Still experiencing video issues on my laptop

[RonJohn]

I recently made a post here about horrible video quality that I was experiencing on my laptop. fink helped me solve some of the problem, but I am still having issues. On several sites I visit that post videos, all I see are the blank white boxes. If I click on them, I sometimes hear the audio. Tonight, I tried to watch Gameday on the official Chicago Cubs site to no avail. It's like it never loads. All I get is a large white box. If I try to access the same thing on my desktop, it plays perfectly. I know that I have viewed Gameday on this laptop in the past. Any ideals of what may have gone wrong, and more importantly, how to fix it?

[fink]

Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash first of all..

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

(uncheck the optional McAfee crapware addon)

[RonJohn]

Yeah, I already tried that fink. Didn't make any difference.

[fink]

If you've installed any codec packs first uninstall it/them and then try the videos again to see if that makes any difference. Then depending on what the results are you may choose to use no codec pack, a different codec pack or reinstall the one that you had.

If uninstalling the pack fixes the problem I'd probably go with a different codec pack.. which one did you have if any?

[RonJohn]

When I was experiencing the horrible quality on all of the videos, I downloaded the K-Lite pack. You think I should delete it?

[fink]

I would uninstall it. It would clean the slate and let you start from scratch to try and solve the problem.

We know the drivers improved the situation now we can eliminate one other possible source.. the codec pack.

Which one was it?

[RonJohn]

I uninstalled K-Lite Codec pack 892_Full, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I did notice that when I went to one of the sites I am having difficulty with, I got a quick window that said that Flash Player etc, etc had stopped working. I didn't get the whole message, but it may have something to do with my problem.

[fink]

Have you tried other browsers? Which one are you using? If it's Firefox or Chrome you could try reinstalling or upgrading to the latest version.

[RonJohn]

I am using the latest version of Firefox (13.0.1) on both my Vista PC which isn't having issues and my Windows 7 laptop, which is. BTW, I noticed that I have the K-Lite Codecs Pack (not sure what version) installed on the Vista machine

[fink]

As a test try using a different browser on the laptop.. IEX would be the logical choice since it's already there.

We can reinstall the codec pack again later. I don't think it was the cause of the problem itself but like the drivers it might have been corrupted.

[RonJohn]

fink,I think you may be onto something. Using IE, I am able to open up and view some videos on the site I was having difficulties with, but for whatever reason, I can't negotiate all the features of that site(drop down menus and such) using IE that I can using Firefox. I haven't used IE for years and I really prefer not to go back to it now. But the question remains, why can I view the videos using IE that I can't using Firefox? And why does Firefox work just fine on my Vista PC and not on my Windows 7 laptop?

[fink]

There could be any number of reasons why it works on one of your computers and not the other... that's not really a useful road to go down since it's the laptop that's having the problem and not your desktop or any laptop or desktop anywhere else that's not having problems.

I think it would be worthwhile to try a slightly older version of Firefox to see if it's a bug in the latest one. Also, according to some info I got in another thread

there was a recent issue with Flash and Firefox, which prompted the release of FF13.0.1 and Flash 11.3.300.262.

So it's not beyond the realm of possibilities this could be somehow related.

Try one of the Version 10 FF's here.. http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php

It will install over top of the existing version the same way as a newer version will.

[RonJohn]

OK, I rolled back to Firefox 10.0.2, rebooted and checked the two sites I was having difficulties with. No difference.

[fink]

Well, I'm running out of ideas.

At this point I'd re-update everything to the latest versions incl the codec pack and the 64 bit version if your OS is 64bit.. (read instructions first http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm. )


Reinstall the latest Flash player again last.

Do you have the latest IEX? You may want to get Version 9 if you don't already and install Silverlight (similar to Flash) to be sure you're getting all you can from that medium as well.

If, after all that you're still having problems then we can suggest some less likely things that could be worth trying. Which operating system are you using on the laptop?

In the meantime perhaps other members may also have some ideas?

[RonJohn]

I found a post of a Firefox forum that presented the exact same problem I was experiencing. Someone there tied the issue to Real Player and suggested making a simple change and it seemed to work. The videos are back on the site I was having issues with and display normally now. Not sure why the issue arose when it did, but it seems to be rectified now. Thanks for all your help, fink.