Flash Player 11.2.202.228 - still get this green screen on videos

Report · Mar 29, 2012

Windows 7

Google Chrome (latest) or IE9 or FireFox 9.0.1

Hi,

I had the same issue with beta versions, thought it would be fixed with the official release. Many videos show a green screen. I know I can disable hardware acceleration, but it's still a problem. I don't want to be mean but how come such a huge bug (as Flash is still a prefered tech for showing videos) is still there in the official FP11.2 release, when the bug has been known for such a long time?

For example I get that behaviour with that video (sorry if it's not funny, I just stumbled on it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rWd20QHsJkY#!

thanks

jfab

Report · Apr 11, 2012

Chris, et. al.,

I took a look at Joan Lafferty''s page, "Updating My Flash Player Causes a Green Bar for Videos", and realized that I was relying on windows for checking for updates to the driver for my Nvidia Quadro 1000m GPU. I had worked from device manager to check for a driver update and windows assured me I had the latest driver.

I went to the Nvidia site and downloaded a new driver for the Quadro 1000m -- and now the green bar is gone even with hardware acceleration turned on. I am now using the 296.35 driver. Unless my system has issues with this new driver, my problem is solved.

I have no idea if this approach will work for everyone else who has had this problem -- I guess we should emphasize that when checking to see if there is a driver update for an Nvidia GPU, to check the Nvidia site to be sure.

Report · Apr 11, 2012

Personally I am running high-end 3D applications on a workstation class laptop. Only drivers qualified by the manufacturer of the computer are qualified for the applications I run. I could go ahead and install the latest drivers from NVIDIA but I could very well run into a whole bunch of new problems with these applications that I am not interesedt running and wasting any time into. Been there is the past...

Report · Apr 11, 2012

I just found a solution that seem to work for me with Hardware Accelaration enabled: forcing Firefox and IE to make use of the Integrated Graphics (default was Use Global Settings (Auto-Select)) via the NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings panel.

Otherwise with the default Use Global Settings (Auto-Select) option flash videos show green band in Firefox, and causes IE to stop working. Both apps run flash videos when Hardware Acceleration is disabled.

Report · May 27, 2012

I'm experiencing this green band with, for example, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17944765.

Browser independent, tried 3 versions of v11 flash player in FF 11 - still the same.

As per posts above, rt click and disable hardware acceleration, AND then refresh page allows video to play normally.

HP G60 laptop, Vista 32 bit, latest available driver from HP.

Note: laptops cannot automatically update using generic drivers. De facto, this is not derived from the latest Nvidia build.

Noted Adobe post referred to above is closed -seems to read 'Identified, will be solved at some point later'

Hope this will be solved..

I'm wondering why reverting to an older flash build didn't solve this 'tho..

Report · May 27, 2012

dalchina wrote:
Note: laptops cannot automatically update using generic drivers. De facto, this is not derived from the latest Nvidia build.

You can manually update the drivers; see http://forums.adobe.com/thread/945765

Report · May 27, 2012

Hi Pat, Sure, you can do all sorts of things manually. They may not be advisable.

Any laptop manufacturer I've had anything to do with is adamant that 'Thou shallst only use the drivers thy laptop manufacturer has provided for thee' - that is, they are customised.

Industry advice (and my personal experience after trying manual upgrades) is that randomly trying drivers not tested and generated by the laptop manufacturer and customised for the hardware is in particular inadvisable for the graphics driver. (Nvidia in this case). Some discussion here:

http://lifehacker.com/5912682/do-i-really-need-to-update-my-drivers

Comment here:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/installgraphics/install.html

Laptop display drivers are a bit different than those used by desktops. Laptop display drivers are customized by the manufacturer of the laptop for that specific model. You are supposed to get those display drivers only from the manufacturer of the laptop. The problem with those drivers is that they often are out of date. And the truth is that the laptop manufacturers usually don't actually customize the drivers. If you have an ATI or NVIDIA GPU in your laptop, then you can try the Omega drivers. They don't always work but they are usually more recent drivers than the ones available from the laptop makers so they are worth a try.

