shockwave flash sometimes fails on Vista

[Bob]

I work the crossword at

http://games.latimes.com/index_crossword.html?uc_feature_code=tmcal

Some days, the crossword loads fine and others, it never loads, just leaves
a blank area on the page. It worked fine today (Sunday 21 Sept) but failed
yesterday. Under the puzzle, there's a calendar that lets you go back to
earlier puzzles. After I worked today's puzzle, I tried going back to
yesterday's puzzle, but it still wouldn't load it. There are usually two or
three days a week when the puzzle won't load.

On XP, the puzzle always loads. There are other websites I visit where
Flash works on XP but not on Vista, but this is the best example site
because you can switch from one day to another and see it sometimes work and
sometimes fail.

If I right-click on the missing puzzle, Flash pops up its usual menu with
about twelve items on it. Play and Loop are both checked. If I right-click
when the puzzle displays properly, I get the same menu, but Play is not
checked.

There are never any error messages.

I uninstalled Flash yesterday and re-installed it. I'm using version
9,0,124,0 -- same as before I uninstalled it. I have Vista Home Basic,
fully up to date with Microsoft updates, IE7.

So, what's going wrong with Flash on Vista?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Bob]

Just what I was hoping for, an advertisement for Firefox.

Some guy who doesn't have a clue about the problem, just has a compulsion to
advertise Firefox regardless of whether it's relevant.

Get a life, gerooky.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Download and run the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

or direct download:

Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller:
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe

Close all IE windows and run the Flash Player Uninstaller.

Then visit:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

and click on "Install Now".

Troubleshoot Adobe Flash Player installation for Windows
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19166&sliceId=2


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

I work the crossword at

http://games.latimes.com/index_crossword.html?uc_feature_code=tmcal

Some days, the crossword loads fine and others, it never loads, just leaves
a blank area on the page. It worked fine today (Sunday 21 Sept) but failed
yesterday. Under the puzzle, there's a calendar that lets you go back to
earlier puzzles. After I worked today's puzzle, I tried going back to
yesterday's puzzle, but it still wouldn't load it. There are usually two or
three days a week when the puzzle won't load.

On XP, the puzzle always loads. There are other websites I visit where
Flash works on XP but not on Vista, but this is the best example site
because you can switch from one day to another and see it sometimes work and
sometimes fail.

If I right-click on the missing puzzle, Flash pops up its usual menu with
about twelve items on it. Play and Loop are both checked. If I right-click
when the puzzle displays properly, I get the same menu, but Play is not
checked.

There are never any error messages.

I uninstalled Flash yesterday and re-installed it. I'm using version
9,0,124,0 -- same as before I uninstalled it. I have Vista Home Basic,
fully up to date with Microsoft updates, IE7.

So, what's going wrong with Flash on Vista?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[+Bob+]

Just what I was hoping for, an advertisement for Firefox.

Some guy who doesn't have a clue about the problem, just has a compulsion to
advertise Firefox regardless of whether it's relevant.

Get a life, gerooky.

I had an answer for you, but I don't think I will post it. Gerooky
posted a sincere and correct reply: having more than one browser
installed is a requirement these days as bugs crop up in one or the
other. He even took the time to point you at the proper location to
make sure flash was installed. If it wasn't an exact fix, it was still
sound advice and a solid work around.

But, you are either MS biased to admit that MSIE might not be the
worlds answer to all browsing needs, or too foolish to realize when
someone is trying to help you.

Best of luck with your issue. Be sure to post the fix here when you
find it so you can show us all how sharp you are.

 

[Bob]

Thanks for the info.

I re-ran the uninstall and re-install using the links in your message. The
crosswords that wouldn't display before still wouldn't display.

I checked the troubleshooting webpage. It said to use a security level of
"Medium: Default Level". On Vista, the default level is "Medium-High:
Default Level", so I lowered the security level to Medium. That had no
effect. I ran the utility

C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil9f.exe

as administrator. The disk light on my computer flickered some, but that
was the only indication that a program had run. On this troubleshooting
webpage, after saying to run this utility, it says:

* Follow the steps to complete the Flash Player installation

If this meant the utility was supposed to display some steps to follow,
well, it didn't display anything at all. And nothing changed with the
crossword puzzles.

But in any case, thanks for posting this collection of links, it's just the
kind of information I hope for when I resort to usenet.

Bob