Flash Player 10.2 Crashes Browser

[Guest]

Hi there

We have a large flash application and can confirm that the new FP 10.2 causes the browser to crash when running our application.

We can confirm the following:

- It crashes on a fresh install of Windows 7, running Chrome [* see crash log]

- It crashes on a Mac (Safari, Chrome, FF)

- It crashes on Linux (Chrome, FF, Opera)

- It crashes on Windows 7, XP, Vista (IE, FF, Chrome)  [** another crash log]

- Turnnig hardware accelleration on | off does nothing (might slightly increase the time in our app before the crash)

- The same app does not crash with previous versions of the Flash Player

- The same app does not crash with the debug player of FP 10.2

We thought that perhaps the crash was due to our app using too much memory and being kicked off by the Flash Player's new 'out of memory' feature: "Out-of-memory management

Automatically prevent out-of-memory browser crashes by shutting down instances where a SWF file attempts to allocate more memory than is available on the device."  http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/features/

But this feature has been around since FP 10.1, so that does not explain the problem.

Another suggestion was this:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/789403

Not very useful because we have thousands of lines of code and countless switch statements.

Adobe, what is going on? I've traweled the Flash Player forum & there are lots of questions being asked about version FP 10.2, but no useful answers or responses from your team?

[* Crash Log]

Faulting application name: chrome.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4d533e9f

Faulting module name: gcswf32.dll, version: 10.2.154.12, time stamp: 0x4d4bb77d

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x003b9ef7

Faulting process id: 0x950

Faulting application start time: 0x01cbcd140681ac02

Faulting application path: C:\Users\cybert\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Users\cybert\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\9.0.597.98\gcswf32.dll

[** another crash log]

Faulting application name: iexplore.exe, version: 8.0.7600.16722, time stamp: 0x4d0c2f29

Faulting module name: Flash10m.ocx, version: 10.2.152.26, time stamp: 0x4d4b5d09

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x003c2637

Faulting process id: 0x13d8

Faulting application start time: 0x01cbcd13de16cd56

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\Flash10m.ocx

Report Id: 2c2a3ab5-3908-11e0-80fd-00238b5cbd82

[Guest]

It looks like we may have found a solution. We managed to trace the issue to a particular switch statement in our code. Wrapping the statement in a try-catch prevented the browser from crashinig in our test case. We're still monitoring to see whether this has fixed the problem in all cases. We will probaby go through our code & wrap all switch statements where complicated processing is done (in particular, where an exception might occur) in try-catch statements.

Hopefully this does solve the problem

[Guest]

Hi, maziak, Well, since you are using Flex and I'm not versed in any of those Adobe programs you may want to check out that Forum also. There are others uses that post there and on the other Adobe program forums.

Whatever the cause of what is happening, it involves that ActiveX Control for the browser. I see the effect, but since other more Technical Adobe programs are used, I can't help with that part.

Good idea to persue your line of inquiry.

Hope you run it down!!

Thanks,

eidnolb

[Laeotaekhun]

Eidnolb, it would appear to me that you are just being defensive and don't really have a clue what the problems are!

Maybe, you are just too embarrassed to admit that Adobe know about them and just don't have a clue how to solve them!

A search on Google will confirm just how many issues these bugs have caused.

The same problems seems to affect every browser and once Flashwave crashes it causes other applications, running at the time, to also crash.

So, your comments regarding other Adobe products, maybe, causing the problem (in which case you can't help) and warning people not to uninstall then install earlier versions are, totally, unhelpful.

How, on earth, Google were convinced to build this cr*p into Chrome I will never know - although can take an educated guess!!

Is there another forum/source of information regarding Adobe products where they offer sensible advice about recognised Adobe issues?

