Error Code 4

What ho one and all,

My wife is using Firefox 52 ESR on an XP / sp 3 computer. Everything was working fine, until around one week ago, when she has started to receive 'Error Code 4' messages when trying to view, for example, TED talks. She is Japanese (not hat that has anything to do with it) and when she is viewing the Japanese Yahoo news site, again, any videos, and the same message.

I have been Googling but everything tells me about 3Play Media and I have no idea what the is. She certainly does not have 3Play Media installed or running.

What can I do to 'fix' this issue?

Any suggestions will be gratefully taken on board.

Thanks and toodle pip

Rex

Error code 4 is not really very useful. Post a screen capture of the error dialog box you are getting.

Have you tried a different browser (Chrome, IE. etc.)?

What is the exact version of FF? The latest FF52ESR is 52.9.0.

What addons does she use? Maybe you can disable the addons and re-enable them one by one.

Can you provide one of the problem urls? If the site uses Flash, you should update that also.

You can try other browsers, but your choices will be limited on XP. FF52ESR is probably the most current available.

Thanks for the replies. A scree-shot will be on no use unless you fluent in Japanese! And that does make things complex. Although she can read it, computer language and translating into English, the actual error wording gets lost in translation! Frequently, she has no idea what the characters actually mean in English, let alone Japanese.

I will update flash, although that has not been an issue in the past since a flash error message is clearer than Error Code 4. Good idea to start in Safe Mode and see if the videos play. Will post back when I have another update.

Again and as usual, many thanks

Rex

Update:

Don't know if I am further forward or not! She has Falsh 28 installed, so have been trying (note that word) to update to flash 30.0.0.154 (or whatever the current version is.) Get as far as apparently saving the installer bit, hit the 'Run' button and what appears is the normal Adobe download box but it is just graded gray and blank. Zilch, nada, nothing. Further more, I have tried to install from where the file is saved (Downloads) and it is not there!

Tried again in FF safe and the same. Also tried in XP Safe (with networking) and again, the same, nothing. I have hopefully now downloaded onto my computer, the off-line Flash 30 and will try again on the morrow.

For what it is worth, this is a link she sent me: https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/ted?a=...1-00020085-ted It does run on my computer (also XP) but with FF38 and Flash 30.

Seems that the Flash installer is not being saved, but why?

The morons at Adobe have their Flash installer set to delete the downloader for it. I'm not sure why they ever thought this was a good idea, but I always save a COPY of the downloader to a backup folder. Then, if the install fails, I don't have to re-download the downloader.

I have never encountered this issue before. Before running the installer, you make a copy?

I had though I found where the issue is, but unfortunately, no. She regularly uses Japanese Yahoo, and it is there that the videos don't play, even though they do on my computer. I have cleaned up all the cookies and stuff (that is already crap on closing FF) emptied the temp folder, etc, but still blocked. Then she tried another news site, and that gives the same code.

However, when I searched for TED talks directly on her computer, they play just fine, but not via Yahoo. Have run AVG scan and Malwarebytes and they both come up clean.

Have backed-up her bookmarks so may try to restore the profile from a few months ago, when all was working.

I also saved Flash 31off-line installer (beta) to a USB and tried to install from that. But again, the same blank Adobe screen. Strangely enough, when I click on the close X, IE then fires up but it does not find the internet connection.

As a totally separate issue, how do I get IE to find the broadband connection?

Quote:

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Before running the installer, you make a copy?

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Yes.

How to check for IE proxy / connection settings:

https://superuser.com/questions/4346...proxy-settings

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...rver-to-use-to

Check the Internet Explorer settings on your working system against the non working one.

Tried reverting to a previously saved FF profile but as that did not work, guess I must have taken it before upgrading to 52ESR.

Two attachments; the blank Adobe screen is what I get when I run the installer. The IE screen is what I get when I close the previous photo by clicking on the right corner X.

As for IE not connecting, I have set the connection tab as mine, and still, it does not connect.

Attachment 14817Attachment 14819

It looks like your version of Firefox is not connecting to the Adobe Flash site either, which is not surprising since it is an old version of Firefox.

In Internet Explorer, on the Connections tab of the Internet Settings dialog box, check the information on the dialog box you see when you click the LAN Settings button to make sure it is the same as on the working system. Also check the TCP/IP DNS settings on both systems to make sure that they are the same.

On my XP computer, I use Firefox 38 and have Flash 30 installed, no problem.

My wife's, XP with Firefox 52 and currently Flash 28 but will not install Flash 30. As a rhetorical question, how come my older version runs 30 but my wife's with a new FF will not?

I will have a look at the TCP/IP DNS settings on the morrow. The LAN settings are the same 'Automatically detect.'

Check the DNS settings also.

As to why Flash 30.x will not install, my guess would be that the installer cannot download version 30 from Adobe. Note that there are 2 different downloads. The download that you can save and run is actually only a downloader for the real Flash 30 player.

Did you check your firewall and adblocker settings? You could temporarily disable them, and then update Flash and/or test the Yahoo link.