that is probably the first order of business.

I'd recommend following the steps to manually update the OS (and please enable automatic updates if they're not enabled already):

Update your Chromebook operating system - Chromebook Help

If updating doesn't work, power cycle the chromebook and see if the version of Flash changes. If not, you probably need to reach out to Google to get more in-depth support on why their updates aren't working. Google builds and distributes Flash Player for ChromeOS, and it's basically a built-in component of Chrome, so the versions of Chrome and Flash Player should be in sync with what you'd see in Chrome on Mac or Windows.

For what it's worth, we've tried both our internal Connect installation and the consumer trial version across an array of machines -- many far less capable of what you're using, and we're not running into the performance problem you describe. We don't have the exact model, but we have a bunch of comparable Intel models, and they're totally fine. It could very well be that you're suffering from a long-fixed bug, so we definitely need to get you on the current version.

Report · Jan 04, 2017

Updating Chrome OS was the first thing I tried, and the second thing. The

flash version in our v55 chrome OS is v23, that is why I was surprised when

you said your chrome v55 has flash v24.

On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 3:16 PM jeromiec83223024 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

Report · Jan 04, 2017

Ah, sorry. I totally misread that. I actually work on the product, and we're working off daily builds. We're generally a few weeks ahead of what's available out in the world.

You'll get an update next Tuesday (we're generally aligned with Microsoft's Patch Tuesday), but I'm not aware of any ChromeOS specific performance work. I'll have someone take a look with the current generally available build, but I'm pretty sure we'll get good performance there.

Out of curiosity, if you go to Tools > More Tools > Task Manager in Chrome, is Flash Player using a lot of CPU when you're experiencing the performance issue in Connect? Just trying to rule things out...