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ON WINDOWS 8 LAPTOP: Firefox CANNOT play any video on Yahoo News, seriously, this is so freaking sad, Please help...., it just can't play. Please HELP.

  • 15 replies
  • 40 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by josephrot

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To many people, this might sound like a Joke when i say Firefox can't play any video on Yahoo News on any Windows 8 Laptop Touchcreen, but trust me, I have tried everything; re-downloading Java, Flash-player, Adobe...etc, I even called Microsoft Support and my Computer company but they all said this is Firefox drama they should be able to fix the issue. Please help. I have three Computers and all can't play any video on Yahoo News, (Youtube is playing great, no issues). Please help.

To many people, this might sound like a Joke when i say Firefox can't play any video on Yahoo News on any Windows 8 Laptop Touchcreen, but trust me, I have tried everything; re-downloading Java, Flash-player, Adobe...etc, I even called Microsoft Support and my Computer company but they all said this is Firefox drama they should be able to fix the issue. Please help. I have three Computers and all can't play any video on Yahoo News, (Youtube is playing great, no issues). Please help.

Modified by JJ Co

All Replies (15)

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Please check if all your plugins are up-to-date. To do this, go to the Mozilla Plugin Check site.

Once you're there, the site will check if all your plugins have the latest versions. If you see plugins in the list that have a yellow Update button or a red Update now button, please update these immediately.

To do so, please click each red or yellow button. Then you should see a site that allows you to download the latest version. Double-click the downloaded file to start the installation and follow the steps mentioned in the installation procedure.

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Is this the problem where it shows the loading icon (circling, circling) but never starts playing? Other users have reported that as well.

This is some standard guidance that addresses the most common issues with the Flash player plugin. I'm sure you've seen some of it before, but just in case:

(1) Make sure all recorders/downloaders that interact with Flash media are as up-to-date as possible, or disable them.

(2) Disable hardware graphics acceleration in Firefox and in Flash

(A) In Firefox, un-check the box here and restart:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > General > "Use hardware acceleration when available"

(B) In Flash, see this support article from Adobe: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues

(3) Disable protected mode (Windows Vista/7/8)

See this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?


Since you mentioned touch, does it matter whether you interact with the player using the mouse or your finger?

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Does the Flash Player plugin show as installed and enabled in Tools > Add-ons > Plugins?

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Yes, I have Flash Player on my Computer ( version 11,7,700,224 installed) but it's not showing on add-ons, ALSO; shockwave Flash & RealnetworkS (TM) is showing on add-ons. Please help

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When you are looking at the following tab, Shockwave Flash is the Flash player plugin:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Plugins category

(If it is not listed there even though you installed it, check out this post on how to investigate why Firefox isn't finding it: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../950567?page=2#answer-451950)

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This post fixed the issue of no video on Yahoo on Firefox on Windows 8.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/959599

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I don't think you're joking because I have the exact same problem. Actually, I'm having the same problem with Chrome and Opera too.

I've tried all the things you've done, and have tried all the options jscher2000 suggested except for protected mode. I started systematically disabling add-ons one-by-one until I ended up with only Flash player active. At that point, I was actually able to view 2 of the 5 video's from Yahoo in Firefox. I wouldn't say I fixed anything completely but at least something played.

It makes me wonder if the problem might be coming from the way Yahoo embeds the video in the source code. I don't know enough HTML, video or Javascript to provide any insight though.

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Did you try Safe Mode to make sure that you do not have extensions that interfere?

You may also need to enable third-party cookies for visited websites.

  • Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

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I'd tried Firefox safe mode earlier and that had no affect. I now tried Windows safe mode and changed the cookie setting and neither had any affect.

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Cool, I will try that :))

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This is very annoying, Trust me, I have tried every thing and NOTHING seems to work, bottom line, YOU CANNOT PLAY YAHOO VIDEOS and other related Videos, etc ON Firefox or Chrome, there is a lot of speculations out there indicating Microsoft Inc. is trying so hard to force consumers, all of us, to use Internet Explorer on Windows 8 and making sure most of the stuff won't work in other browsers...That's so pathetic...and IF you think this is a Joke, try to play same yahoo Videos etc on any Windows 7 or Vista, they will work like charm, but windows 8, BLOCKED!

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Another interesting problem just happened. I was in the sports app on the "metro" screen and landed on a page from ESPN with a video and it would not play. However, when I go to the same page on IE10 from the desktop the video plays fine. Seems like the "metro" interface blocked the video but the desktop allowed it to play.

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That's true Jay, It's so unfortunate Microsoft is using this stupid blocking feature to force all of us to use IE on Windows 8. I personally will never use IE, never, I hate it, simply because add-ons that we get at Firefox for free are NOT available at IE and if there is any add-on on IE, they are NOT free and they don't work, even the Ad-block, it doesn't work, pathetic.

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Problem solved! I downloaded and installed Firefox 24.0 Beta. Apparently Mozilla programming team made all the right changes in the new release. Now all videos starting working on Yahoo and BBC.

Link: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/#beta

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In addition to the Firefox version 24.0 "Beta", but usable full time... ALSO do a VERY detailed look-into of your firewall in use, be it hardware or (more usually) software based.

Some firewalls have "sneaky" -- seem to be hidden in the corners, so to speak -- permissions defined that may actually block video and related content. You may have to delete or modify those firewall permissions.

Joe R./Knoxville, TN / USA