I'm assuming you've never had a laptop or never encountered an issue.

If Adobe does not respect this customisation by laptop manufacturers, and provide a usable product which works in normal user environments, it would appear they are making a mistake.

Report · May 27, 2012

dalchina wrote:
I'm assuming you've never had a laptop or never encountered an issue.

I'm writing this from my Dell Latitude E5520 laptop. The display adapter is an Intel HD Graphics 3000, which gets a new driver installed every time Intel releases a new version.

Something goes wrong with the driver install: it is very easy to roll back the driver from the Device Manager, or even do a System Restore.

If I'd wait for Dell to release a new driver, I'd be still sitting with the original Windows 7 driver...

Report · May 28, 2012

Hi Pat, First updating the Nvidia graphics driver seems to have fixed the problem.

Second, I quite agree with you about the outdatedness of manufacturer builds- HP's driver is 2010, my version (1 build higher in fact) was 2011, reluctantly I've updated to the latest Nvidia driver version.

(Mine was already the 'best' version found via Windows driver update).

So I used Drivermax to find a later build.

Maybe I'm thinking of a crash I had with my previous laptop when doing a similar 'later than manufacturer' update.

But I believe the general caution holds re. applying random generic driver builds to laptops. Only do it if you need to.

Report · May 28, 2012

Having the exact same green screen problem.

Just bought an EVGA GeForce GTX550 Ti, upgraded from XFX GeForce 9500 GT.

Don't know if it's the flash update or the new NVIDIA card, but I'm getting green screens on a lot of videos (example video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oCruJzlWefE).

My video card driver is updated (v296.10).

Turning off hardware acceleration through flash player works.

Report · May 28, 2012

UnhappyGreenScreen wrote:
My video card driver is updated (v296.10).

According to the Nvidia site, the latest driver for your device is 301.42

Report · May 28, 2012

dalchina wrote:
But I believe the general caution holds re. applying random generic driver builds to laptops. Only do it if you need to.

You are quite right; I am not advocating driver updating just for updates' sake. "If it ain't broke...", as many people say...

But new Flash Player versions rely on newest technologies from GPU makers, and that often includes the newest driver versions, with fixes that are not on older versions.

I know that for average computer users a driver update can be a frightening thing. But tools like Drivermax (the best in the field!) can make this task quite easy.

Report · Jun 27, 2012

Pat Willener wrote:
dalchina wrote:
But I believe the general caution holds re. applying random generic driver builds to laptops. Only do it if you need to.
I know that for average computer users a driver update can be a frightening thing. But tools like Drivermax (the best in the field!) can make this task quite easy.

For those with Nvidia Notebook cards (mine is a Quadro 1000M), the Nvidia website isn't too difficult. People can go to the drivers section where they can search for an updated driver two ways. They can give the GPU name and series, or they can allow the Nvidia site to scan their system, identify the GPU and determine if a new driver is available. I think this is a safer way to go than Drivermax (I had to roll back from one of the drivers recommended for me by Drivermax).

As to the question of whether or not we should stay with driver versions designed for specific manufacurers and models of laptops, I think it depends on the laptop. With my old Toshiba, there was an ATI driver specifically designed Toshiba. However, with the Quadro 1000M in my Lenovo, there was no information in the driver specs that referred to Lenovo or my specific laptop model. And the new driver from the Nvidia website has worked like a charm. I'm thinking that if people with go to the control panel for their GPU and look at the system information given there, they can check out the driver information there. If the name and version of the driver given doesn't say anything about your laptop model, getting the latest driver that is designed for you GPU should work.

The other thing I learned from the green screen issue is that I can't depend on windows to find and install the lastest driver for my GPU. Better to go to updates from your laptop manufacturer and/or the manufacturer of the GPU to see if there is a more current driver.