[ad707718]

in my case, it seems "try-catch" is no use, maybe i should give up flex, and try to use flash cs5 totally 

[agnisia2]

hey guys,

my problem: Windows 7 64 bit, IE 9, killer add-on Adobe flash player 10.2 crashes my browser

solution that worked for me: desinstall adobe active x, desinstall IE 9, restart, configure IE 8, install adobe flash player again---> bingo!

now: please Adobe developer, do us the favor and develop a version that works properly, you should be ashamed to release such a crap!!!!!, sorry....

[mike_brewer]

I have isolated some code that will cause your 10.2 (non-debug client) flash plugin container to crash (http://forums.adobe.com/thread/795249?tstart=0).

By finding this kind of code and implementing a workaround (try/catch) the problem should go away until Adobe admits they had a bad

bug in Adobe Flash 10.2

[ad707718]

it's still no use for me, it seems that there are more bugs in "Flash Player 10.2",

my case is a "Flash Builder 4 project" with some different states,

and each state has an "Image" control to invoke an exteral "swf" built by Flash CS5,

when i change the "currentState" variable to swith the state, the browser crashs occasionally

this occurs both in debug version and non-debug version,

both "V 10.2.154.12" and "V 10,2,152,26", and both in "IE", "FireFox" and "Chrome"

(please excuse me for my poor english)

[mike_brewer]

ad707718 wrote:

it's still no use for me, it seems that there are more bugs in "Flash Player 10.2",

my case is a "Flash Builder 4 project" with some different states,

and each state has an "Image" control to invoke an exteral "swf" built by Flash CS5,

when i change the "currentState" variable to swith the state, the browser crashs occasionally

this occurs both in debug version and non-debug version,

both "V 10.2.154.12" and "V 10,2,152,26", and both in "IE", "FireFox" and "Chrome"

(please excuse me for my poor english)

Yeah that does sound like a different kind of isse. Have you tried with earlier versions of flash like 10.1

(http://www.filehippo.com/download_flashplayer_ie/tech/8383/).

If you can isolate the part of the code that causes the crash you should post it on the developer forums. Also post the crash log file.

Note, when you install different version of flash you should also be a full uninstall inbetween.

Regards Michael

[gomhec]

Have someone notice this is only with mp4 files using h.264 in HD.?

[s_sirgi]

Don't know for developers, but for normal users as I am the solution Mike Brewer proposed is the best, because the only working one, at the moment.

Anyway, even a stupid downgrade may be hard for inexperienced users, so this may help them:

REMOVE THE 10.2

Download, i.e. on C:\, the Adobe uninstaller from http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe, then:

1.choose Start > Run

2.type CMD in the Open box, then press Enter

3.move into the right folder, i.e. CD C:\ then press Enter

4.type the following, then press Enter: uninstall_flash_player -uninstall

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL 10.0

Take it i.e. from here: http://www.4shared.com/get/-G-bCeDf/Adobe_Flash_Player_1002287_Act.html

This package contains both ActiveX and Plugin. So install both of them if plan to use IE and other browsers.

If you want to try 10.1, feel free to find it somewhere. I have had to downgrade to the version 10.0.22.87 because, after 10.2, even 10.1 didn't work anymore, freezing the computer immediately after few second of any flash movie. But maybe somebody else will live happy even with 10.1.

Regards,

Sergio

[Guest]

Hi, Just a comment or two for the benefit of not only yourself, but other users. You have elected to Install a version of Flash Player that is about 6 versions old. Each Flash Player update always contains security issues, so all of those measures are lost. This is the same as not updating Windows for over a year and we know many security measures are included with almost every patch Tuesday:-)

I would suggest that anyone having any problem with Flash Player to start their own thread with the needed computer info.

There can be many many reasons that Flash Player is not working with a particular system, depending on the programs/addons that are Installed.

Not knowing what your problems were, I can't speak to them but it could have been a simple Setting that needed changed.

Thanks,

eidnolb

[s_sirgi]

Thanks for reply, Eidnolb.

I already supplied many information about my computer settings and configuration, and nobody replied it at all. Don't know which difference will make to open always new threads, but I will follow your suggestion anyway. Hoping that somebody will read and answer in that way.

