Firefox issue: Youtube/flash videos won't load.
By sup3rdud3
@sup3rdud3 (230)
Indonesia
October 22, 2010 2:23am CST
I have a problem with my Firefox browser. When I go to youtube to watch videos the video won't load. It just shows a black screen in the box where the video is supposed to play. The controls (such as the play button, volume etc) don't even load and the status bar reads "Done". When I use other browser such as Google Chrome the video loads with no problem.
When I go to another site with Flash videos such as metacafe the video loads perfectly with no problem. So this problem is probably specific to Youtube only.
I usually browse the net using the limited account in my PC for security reasons. The funny thing is if I go to another account in my PC with administrative account and go to youtube, the video loads with no problem in Firefox.
I am using the Firefox 3.6.8 with Windows XP SP2. Does any of you guys know the solution to my problem?
4 responses
@haxorfreek (523)
• Philippines
25 Oct 10
I think you should reinstall your Adobe Flash Player, if you have changed something on the settings or options of Mozilla Firefox. You can just use the default settings to revert it back to its default. I hope that helps.
@sup3rdud3 (230)
• Indonesia
27 Oct 10
I took up your suggestion of reverting back to default settings. I used the Windows Run dialog box and typed "firefox -ProfileManager" and created another profile in my firefox browser and Youtube video loads perfectly in the new profile.
You are probably right. Maybe there was a certain setting in my firefox that got changed or something which prevents Youtube video from loading. I'm still curious what it is. But for now the problem is solved. Thanks for that.
However, by reverting to the default settings like this, I lost all my previous settings such as my favorite bookmarks, add-ons etc which is annoying.
@tonyllenium (6252)
• Italy
23 Oct 10
probably you should download some latest girefo plugins from adobe flash player i think your porblem will be solved.Also because i use firefox from a long time and so i never had this porblem with online videos or youtube in particular..so whe you try to watch your youtube videos and you can see a sad face and not the video means that you should update or download plugins to see correctly that contents...check firefox plugins page or firefox online support u can find many plugins available for different purpose or contents on the net.
@sup3rdud3 (230)
• Indonesia
23 Oct 10
There is no sad face when I try to watch Youtube. Usually when your Flash player is outdated there is a message on the screen which says that you need to update your Flash player or something. With my case, it only shows a blank black screen in the rectangle where the video is supposed to play. So I guess the problem is not with the Flash Plugin. Besides, when I open Youtube in another windows user account, the video loads with no problem at all.
@sup3rdud3 (230)
• Indonesia
22 Oct 10
I don't think that the problem is with the Flash Player because when I go to youtube using Firefox in a different Windows user account, the Video loads perfectly.
I just created another limited Windows user account as an experiment. Youtube videos loads perfectly there as well. So apparently the problem lies in the Firefox browser in this specific user account--not the Firefox itself, Flash, or Youtube.
So I thought maybe the problem was in the cookies. I deleted all the cookies, but the problem remains--all the controls and the video don't load at all. But the status bar reads "Waiting for www.youtube.com..."
@jesslzz (1)
• Argentina
5 Jul 11
Hi there! I just went through the same problem, using Windows 7 and Firefox 5, the latest updates and everything. I finally found your post and the solution! As haxorfreak suggested, and you did, I worked it out by deleting the profile but at the same time, keeping my bookmarks info :). I'm posting this in case it can be of any help to others browsing for a solution. The problem seems to be in the cookies files inside the Firefox profile. So these are the steps I followed to solve this issue:
1-Make a back up copy of your Firefox profile (for that, go to Run, and type %APPDATA%\Mozilla\) the profile folder has a particular name, such as 56mc78kl.default. Copy it and place it somewhere else.
2-Uninstall Mozilla Firefox (check the folder that says "delete all bookmarks, data...)
3-Reinstall Firefox (you would have lost all your bookmarks, addons...but don't worry, you can recover those from your profile)
4-Open the new profile folder, the name SHOULD BE DIFFERENT as the folder name you copied before, if it is the same, the uninstall is not done ok.
5-Get inside the old profile folder, and copy everything but the cookies files. Any file that says "cookie" on it :) I copied only the files in the root folder and the ones inside the bookmarks folder
6-Get inside the new profile folder and paste the files, replacing them. Do not rename o replace the new profile folder! This worked like a charm for me, but I guess if the issue continues other files from the old profile must be the problem. I guess in that case the better is to erase completely the old profile, but in my case, youtube is working again for me!
Thanks and I hope this helps out ppl in the same problem :)
Jess
