Unbelievable dysfunction: YouTube videos won't play

[Soul Reputation]

This problem has stumped even some of the best techs Dell has to offer, including some of their supervisors in India and the Phillipines. The problem: any YouTube video I start eventually locks up and freezes right in the middle of the video. That little round loading circle pictured below then starts to gyrate clockwise in the middle of the screen going round and round and round. This problem appears to be a streaming problem because I'm pretty sure some of the Amazon and Netflix movies have freezed up, and some DailyMotion videos, too. Notes:

>i use both IE and Firefox
>i defragged my disc
>i use AT&T DSL
>bandwidth rating: 3mps
>ping milliseconds: 34
>found no virus or anthing malicious
>removed and then reinstalled Adobe Flash 10
>problem occurs even when I'm in safe mode
>the problem is not intermittant, it's consistent

If I can't find a cure I might have to reinstall Windows?

WindowsXP
4GB RAM
2.80GHz
Text

 

[Ken g6]

It does sound like your internet connection is dropping connections. Would you be willing to try setting up a caching proxy called Polipo? It's not the easiest thing to set up, especially in Windows. You'll need to make a temp directory for its cache, and run it from the command line, probably with a switch or two. But once set up, Polipo is very good at restarting dropped connections.

 

[Pretty Cool]

You can try this software to see if there is a device driver problem.

DPC Latency Checker
http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml

 

[Soul Reputation]

Originally posted by: Pretty Cool
You can try this software to see if there is a device driver problem.
DPC Latency Checker
http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml

I used the DPC Latency Checker. According to it, nothing is wrong. Nevertheless, that's a handy tool I never knew existed. Thanks, PC.

 

[Soul Reputation]

Originally posted by: Ken g6
It does sound like your internet connection is dropping connections.

I have a feeling it might be a connection issue, too.

I called ATT and they're sending me a different modem (I went thru holy hell to get it - don't ask why - the details are too numerous in number). I've been with ATT for a couple of months. And now, in the last few days, I notice that whenever I swing my cursor over to a bookmark to click on a favorite, many times the 'IE Cannot Display the Page' error message comes up. And no matter how many times I refresh it it stays that way for at least several minutes before I'm reconnected to the Internet. BTW, and off on a little tangent here: I just shake my head whenever someone says 'AMERICA'S THE BEST'. No it's not. Some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced comes from American companies like ATT and Time Warner. To be fair though, Canon in Virginia out on the east coast does customer service right. If you work for Canon and you're reading this: keep up the good work! Other companies should shut their mouth, take notes and watch how Canon does it.

If it is a connection issue that was related to a 2 month old virtually new ATT modem, I'll post an update. The ATT modem is a 'Westell'. It weighs about the same as an 8.5x11 piece of paper and would easily fit in your front or back pocket. Not sure if that's good or bad...

P.S. Just got another 'IE Cannot Display the Page' error message while editing this post!

 

[Engineer]

Uninstall flash 10 and try Flash 9 again...

Flash 9 archive.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: Engineer
Uninstall flash 10 and try Flash 9 again...

Flash 9 archive.

:thumbsup:

 

[Soul Reputation]

I'll try Flash 9 and get back to you on the result.

But...gotta say that while I was going back through the pages to look at older posts here in this forum, once again I was hit with an 'IE Cannot Display This Page' error message. I simply refreshed my browser and was instantly reconnected back to the Internet. This is happening on an almost daily basis now, though it occurs infrequently. For the record this little symptom first occured a few days ago. The streaming dysfunctionality (AKA drop-offs) started to appear about 10 or more days ago. So, we shall see...

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Soul Reputation
I'll try Flash 9 and get back to you on the result.

But...gotta say that while I was going back through the pages to look at older posts here in this forum, once again I was hit with an 'IE Cannot Display This Page' error message. I simply refreshed my browser and was instantly reconnected back to the Internet. This is happening on an almost daily basis now, though it occurs infrequently. For the record this little symptom first occured a few days ago. The streaming dysfunctionality (AKA drop-offs) started to appear about 10 or more days ago. So, we shall see...

I've had Flash 10 stop my pages (in either IE or FireFox), FWIW.

 

[Soul Reputation]

This matter appears to be resolved:

It appears the problem was something that went wrong inside the belly of the virtually new, two month old ATT modem.

I hope I'm not premature with this verdict, but I just got rid of the very light, very small, compact Westell modem ATT gave me. ATT sent me a slightly heavier Motorola modem. I've been using the Motorola for about half a day now. It's about the same size as the Westell, compact in size. Does size matter modem-wise?

The same vids that failed with the Westell now run stream fine with the Motorola. I ran about 8 vids both with IE and FF all at the same time and they ran fine with no drop-offs. Also, in the last couple of days, besides the streaming problem, on occasion out of the blue I'd get the IE Cannot Display the Page error message. My browser would stay stuck on that page for a couple of minutes no matter how many times I'd hit Refresh. This would happen on a rare occasion.

I was with Time Warner for about 6 years. Their heavy, large Surfboard modem never failed - I'd rate it A+. I've been with ATT for about 2 months. I thought TW's customer service was bad - and at times it is. ATT has some serious customer service issues that need fixin' and appear to be worse than Time Warner. I hate'em both they both SUCK but whatta ya gonna do you need an Internet connection.

My mom's dead but even so I still wonder how anyone with a heart purer than mine could ever deal with someone like them. Seeing what we, the consumer, have to deal with nowadays, it's just as well that all the pure hearts of yesteryear have been replaced with girls gone wild. Which suits the the suits at ATT and Time Warner just fine. Why, they figure, rise up to cater to the needs to a class of people they find dispensable? In their eyes we're all gang bangers, not veterans of war.

Change is needed. My one grand wish is that Rupert Murdoch and the head of ATT contract H1N1 this coming winter. I tell everyone that Wikipedia's database is bigger than the galaxy - don't doubt me on that 'cause they even have a page on pubic hair. I think mom woulda got a kick out of Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...a_A_virus_subtype_H1N1

 

[Soul Reputation]

I forgot to mention: in the midst of this streaming problem ATT tested the bad Westell modem (a few days ago) and they gave it a clean bill of health anyway. So if you're having the same exact problem I did, problems with drop-offs when streaming vids and disconnects when trying to connect to a web page, swap your modem out and replace it with a fresh one. I don't fault the ATT techs on their mis-diagnosis, for reasons I won't get into. Last night I streamed a movie from Netflix last night and this morning. They ran fine.