YouTube doesn't work correctly in any browser

[Rognik]

I recently replaced the motherboard and CPU on my PC (ASUS Z77 Sabertooth, Intel i7 3770K) and completely reinstalled Windows 7, 64-bit. I use Google Chrome for web browsing, and for a while everything worked fine. Then I had to install the "other browsers" version of Flash, and YouTube videos became incredibly glitchy; they will always experience one of three errors:

1. Randomly restart.
2. Randomly turn green, emit loud crackling (like a bad CD player skipping), and skip ahead in small increments until the video ends. The recommended videos appear as normal.
3. Randomly get stuck buffering, and then display the recommended videos and replay button as if the video were done.

Things I tried to fix this, in no particular order:

1. Restarting my PC.
2. Reinstalling Flash.
3. Uninstalling Flash and letting the Chrome built-in version take over again.
4. Disabling various combinations of Flash in chrome://plugins.
5. Reinstalling Chrome.
6. Using Internet Explorer.
7. Deleting Flash Player browsing data.
8. Removing the Flash Player Cache.
9. Disabling Flash hardware acceleration.

NONE of these things have helped my problem. The only thing that has temporarily alleviated the problems was reinstalling windows again (yes, I completely reinstalled Windows to try to solve this problem). And then a Steam game I installed downloaded Flash without me realizing it, and the problem started all over again. I don't want to reinstall Windows again.

The only indication I can see of a problem is that Flash is telling me I have a 32-bit OS when I have a 64-bit OS, but I don't think that's actually a problem. Chrome, Flash, etc. are all up to date.

Because I frequently unwind with YouTube videos, my PC is effectively useless due to this problem. It's really, really frustrating. Can anyone help me?

Edit: I opted into the HTML 5 trial for YouTube and the problem seems to not happen on videos using HTML5, but it can't be used on videos with ads, even with ad block (which I normally have disabled on YouTube anyway). I also tried disabling my firewall after a friend suggested this, which didn't help either.

[apprentice77 · Accepted solution]

Hello, i have had all of the same symptoms as mentioned in this thread for both 10.x and 11.x.

I also wrote about it before in a different thread:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4744449#4744449

After days of testing i tracked down the problem to be Comodo firewall :

https://forums.comodo.com/bug-reports-cis/flash-player-playback-issues-caused-by-comodo-firewall-t87...

I had to completely uninstall the program before Flash 10.3.183.25 would work properly without these, indeed, strange freezes. "the video image simply freezes and video sound stops or has occasional crackling/distorted snippets"

Now i can finally watch flash videos again on both Youtube and Vimeo. And i have hardware acceleration enabled.

Flash 11.x also works much better after i removed Comodo.

[Rognik]

apprentice77,

I do not have Comodo firewall; I actually have ESET Smart Security (NOD32 anti-virus + firewall). However, I tried uninstalling it anyway and tested a number of YouTube videos as well as speedtest.net. I can confirm that all problems, as far as I can tell, are now gone. Both Flash 10.3 and Chrome's built-in flash installation work as I expect them to.

At one point I tried disabling the firewall and the problem still existed. However, every time I have tested the issue I did in fact have ESET installed; I never thought that might be causing the issue and thought it was best to always have my anti-virus and firewall installed before surfing the web.

Thank you very much for finding the problem! This has been driving me absolutely crazy. I don't know what I would have done without you bringing this to my attention.

As it turns out, my license for ESET expires tomorrow and I received a free copy of Kaspersky anti-virus with my recent hardware purchases (the installation of which caused this problem to appear in the first place). I guess I will be installing that now and seeing if that works any better. It's a shame, because ESET has otherwise worked flawlessly for me over the past 2 years.

-Rognik/Adam

PS: After this I realized that my PC might not have the most recent version of ESET Smart Security (4 instead of 5). I tried installing the newest version from their website and the problem immediately returned. I will try Kaspersky Anti-Virus + Windows Firewall (ugh) for now. Based on recent reviews of ESET Smart Security 5 it may be a good idea to switch to another security suite anyway.

[apprentice77]

Hi Rognik, that's great!

I am also looking for a new firewall, now temporarily using Windows Firewall (ugggh indeed) until i find a proper replacement or when the issues gets bug fixed.

Just playing around with and testing http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/index.php  . I also wonder how Kaspersky Firewall performs. But it's good to know i should avoid Eset Firewall as well. I have a license for the Antivirus programme, and i can at least confirm the antivirus programme is not conflicting any of my programs.

Also check out the last posts in: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4752612#4752612

Adobe Staff Member Jerome Clark posted they are forwarding the issue to Adobe Test Labs. I replied again and also pointed him to your thread. So i hope they find out how the NOD32 Firewall Service and Comodo Firewall Service are affecting/conflicting flash.

Both programs install a service which keeps being active even if you disable the firewall. Thats why uninstalling really only disables the programme.  For me Comodo was also the last option, i never though it would be the problem.

I feel like a kid playing with his new toy. I have been watching films on vimeo all day now for the first time in months without any problems. I feel so happy. 🙂