Computer Add On crashing system?

[Alix]

Hey folks, got a weird question for any of you computer techies out there. Can anyone explain to me why a Flash 9b add on to Shockwave would crash my computer whenever I am on DC? Is it something to do with the Google Ads? I'm stumped. I have to disable that add-on everytime I want to cruise DC or I crash for sure. But ONLY DC.

 

[keltin]

What error message are you getting? Can you screenshot it or copy and paste the text of the message here.

 

[Alix]

Well, I probably could, but I would have to enable the add-on and then wait for it to crash and try to make anything work before it all goes down.

Its something like Internet Explorer encountered a problem and needs to close. The following add on was running when this occurred. And then it give me a clickable link and an Advanced button and a Continue button. If I click on Advanced I can then Disable the particular Add On, reboot and away I go.

I have a few things to do on here before I kick it into gear for the day and I don't want to crash so I can't give you more than that. Does that help to identify the problem? Any idea why it ONLY happens on DC?

 

[keltin]

Did it look like this? Or did it say it could not find “flash.ocx”?

Problems with Flash9b.ocx are well know, but a TNT solution has not been found. Adobe hasn’t isolate the exact cause yet. There are several things to try to fix it.

The problem is usually with flash ads that pop up on sites, but it can also happen with any flash application such as YouTube and radio sites. Since you are only seeing it on DC, you probably haven’t bumped into many other sites with similar flash ads. Have you tried youtube lately?

 

[Uncle Bob]

I've rebooted more times than Carter has Liver pills latlely. Are you saying that flash adds can/may cause crashes keltin?

 

[keltin]

I've rebooted more times than Carter has Liver pills latlely. Are you saying that flash adds can/may cause crashes keltin?

Uncle Bob, this particular problem is with the latest version of Flash Player from Adobe which uses “flash9b.ocx”. The problem is, some flash applications such as ads, streaming video or audio, etc, can cause Internet Explorer to have a fatal error and shut itself down. It shouldn’t causes a hard reboot of the system though, it just kills Internet Explorer and all open IE windows/tabs and links. Is that what you’re seeing, IE closes itself with an error report?

 

[Alix]

KELTIN, OMG, that is exactly what I see! And sometimes it just shuts down my system, and sometimes the whole dang thing goes kerflooey. (I have other issues with my comp tho, so I suspect those in the total crash).

So what you're telling me is that there is no fix at the moment and its because I allow pop ups on DC? I can disallow them, but then I don't see my PM pop ups. Small price to pay methinks. Thanks Keltin. I'll try that and see what happens.

 

[GB]

Some day you will give up IE and move over to Firefox and then you will wonder what took you so long

 

[Alix]

Next computer we'll do Firefox GB. I'm not messing with this one ANYMORE!

 

[Katie H]

Amen to Firefox!

 

[Buck]

Firefox rox.

 

[GB]

You would probably be able to hold off getting your next computer longer if you switched, but I hear you. I am not going to give up on you though

 

[Alix]

GB, you and KE of all people should know what a piece of poo my computer truly is. I have become quite expert at finding and fixing all manner of weird bugaboos, but I will confess that changing over to Firefox scares me. I'm afraid I will load it and then never be able to get on the internet again. I swear that my computer is actually animated and has an agenda of its own.

 

[GB]

I do know how bad your comp is. That is precisely why I push you SO hard to switch over. I know it would solve at least some of your problems.

Even if it did do what you fear (it wouldn't), you could always just uninstall it. And you don't even have to uninstall IE either. You can have them both on your computer and even use them both at the same time.

 

[keltin]

This problem affects FireFox as well since it is a problem with Adobe Flash player which is also compatible with FireFox.

There are several things to try. The fixes range from updating video and audio drivers for your system, uninstalling Adobe Flash and reinstalling, all the way up to hacking the registry. Poking around in the registry isn’t really recommended. It’s not hard to do, but it is easy to mess up.

One trick that might work is to go to the directory on your C drive called:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash

In that directory you will see a file called “flash9b.ocx”. Right click and hold on that file and drag it to the bottom of the list to make a copy of it. Once you have a copy of the file, rename the original as “flash9b.ocx.old” (add .old to the name). Now make a copy of the file “flash9.ocx” (notice this is an older file and doesn’t’ have the B in the name). Once you have made a copy of that file, rename that copy as “flash9b.ocx” (make sure to delete the orignal flash9b.ocx first so that you can rename it).

Doing this will make the system use the older, but stable flash9.ocx module instead of trying to use the flash9b.ocx module. This may or may not solve the problem. It depends on whether or not the flash upgrade added other DLLs for use.

A more stable fix that has worked for many is to edit the registry and look for the data entry that belongs to this module. In most of the cases of this problem, the data string is set to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\flash9b.ocx\2

Notice the \2 at the end indicating that a directory of 2 exists....and it does not. This looks to be an install error where the \2 was probably suppose to be a ,2 (comma 2) so that it was a runtime option for the module and not a directory. Deleting the \2 from that entry has fixed the problem for many others......but not 100% at this point.

You can find this entry by doing a search in regedit. Search for "flash9b.ocx".

If you want a super safe, but tedious attempt at fixing this. Completely uninstall Adobe Flash player. Reboot. Then download Flash 9 (not the latest 9b version) and install that. However, the uninstall doesn’t always clean the registry, so this can be hit or miss.

If you know how to locate and update drivers for your video and audio card, it is suggested that you do that as well.

As of now, Adobe doesn’t have a fix for this, and is having a problem duplicating it in house.

 

[keltin]

I do know how bad your comp is. That is precisely why I push you SO hard to switch over. I know it would solve at least some of your problems.

Even if it did do what you fear (it wouldn't), you could always just uninstall it. And you don't even have to uninstall IE either. You can have them both on your computer and even use them both at the same time.

GB is right, I have both installed on my PC. I’ve fought with IE7 over many different issues that FireFox never had. After much tweaking, I’ve finally got IE7 stable, but I still switch to FireFox on occasion. The only thing I didn’t like about FireFox was its download manager, especially for streaming video. Perhaps there is a setting to make it automatic, but when I used it, it always gave me a download box and then I had to click where to put it........surely there is a way to get FireFox to stream video and music to WMP without having to download the file.

But you ought to download FireFox and give it a shot. If you don’t like it, you don't have to use it. It’s just a program that makes use of your established internet connection. The browser isn’t the connection at all, but is just a program that uses your connection. You can pick and choose what programs you want to use that connection without affecting the connection.

Now that IE7 has ripped off tabbed browsing from FireFox, I tend to use IE7 more often.

 

[GB]

A lot of sites still do not support IE 7 though. They may work, but they may not. I know Monster.com for instance is designed to work with IE 6 or less and certain features will not work on IE 7.

There is no one perfect solution yet unfortunately, but maybe some day.

 

[keltin]

A lot of sites still do not support IE 7 though. They may work, but they may not. I know Monster.com for instance is designed to work with IE 6 or less and certain features will not work on IE 7.

There is no one perfect solution yet unfortunately, but maybe some day.

Really? I’ve not heard of compatibility problems. I just went to monster.com and it came up. Although, a popup was blocked (but I could allow it by clicking on the popup blocker alert bar). What functions get hosed up with IE7 on that site?

 

[GB]

Not necessarily things that you have access to. There are a lot of parts of the site that you need an employer account to access and they are very feature rich.

My wife and I used to work there and we constantly heard phone calls of reps telling clients that xyz would not work because they were using IE 7 and to switch to IE 6. The people who write the code do so with IE 6 in mind and do not do any testing at all on IE 7 thus if there is a problem then they will not even try to troubleshoot it.