Anyway my idea is still that the origin of our problems have to be deeper than a simple setting of the Player. Because I see lot of unhappy people explaining similar troubles, and no solution come available for any of them. And also because the problem sounds to be really critical anyway: imagine what would mean if any widely used piece of software starts to crash the whole computer JUST for a "wrong" setting around!!

Believe me, it is REALLY frustrating when the computer freezes just because the browser start to play an unwanted movie somewhere in the page. And it may produce a real damage when it lose all the unsaved job of the moment (uhmm.. or maybe Adobe will refund us for this?).

So my "solution" is just a workaround, that worked for me on a 6-times older release than the last one. But also I said that other users may have benefit going back even to the previous one. On my pc, it wasn't enough, but of course everybody should have to find and choose the latest working arrangment for their computer.

Sergio

[mike_brewer]

eidnolb wrote:

Hi, Just a comment or two for the benefit of not only yourself, but other users. You have elected to Install a version of Flash Player that is about 6 versions old. Each Flash Player update always contains security issues, so all of those measures are lost. This is the same as not updating Windows for over a year and we know many security measures are included with almost every patch Tuesday:-)

I would suggest that anyone having any problem with Flash Player to start their own thread with the needed computer info.

There can be many many reasons that Flash Player is not working with a particular system, depending on the programs/addons that are Installed.

Not knowing what your problems were, I can't speak to them but it could have been a simple Setting that needed changed.

Thanks,

eidnolb

However there is also the possible case where there is a bug in the very latest version of Flash (10.2.152.32), on all operating systems and regardless

with what is installed on that system....

Like in this bug for example , the flash plugin 10.2.152.32 crashes on all platforms when it tries to execute code like this. :

function crash(...args):void {
     var x:int = 2,msg:String;
     switch (x) {
          case 1: msg = "X"; break;
          case 2: msg = args[0]; break;
     }
     Alert.show(msg);
}

This is standard action script code that with all previous plugin versions what have worked without any issues (including beta releases).

This bug is in adobe flash plugin has nothing to do with what you have installed or what version operating system or what version of your browser. It is just a bug in the version of the flash plugn.

To test this yourself try this swf : (http://files.chesscube.com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Crasher.swf)

So what possible solution do we have then?

1) Downgrade to one that does not crash? (and use this site)

2) and/or Notify adobe.com and what for a solution? (and not use this site or other affected until adobe fixes it)

3) and/or Notify the site developers or the issues and possible workaround and what for them to fix it? (and not use this site until the site fixes it)

Sometimes, and only just somethings the best software developers in the world can release a new version of something with bugs that render it worse

the prior releases in certain situations. What would be the most pragmatic way to preceed?

Regards Michael

[Guest]

Hi Mike,  How then do you account for those that don't have any problem with it? I have never had a problem with any version of Flash Player. I have with several Windows updates though, and Java 🙂

I can't discuss code, since I haven't a clue! My concern is the Security with very old versions. If the latest version is giving a problem that can't be resolved after troubleshooting, then by all means revert back a version or two. Adobe has a bug report site, which I'm sure this has been reported on. Malware is a constant battle and we've had a lot of it on the Forum, so I see the havoc that can cause.

The advantage that anyone has by working on this forum or any other is that a much greater picture can be seen on what causes problems. Now I'm speaking from my perspective from helping on the Flash Forum. Just a simple example is the browser addons/BHO's/ActiveX/Helpers/Anti-Virus addons, all of these can conflict with the browser, the plugin for Flash Player and other addons. But, because of that, the user thinks it's Flash Player that is at fault. When after doing some troubleshooting, it's not Flash Player at all.

I'm not discounting what you have found and I hope you have reported it with the information needed to resolve it; better for everyone.

I think Adobe does a good job in checking reported bugs out, and no I don't work for Adobe. I'm just a volunteer that helps the end user.

