[solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

pottzie · 2012-05-24 19:18:41

I have Arch 32 bit on an older Compaq PC. I haven't used it in over a month, and decided to plug it in and see what happens after an upgrade. Now, for some reason, I can't play any video. I re-installed flashplugin, and just did another -Syu upgrade that included a new version of Chromium, but still no video in Chromium, Firefox and Opera.

I came across threads saying that others were having problems with flash, but haven't seen anything concrete as to what the fix is. Is this an old issue that's been solved, or is it still an issue? Or is there a fix, period?

Last edited by pottzie (2012-05-25 01:52:32)

ConnorBehan · 2012-05-24 19:30:18

Is Flash starting but showing nothing or do the sites say you have a missing plugin? You can check whether flash is active in "about:plugins". Have you tried setting "EnableLinuxHWVideoDecode = 0" in mms.cfg?

If Gnash and the Youtube HTML5 option fail then there might be something wrong with video on your system in general. Otherwise all I can suggest is trying other versions of flashplugin.

pottzie · 2012-05-24 19:39:01

Using nano to access either /etc/mms.cfg or /etc/adobe/mms.conf just brings up an empty file. Youtube in Chromium says "couldn't load plugin". Firefox and Opera are just black boxes where the video plays, with no notifications.

I'm also having problems getting text to appear, seems to be an issue with Chromium. When I open a webpage, I'll get a lot of small squares where the text should be. Even happens when opening some posts in the forum, and that's not helping me find an answer to this. Firefox shows Flash under about:plugins:

Shockwave Flash

File: libflashplayer.so
Version:
Shockwave Flash 11.2 r202

Last edited by pottzie (2012-05-24 19:44:07)

Gusar · 2012-05-24 19:50:34

Probably your processor lacks SSE2, which flash 11.2 needs. Use 10.3.183.19 from here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplay … tion3.html

pottzie · 2012-05-24 20:48:14

I've been trying to install 10.3.183.19, but it's been 'dicey.' I can change to the Downloads directory and run tar zxvf install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz. That unpacks the file, but when I cd to the directory that creates, ./configure won't run. I installed gecko-mediaplayer and totem-plugin but still no video.

The weird 'little squares' that I'm seeing with Chromium still happens. As a for instance, when I click on the 'wrench' icon in Chromium to use it to do anything, it's all little squares instead of text. Spell check just indicated that I'd misspelled something, and when I select it, all squares there too.

Funny, in a way.

Gusar · 2012-05-24 21:10:10

Err, why would you assume ./configure is the thing to do?

As for the little squares, I'm thinking you have some weird locale set, and the squares would be letters from that language that your current font doesn't have.

ConnorBehan · 2012-05-24 22:00:15

pottzie wrote:

That unpacks the file, but when I cd to the directory that creates, ./configure won't run. I installed gecko-mediaplayer and totem-plugin but still no video.

Just copy libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. Media player browser plugins have nothing to do with the flash plugin. If a video file is directly embedded in a website using embed tags (pretty rare these days) you need the former. If an swf file is embedded instead and that swf file finds and plays a video file, you need the latter.

pottzie · 2012-05-25 01:52:07

ConnorBehan, thanks, cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins made flash work again.

Now if I could get Chromium to speak English, or at least get it to realize that I speak it. Then again it's fun to guess what's in a box when I click it. Like ordering from a Chinese menu, sorta.

ConnorBehan · 2012-05-25 04:32:44

Well Gusar provided the more accurate information. Did you uncomment the locales you need in /etc/locale.gen? Edit this file, make sure the language you use does not being with a "#" character and reinstall glibc. You can also try starting chromium with "LC_ALL=C chromium".

pottzie · 2012-05-26 13:39:40

Sorry about the late reply, it's been busy around here. Commenting out the English (iso?) locale (tried the other English locale too, just to be sure. Seemed like they were more like locales for time zones to be honest) didn't change Chromium's issues. I wonder since this as well as flash worked before the recent changes to the file system were done, if the re-arrangement of the file structure is doing things that weren't expected.

ismaelvc · 2012-06-15 22:39:22

Thank you very much! you guys saved me lol

I have an old sony vaio pcg-fxa679, it comes with 'MACH64(0): ATI 3D Rage Mobility' I did what Gusar told and it worked, just to be sure I would like to ask a few things.

Does this means that flash version 10.3.183.19 is the las one that will run on this mache? If so should I black list flashplugin in pacman.conf to prevent furhter upgrades? and if so should I also include mozilla-comon and ati, mach64, mesa, chromium, etc. or just flashplugin is ok?

Also whenever chromium loads a page that needs flash it tells that as it is not updated the plugin was stopped, selecting 'use it for this time', loads the plugin and no problem, I tried searching some option in mms.cfg to stop this but I'm not sure, pacman -Qs falshplugin still says the version is 11.2.202.236-1, Is there a way to change this parameter in the database, to stop this behavior?

also do you think is worth trying "EnableLinuxHWVideoDecode = 0" in mms.cfg, for this old hardware?

And lastly I've seen there is a drm mach64 module in aur, should I try it? I don't really get what does it does, but if it improves things even by a little I canadd it, right?

Thanks in advance!

Gusar · 2012-06-15 23:15:09

10.3 is for now still getting updates. Keyword *for now*, but only Adobe themselves know how long they'll continue to update it (or maybe even they don't ). The latest is 10.3.183.20

The EnableLinuxHWVideoDecode option is for the "decode" part of VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix), and only the nvidia driver supports that, so it has no effect on your old mach64.

The mach64-dri module from AUR could help, as it gives you opengl. But I'm not actually sure what exactly flash uses opengl for. I know it's used to scale the picture when you go fullscreen, I don't know if it's used for anything beyond that.

Last edited by Gusar (2012-06-15 23:16:26)

ismaelvc · 2012-06-15 23:43:04

Thanks gusar I'll keep it in mind, any way I just cloned the drive as it is now, just in case! Because right now my arch install is perfect for me.

I'll try the mach64 module from aur, if it gives me opengl maybe it will help in the future, with other programms (I don't really know), but will read more about this.

thanks again!

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-24 19:18:41

[solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#2 2012-05-24 19:30:18

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#3 2012-05-24 19:39:01

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#4 2012-05-24 19:50:34

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#5 2012-05-24 20:48:14

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#6 2012-05-24 21:10:10

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#7 2012-05-24 22:00:15

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#8 2012-05-25 01:52:07

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#9 2012-05-25 04:32:44

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#10 2012-05-26 13:39:40

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#11 2012-06-15 22:39:22

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#12 2012-06-15 23:15:09

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

#13 2012-06-15 23:43:04

Re: [solved]Flashplugin doesn't play video

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