Internet Videos Won't Load

Bedigunz

So whenever I try to load videos (using either Chrome or IE), the video won't load.

The weird thing is that videos on Youtube will play just fine, but some videos (like on southparkstudios.com) will only play the 30 second advertisement, but then won't play the actual video.

I tried to reinstall java and adobe, but that didn't help.

Hevach

Check your hosts file (c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\). Most of the time there should just be the 127.0.0.1 entry, but some spyware uses it to hijack certain servers, and some anti-spyware puts entries here to block certain domains, and it can be overzealous about it. Both ways I've had block websites I use to watch TV shows and... uh... other... videos. If that happens the file may have been set read only, or the permissions might be messed up, making fixing it a bit fiddly.

Next is to check plugins in your browser - try disabling everything you don't recognize and see if things work from there.

First major recourse is to do the standard Microsoft Security Essentials/Malwarebytes one-two. Sometimes running the scans in safe mode turns up things that don't turn up in normal.

Essee

Make sure that when you "reinstalled" Flash (Java isn't used for online videos, at least not anywhere I know of; Javascript is a different thing) you did a clean install, because that makes a difference... but that may not be related to your problem, I don't know.

Bedigunz

Hevach wrote: »

Check your hosts file (c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\). Most of the time there should just be the 127.0.0.1 entry, but some spyware uses it to hijack certain servers, and some anti-spyware puts entries here to block certain domains, and it can be overzealous about it. Both ways I've had block websites I use to watch TV shows and... uh... other... videos. If that happens the file may have been set read only, or the permissions might be messed up, making fixing it a bit fiddly.

Next is to check plugins in your browser - try disabling everything you don't recognize and see if things work from there.

First major recourse is to do the standard Microsoft Security Essentials/Malwarebytes one-two. Sometimes running the scans in safe mode turns up things that don't turn up in normal.

@Hevach , how do I tell if they are 127.0.0.1? I already un- and reinstalled adobe and I'm running a registry scan.

Bedigunz

Well I ran a registry scan and nothing changed.

God. Dammit.

skeldare

It's possible that the reason Youtube videos work is because they're actually HTML5 and not Flash. One way to test if Flash is actually working would be to go here and see if this page loads.

Bedigunz

Page loaded without any trouble

skeldare

Bedigunz wrote: »

Page loaded without any trouble

Strange. It seems like flash is installed, and the fact that you're not getting an error or at least some sort of message leads me to believe it's installed. I suppose it could be a video driver issue, but I'm grasping at straws here.

Essee

There's no way you're behind a work/school/etc. firewall, right? I mean you're probably not, but it never hurts to ask. Was just wondering, since Youtube seems to load but nothing else does.

Bedigunz

It's my home network so nothing out of the ordinary.

These videos used to load but then stopped, which makes me think something changed in the registry or with the system files. I thought it was my network but I tried using another computer connected to my router and the videos load just fine.

Tofystedeth

DO you live outside the US? I've had that problem accessing sites in other countries where they were ever so content to serve me ads, but decided the actual content I came for shouldn't be accessible in my region.

Great Scott

Tofystedeth wrote: »

DO you live outside the US? I've had that problem accessing sites in other countries where they were ever so content to serve me ads, but decided the actual content I came for shouldn't be accessible in my region.

I was thinking along those lines, but he's stated that another computer worked.

Bedigunz, since we know that it's the one computer, can you try different browsers besides Chrome and IE? Specifically, Opera handles YouTube differently from other browsers and I'm curious how that works.

Just to clarify, you did try a (recent version of) Chrome? Chrome has its own Flash player built-in and should work when another browser won't.

On another tack, can you download and then play the videos? It will help troubleshoot to see if it's some sort of caching problem or more of a playing problem.

Bedigunz

I just installed two different browsers (Opera and Firefox) and I'm still having the same problems.

I've run virus scans, registry clean ups, and I'm out of ideas. Only thing I can think is that it has something to do with either my cookies or there is something in the registry.