Even with all of the beta testers and fixes, that doesn't compare when that version is on computers with every conceivable program/addons, etc. There are conflicts due to that, so we'll have to disagree that the system configurations have no bearing on it:-)

Thanks,

eidnolb

[mike_brewer]

eidnolb wrote:

Hi Mike,  How then do you account for those that don't have any problem with it? I have never had a problem with any version of Flash Player. I have with several Windows updates though, and Java 🙂

I can't discuss code, since I haven't a clue! My concern is the Security with very old versions. If the latest version is giving a problem that can't be resolved after troubleshooting, then by all means revert back a version or two. Adobe has a bug report site, which I'm sure this has been reported on. Malware is a constant battle and we've had a lot of it on the Forum, so I see the havoc that can cause.

The advantage that anyone has by working on this forum or any other is that a much greater picture can be seen on what causes problems. Now I'm speaking from my perspective from helping on the Flash Forum. Just a simple example is the browser addons/BHO's/ActiveX/Helpers/Anti-Virus addons, all of these can conflict with the browser, the plugin for Flash Player and other addons. But, because of that, the user thinks it's Flash Player that is at fault. When after doing some troubleshooting, it's not Flash Player at all.

I'm not discounting what you have found and I hope you have reported it with the information needed to resolve it; better for everyone.

I think Adobe does a good job in checking reported bugs out, and no I don't work for Adobe. I'm just a volunteer that helps the end user.

Even with all of the beta testers and fixes, that doesn't compare when that version is on computers with every conceivable program/addons, etc. There are conflicts due to that, so we'll have to disagree that the system configurations have no bearing on it:-)

Thanks,

eidnolb

Then follow the link i sent you and see that your browser plugin will crash as well. It is an Adobe flash container bug plain and simple.

[elousami]

Adobe need seriously look at the issue discussed in this thread. That has to be a priority at this moment. I do not know how close is the release of the next version of Flash Player (10.3 or 11) but jsut starting new threads for everey single user facing this problem will just spiral out of control. I had no problems with FP 10.1, yet since installing 10.2 version I lost count of the number of crashes internet browsers suffered ( Firefox, IE & Chrome). This must have an effect on sites that rely on FP to deliver premium content to their users, as an example : I could not follow a number of video trainings on Lynda.com and creativeEdge. I guess those of us paying for the full access to those libraries would not be happy, or would they ? The same goes for the owners of those sites. I thank all Adobe employees on this thread for the effort they make to help, but my guess is that this problem need be adressed by Flash Player engeneers.

[mike_brewer]

elousami wrote:

Adobe need seriously look at the issue discussed in this thread. That has to be a priority at this moment. I do not know how close is the release of the next version of Flash Player (10.3 or 11) but jsut starting new threads for everey single user facing this problem will just spiral out of control. I had no problems with FP 10.1, yet since installing 10.2 version I lost count of the number of crashes internet browsers suffered ( Firefox, IE & Chrome). This must have an effect on sites that rely on FP to deliver premium content to their users, as an example : I could not follow a number of video trainings on Lynda.com and creativeEdge. I guess those of us paying for the full access to those libraries would not be happy, or would they ? The same goes for the owners of those sites. I thank all Adobe employees on this thread for the effort they make to help, but my guess is that this problem need be adressed by Flash Player engeneers.

Hi Elousami

i 100% agree with you. we have tried all we can, but nothing seems to have been resolved or even noticed.  we have submitted bugs to adobe and we have given then workaround code and highlighted the exactly issue but nothing. our bugs are marked as private and we cannot get any feedback on the status of it.

Regards Michael

[fairplay08]

Hi, elousami,

I'm hoping these threads work the way I am expecting them to.  I just replied to the original person who posted the problem (maziak) and what I did was I removed all of 10.2... as per Adobe's instructions then went to the archive link and re-installed 10.1.  Until the problem is fixed with Adobe's newest software, it's better to stick with 10.1 Flash Player.  Here is that link and detailed instructions are posted at the end of this thread:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html

Good luck getting your "video" back inline.

