It's possible but unlikely a site problem as videos on Youtube also randomly fail to load and suggest to "Restart the device". Sometimes if I've multiple tabs open, closing a particular tab will alleviate the problem. I've also seen this problem on Twitter. And lastly CPU util increases more than 'a bit' when this issue manifests.

Ill give it a few days.

Thanks - LudditePro

Does this machine match the specs of your laptop? If not please provide the specs. https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X140e-inches-Notebook/dp/B00JI9IPAQ

I turned on autoplay for the site. Had no issues with the videos playing as I scrolled down the page.

Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20220524 KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.5 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.94.0 Qt Version: 5.15.2 Kernel Version: 5.17.9-1-default (64-bit) Graphics Platform: X11 Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ CPU @ 2.80GHz Memory: 31.0 GiB of RAM Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Yes, that is my machine. Sure has held its value! Was $10 cheaper 7 years ago. Mine now has 12GB RAM and has been in constant service since Jan 2015 without faults of any kind until last weekend.

Prior to last weekend videos auto-played from Reddit without issue.

Please note that this also randomly occurs on Youtube when several Youtube tabs are open. Closing 'other' tabs often clears the problem. Admittedly, I always deselect the annoying auto-play on Youtube.

FYI, I've never observed memory consumption to exceed 45%.

******

Lastly, I just visited the Reddit site and scrolled the page. As described, the auto-play initially worked and then stopped working as I scrolled down. And also as described some of the previously exposed/played videos (when then scrolling up) were frozen, however a few would load and play.I suggest that this behavior indicates my hardware is fully capable of playing the videos, and strongly indicates software is presenting the video stream to my machine in varying, inconsistent ways.

Many thanks for your response - LudditePro.

Update summary:

- Since @ May 21st my Win 7 Pro laptop w/ Mozilla 100.0.2 has difficulty loading video from multiple platforms. Reddit and Youtube used below - Problem is 100% repeatable on my device. - Opera loads/plays/replays without issue.

Seems I'm gonna run w/ Opera for a few days before I commit to rolling back to last week as all other s/w and audio drivers appear to be functioning properly.

This might require a bug report. Will dev investigate Win 7 issues?

****

Sorry, this is so long...

This Youtube URL failed to load video, suggesting I restart my device: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe-L49pzKE

Launched Internet Explorer. Was informed no longer supported and provided with suggestions of: Edge, Opera, Firefox.

Downloaded & launched Opera. Entered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe-L49pzKE. Watched the ad run successfully and the VIDEO WOULD NOT LOAD, suggesting that I 'Restart the device'.

Uninstalled Microsoft Edge. Watched 9 seconds of the ad and the ad stalled without suggesting I 'Restart the device'.

Rebooted.

Launched FF and loaded https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe-L49pzKE. Video launched and and audio via Fiio KA3 driver A-OK.

Closed FF. Launched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe-L49pzKE via Opera. Watched ad. Video ran w/ audio A-OK.

Still w/ Opera, went to Reddit and launched https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/.

I scrolled MUCH further down the page using Opera and all videos loaded/played/replayed when exposed while scrolling UP or DOWN without freezing. No issues observed going back to videos posted more than 30 days ago. Did this for 10 minutes with no issues encountered. This is what I have observed as 'Normal behavior' w/ FF prior to May 21st.

Now to close Opera, reboot, and give FF a shot...

Rebooted, launched FF and loaded https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe-L49pzKE. Video and audio A-OK.

Still in FF, loaded https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/.

Scrolled down the page and auto-play froze on the 5th or 6th auto-play video > https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/uvufck/manila_philippines_a_ferry_carrying_more_than_130/

Following the freeze-up these videos WOULD replay when exposed when scrolling back up. All others would not load: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/utttjg/may_15_2022_gas_station_explosion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ut89pm/a_pallet_storage_in_north_germany_caught_fire/

Closed FF and relaunched https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/.Videos all frozen except: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/utttjg/may_15_2022_gas_station_explosion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ut89pm/a_pallet_storage_in_north_germany_caught_fire/

Closed FF and launched Opera w/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/.

Now videos freeze similar but NOT identical to FF. Also, these two auto-play: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/utttjg/may_15_2022_gas_station_explosion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ut89pm/a_pallet_storage_in_north_germany_caught_fire/

Now to reboot and retest Opera.

Rebooted & imported FF bookmarks to Opera and loaded https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/

Scrolled and scrolled down page to posts/videos 4 months old without any exposure/play/load or replay issues w/ video or audio when scrolling DOWN OR UP.

Here' the last video I checked: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/spa3tc/video_filmed_in_puerto_rico_allegedly_shows/

Now, to reboot and test FF first AGAIN.

***

Rebooted and launched FF. Loaded Reddit page: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/

@ the 10th video FF failed to load video: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/uuorwh/robinson_helicopter_dam_crash_51421/

Closed FF and opened Opera w/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/

Opera loaded and played video without issues.

***

Any suggestions or additional t'shooting ideas are openly solicited. - LudditePro