Adobe Flash Player 11 runs slowly in FF 14
Currently using FF 14 (release channel) with Flash Player 11 (updated today, 7/21/12). Flash objects, such as Facebook games, run slow/choppy to the point where it looks like a collection of tiles updating over the course of a few seconds. I have deleted temp files, compacted databases, uninstalled and reinstalled FF, updated display drivers, ran the flash objects in full-screen mode, and tested the same flash objects in other browsers. Running in full-screen mode alleviates the slowness, but there is a delay when loading content that is normally not noticed when viewing on a normal page; however, the action plays as it should. Viewing the flash content from other browsers, such as IE, allows the content to play fluidly as it should. Flash hardware acceleration (Settings) toggle does not seem to alter performance, and the Global Settings are allowing websites to store sufficient data. Rebooting also does not resolve the issue.
The PC in question is running Win 7 32bit; 2 GB RAM; Dual Core 1.8 GHz processor; ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics @ 1280x1024 resolution.
Task Manager shows that the Flash Player uses up to 60% of the CPU time, Firefox uses less than 15% at peak, and the plugin container typically runs below 10% when viewing the flash object on a page normally. Full-screen viewing of the flash object can have Flash Player take up to 70% of the CPU time, but playback is fluid.
Chosen solution
What was the last version of Flash that didn't have this issue -- 11.3.300.262 or 11.2 or 10.3?
Flash 11.3 implements a new protected mode which can spawn processes outside the plugin-container.exe process. This doesn't seem to be a problem for most users, but could be an issue on some systems. I also don't see how it would behave differently in-page vs. full-screen. Nevertheless, if you want to test whether the protected mode issue is relevant, you could temporarily disable this new feature. In the following article, scroll down to the "Last Resort" section: Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?
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Chosen Solution
What was the last version of Flash that didn't have this issue -- 11.3.300.262 or 11.2 or 10.3?
Flash 11.3 implements a new protected mode which can spawn processes outside the plugin-container.exe process. This doesn't seem to be a problem for most users, but could be an issue on some systems. I also don't see how it would behave differently in-page vs. full-screen. Nevertheless, if you want to test whether the protected mode issue is relevant, you could temporarily disable this new feature. In the following article, scroll down to the "Last Resort" section: Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?
This seems to have resolved the issue. There's still a little on-page slowness, but the symptoms seem to be more in-line with aging hardware than anything else at this point.
Thanks for the heads-up about the change in plugin behavior.
Flash video and audio are not in sync. The video refresh is slow in full screen or not. It doesn’t happen on all web sites. Web sites using JW player seem to be most susceptible to these playback problems.
I have the similar problems on two different PCs. My 3rd PC is a little Netbook with XP SP3 and has NEVER been updated and works just fine. It is running Flash 10.3.183.7.
My Dell XP laptop was running the latest Flash. It is a bit old, but has never had a video issue.
My Win7 Ultimate (I5, 3.2 Ghz, 8gig ram) was running the latest Flash and was having the very same issues.
The two PCs above are running FF 14.0.1.
I tried the many resolutions to this problem discussed here and none worked.
I cannot and don’t use IE, because I have to install the latest Flash for it to work.
I was successful by going back to Flash 10.3.183.7 like on my little Netbook. I had to use Torrent to get the old Flash, because Adobe doesn’t provide/support it anymore.
The older Flash instantly corrected the Win7 PC and the XP laptop – for a while. The Win7 PC is still running fine, but the XP laptop has reverted back to slow video performance.
I’ve run virus scans with no issues.
I suspect this growing and common problem is related directly to FF 14.
Any new ideas?
I just noticed that the problem comes and goes. My XP video is working fine now. Never had a problem with YouTube.
It does appear to be more and more related to sites using JW player.
I'll stay with the older Flash player for now or until FF fixes the problem.
I have just solved a lot of problems with Firefox 14 by removing my flash player, and uninstalling it. Firefox was hanging, freezing, stalling, pages not loading, Twitter stopped working etc. I even believe that the Flash was interfering with my Security settings.
How do I find the most compatible Flash Player for Firefox 14? I am hesitant about re-installing as Firefox is working again, and would rather accept the limitations of not having Flash right now.
Hi RichardVV, what I recommend is the following:
- Disable hardware graphics acceleration in Firefox. You usually need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Options > Advanced
On the "General" mini-tab, uncheck the box for "Use hardware acceleration when available"
- Install Flash 11.4 (the current version)
- If there are problems with Flash, disable the Flash player's use of hardware graphics acceleration. See the steps in this article: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues
- If there are still problems with Flash, disable the Flash player's protected mode. See this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?