YouTube doesn't work, except when it does.

November 7, 2009 11:20 PM

Why isn't YouTube working?

For the past few months YouTube just doesn't work on our desktop.

Latest version of Flash is installed on latest version of Firefox, java is so tuned on it's making obscene suggestions to other scripts. I've tried turning NoScript and AdBlock off, no dice.

The most bizarre thing is, every 12th or 15th time we boot up, YouTube works....until the computer gets turned off again.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm at a loss.

posted by mikoroshi to computers & internet (15 comments total)

What kind of computer do you have? What version of what operating system are you using?
posted by koeselitz at 11:23 PM on November 7, 2009

(By 'java' I presume you mean 'javascript.' Big difference, by the way.)

Is this problem something that happens in all browsers, or only Firefox?
posted by koeselitz at 11:25 PM on November 7, 2009

Yes, javascript, sorry, went for funny instead of clear.
Running Windows XP on a Sony Vaio. I never thought to check cause I never use it, but it is doing the same thing in explorer, just that message about enabling scripts or downloading flash, both of which have been done.
posted by mikoroshi at 11:36 PM on November 7, 2009

I think there's something really screwy about Adobe's Flash installers; I've had this happen to me before, too.

The solution, I usually find, is to do a complete uninstall of Flash and then reinstall it from the web site. That is: go into Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs, uninstall Flash, and then use firefox to navigate to youtube and reinstall it.

See if that works.
posted by koeselitz at 11:47 PM on November 7, 2009

How are you connecting to the internet? I find that sometimes YouTube gets wonky on me and I have to reset my DSL modem (turn off and turn on again after 30 seconds) to get it working again.
posted by amyms at 11:51 PM on November 7, 2009

Does it still play up in Firefox's Safe Mode? It could be some other extension that is causing the problem.
posted by Solomon at 12:00 AM on November 8, 2009

Uninstalled and reinstalled Flash. Cut power to the modem for a minute. Still not working.

Anything else?
posted by mikoroshi at 12:50 AM on November 8, 2009

Check out this thread.
posted by JimN2TAW at 1:05 AM on November 8, 2009

I once came across a Flash game that wouldn't work unless I uninstalled NoScript (merely disabling it didn't work). If IE doesn't work either, then presumably NoScript doesn't have anything to do with this, but, hey, might as well give it a shot.
posted by equalpants at 1:05 AM on November 8, 2009

I thought of a firewall problem, but that doesn't make sense, since YouTube wouldn't work sometimes if that were the case.

What exactly happens when you try to play a YouTube video? (I'm assuming you can access the site, and get to individual pages, but just can't play the video, right?) Have you checked to see what processes are running and how much memory they are consuming?

I might as well mention that I had all kinds of weird problems with a lot of things until I uninstalled Acrobat Reader, which for some reason was really screwing up a lot of stuff - but it was a while ago, and I don't remember details. Just throwing it out there.
posted by taz at 1:21 AM on November 8, 2009

Install the download helper extension for firefox. If you can download the files, and because you're having the same problem in IE, then it's probably a problem with flash. If you can't download the files then you probably have a firewall issue or some sort of DNS issue. If the latter maybe try pointing your DNS to another set of servers then flush your dns cache.
posted by Mitheral at 1:54 AM on November 8, 2009

Do you use OpenDNS by any chance? There have been documented problems in the past with OpenDNS and Youtube. They're supposed to be fixed now, but it's worth asking.
posted by proj at 3:17 AM on November 8, 2009

For what it's worth YouTube is broken on my computer, too. I have Win XP (and I do use OpenDNS). I go to any video to try to play it and the video page comes up but the circle "working" thing just sits there and spins and nothing happens. The site was working fine yesterday.
posted by crapmatic at 11:58 AM on November 8, 2009

Does it work if you switch browsers? Does it work in Firefox Safe Mode? Does it work if you create a new profile with no browser add-ons?
posted by dhartung at 4:11 PM on November 8, 2009

Crapmatic: That's what happened to me with OpenDNS. When I switched back to using my ISP's DNS, it stopped.
posted by proj at 6:20 AM on November 9, 2009