Warmly,

Fairplay08

[elousami]

Thanks Mike and Fairplay08 for the tips and the links. Like you said I will go back to FP10.1 for the moment.

Sincerely,

hassan

[ad707718]

now 10.3 seems ok ( the same as 10.1  ), thank you!

[mike_brewer]

One of the flash developers has now picked up on this bug! and says they will be looking into it asap:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3509371#3509371

[fairplay08]

Dearest maziak,

It does appear to be a problem with the newest version of Flash Player 10.2...  Here is a link to the archive of older versions of Flash Player that worked:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html

It was only after I searched through the other threads on this Adobe Flash Forum that I found the link to the older archived versions.  Go through the steps of removing the new Flash Player again (if you haven't already done so), then go to the archive link I have provided above.  I selected version 10.1 from the list and it worked like a charm.  You will have to unzip the folder and manually intall all three (3) files that have the red "Flash" logo on them.  After you do this you should be good to go.  Good luck!  I know this is an extremely frustrating problem and I want to help as many people as I can on this forum because, let's face it, we completely depend on "video" to enjoy and to be able to effectively utilize our computers.  I hope this will help.  Let me know if this doesn't as I am continuing to research this problem further and might be able to provide better info in the near future.  Also, if my instructions are unclear then I need to know so your reply will be greatly appreciated.  Just call me another frustrated consumer.

AND, thank you for providing the definitive information that has definitely linked the problem to the newest version of Flash Player.

Warmly,

fairplay08

[KingforaDay___]

I wanted to add my input to this problem, and I agree that different threads seems a bit of a waste.

I upgraded both Firefox and Flash within the last week. They seemed to be working fine until this evening.

All of a sudden my browser kept on crashing. As it turns out I had installed a couple of add-ons to Firefox today, so I disabled them, but I still had the problem. It took me awhile to realise that it was the Adobe plugin causing Firefox to crash.

I want to be specific about what happens though - there is no error message, no warning, Firefox simply closes as soon as I open a web site with flash content. With flash disabled I can browse normally but obviously not view flash content.

The strange thing is this - I have tried the fix discussed (downgrading to an older version of flash) but I am still having this problem. I used the Adobe flash uninstaller and even restarted my laptop before installing the older version, but the symptoms remain the same. I have no add-ons enabled other than the Shockwave Flash 10.1.82.76 plugin.

Has anyone else not been able to fix this problem through a downgrade?

[mike_brewer]

KingforaDay... wrote:

I wanted to add my input to this problem, and I agree that different threads seems a bit of a waste.

I upgraded both Firefox and Flash within the last week. They seemed to be working fine until this evening.

All of a sudden my browser kept on crashing. As it turns out I had installed a couple of add-ons to Firefox today, so I disabled them, but I still had the problem. It took me awhile to realise that it was the Adobe plugin causing Firefox to crash.

I want to be specific about what happens though - there is no error message, no warning, Firefox simply closes as soon as I open a web site with flash content. With flash disabled I can browse normally but obviously not view flash content.

The strange thing is this - I have tried the fix discussed (downgrading to an older version of flash) but I am still having this problem. I used the Adobe flash uninstaller and even restarted my laptop before installing the older version, but the symptoms remain the same. I have no add-ons enabled other than the Shockwave Flash 10.1.82.76 plugin.

Has anyone else not been able to fix this problem through a downgrade?

Hi KingforaDay,

Unfortunately that is a very different problem. This specific bug is limited only to Adobe Flash 10.2 (not 10.1 or 10.2 debug player).

Not that i am a support person;

But why not try using Google's Chrome browser, it comes bundled with the latest plugin. It also sandboxes the flash plugin, so it stops flash from crashing your browser. Another nice feature is that it auto updates to the latest Flash.

Anyway i hope that help you.

Regards Michael

[RibbyP]

If I might ask, what is the difference between flash 10.2 player and flash 10.2 debug player?