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Youtube videos will not load

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
Hello, I am having a weird issue with youtube. Every time I try to load a video, it gives me the "An error occurred, please try again later" error. I updated my flash, java, waterfox and nothing seems to help. I even put a fresh copy of windows on and its still giving me the same error. Does anyone have any ideas?

EDIT - *SOLUTION*

My date was set to one month ahead.
 
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Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
I can get the ads to load on IE and chrome (probobly firefox too, but I use adblock) but as soon as its time to start the video, it gives me the error.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,095
10,563
126
I was getting that problem for awhile. My issue was the addon RequestPolicy. I think Google jostled around their infrastructure, and RequestPolicy was blocking an offsite request. All this is to say look over your third party security settings, including your router. Maybe something is preventing Youtube from loading videos.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Create a new profile in FF and see if you still get the error. How many videos have you tried?

I have been playing videos in FF with ABE and Flash on "ask to activate" and haven't had any issues, even this morning. This is with videos that need flash, and those that don't.
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
Thanks for the info. I went into internet options and disabled windows checking for certificates, I went into waterfox settings changed it to not block any sites. I also poked around in my router and couldnt find anything that would block youtube videos. I am able to view videos finbe on all the other sites I tried, just not youtube :(

EDIT - I just disabled all my addons (adblock, download statusbar, and video download helper) and I can get the youtube ads to play now, but the video still doesnt load. I will try to create a new profile and see where that gets me.

EDIT2 - Created a new profile and the video still doesnt load. What settings in my router could possibly cause this? Ive been in IT for 2 1/2 years and I have never seen this issue persist this long before.
 
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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,095
10,563
126
EDIT2 - Created a new profile and the video still doesnt load. What settings in my router could possibly cause this? Ive been in IT for 2 1/2 years and I have never seen this issue persist this long before.

Custom DNS might if you use some aggressive block lists.
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
Custom DNS might if you use some aggressive block lists.

I havent modified my routers security settings from default, and this router used to work just fine at my old address. I tried using the default comcast DNS servers, and googles DNS servers and I get the same result. Just for fun, I even called comcast to see if they were blocking the videos for some reason, and they said everything is fine on their end.

Also, I set youtube to use the HTML5 player when possible, to try and rule out flash being stupid, and that doesnt work either. Same thing with disabling hardware acceleration.

SUPEREDIT - I think I have some extremely helpful information now. I go here:
https://www.proxfree.com/

and if I put the URL of the video into there and open it, the video plays just fine. Does that mean somthing on my network is specifically blocking youtube?
 
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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,095
10,563
126
SUPEREDIT - I think I have some extremely helpful information now. I go here:
https://www.proxfree.com/

and if I put the URL of the video into there and open it, the video plays just fine. Does that mean somthing on my network is specifically blocking youtube?

Sounds like it. Do you have another physical machine you can try?
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
Sounds like it. Do you have another physical machine you can try?

Tested on another device and it loaded fine. I think its an issue specific with my machine. But I just put a brand new copy of windows on last night, so it shouldnt be broken already......
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,095
10,563
126
Tested on another device and it loaded fine. I think its an issue specific with my machine. But I just put a brand new copy of windows on last night, so it shouldnt be broken already......

How about Windows firewall, or something that might leverage Windows firewall(a/v)?
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
How about Windows firewall, or something that might leverage Windows firewall(a/v)?

I just disabled windows firewall, and I am not running an AV, but im still getting the same issue. I went into my HOSTS file to make sure it wasnt blocking youtube, and it looked fine.
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
I just loaded a couple VM's up and im getting the same issue. What could possibly cause this?
 

balloonshark

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2008
7,148
3,622
136
I've been having this same problem for months. It's to the point that if the video doesn't load immediately I just reload the page and it works fine. I'm using Pale Moon with Adblock Latitude, NoScript and Ghostery. I use Open DNS in my router and MVPS HOSTS file, Online Armor HIPS/firewall, Emsisoft anti-malware and Sandboxie. I don't see the ads at the beginning of vids on this rig but I see them on my Nexus 7. Hopefully something in my setup will help with your problem.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,095
10,563
126
I tried using the default comcast DNS servers, and googles DNS servers and I get the same result. Just for fun, I even called comcast to see if they were blocking the videos for some reason, and they said everything is fine on their end.

I was looking over the old posts, and noticed this. Did you flush the dns cache after switching servers? If there was a bad entry, you may have still been using it. What dns server did you have at first?
 

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
107
106
Thanks for the help everyone, I figured it out. Apparently my date was set to april instead of march :p

I will update the OP with the solution in case this happens to someone else.........
 
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Jodell88

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
8,762
30
91
Stuff like that boggles my mind. How exactly does having the wrong date stop videos from working on YouTube?
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
From what I have seen, things like this usually affect more than one little aspect of surfing the Web, but I guess it depends on how off it is.

In most cases, the issue is Certificates, as they have a limited date range.
 

Morbus

Senior member
Apr 10, 2009
998
0
0
Hello, I am having a weird issue with youtube. Every time I try to load a video, it gives me the "An error occurred, please try again later" error. I updated my flash, java, waterfox and nothing seems to help. I even put a fresh copy of windows on and its still giving me the same error. Does anyone have any ideas?

EDIT - *SOLUTION*

My date was set to one month ahead.
This happens with me as well and my solution was to enable youtube's HTML5 player.

https://www.youtube.com/html5

I troubleshot the problem as best I could and the closest I've got is that is has something to do with the amount of time (a few seconds) it takes Firefox's plugin container to access the sound coded or the sound card, and Youtube doesn't like waiting for that so it gives up. If I reloaded the page, it'd play fine.