Why will flash video stop after only 2 seconds?

October 23, 2008 8:09 PM

Youtube (or other flash video) will freeze up after exactly 2 seconds of play, in any browser.

It's an XP system, nice graphics card, memory, and all that. I can usually get one browser to play what the others won't, so when this happens I have to juggle between Firefox, Safari, Chrome and IE. I've searched for this kind of problem and nothing remotely similar comes up. It seems to happen randomly... things will be going smoothly video-wise then, boom, the video will play (without sound, oddly) for 2 seconds and freeze. I'm completely stumped.

posted by moonbird to computers & internet (9 comments total)

I've been having this problem as well, exactly as you describe. A reboot usually solves it for me -- not the case with you?
posted by pazazygeek at 8:14 PM on October 23, 2008

I just went through this. Upgrading to Flash 10 beta worked for me, but a simple reinstall of whatever you have might work, too.
posted by rhizome at 8:15 PM on October 23, 2008

I had a similar problem and reinstalled flash a couple of times. Close all browsers after download, then install.
posted by lee at 8:18 PM on October 23, 2008

I'll try a fresh Flash install and get back to the thread. I've been pondering this... haven't done many reboots as I am just stubborn and keep trying it in different browsers, and I just hate rebooting. Alas. I'll update when through, thanks all.
posted by moonbird at 8:22 PM on October 23, 2008

A wel-known problem - Google 'Flash video freeze' and you'll come up with a ton of opinions as to the cause. Most common is a problem with a recent Flash update. Downgrading or upgrading seems to work for most people.
posted by DandyRandy at 8:31 PM on October 23, 2008

I believe I had this problem and it turned out to be a side effect of having a lot of flash videos up at once. "A lot" here meant about 10. Upgrading flash to the very new V10 will probably make this go away.
posted by chairface at 10:54 PM on October 23, 2008

Very common problem. If you google 'flash video freezes after 2 seconds' as a phrase you'll find dozens of threads about it. Upgrading to the latest version of Flash plus a reboot fixed it for me.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:20 AM on October 24, 2008

There's a Firefox issue ever since it's official release. If you can, install the RC 2 or 3 version. This should fix it.
posted by watercarrier at 3:06 AM on October 24, 2008

So far, so good, the reinstall helped. I'll mark as answered!
posted by moonbird at 6:19 AM on October 24, 2008