Get it from here http://www.adobe.com/getflash

The forum software did not detect your Flash plugin. Can you check whether it is disabled? You can do that here:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Plugins category

It should be listed as Shockwave Flash. If it's disabled, it will be sorted to the bottom on a grayed out background.

To see whether the Flash player plugin installed to its usual location, check this folder:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash {based on Windows 7 64-bit}

You want to find NPSWF32_11_7_700_224.dll

If that file does not exist, you may need to install again. Make sure to specify that you want the player for non-IE browsers.

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

If it's there but Firefox is not finding it:

(1) You may need to exit and restart Firefox to re-scan for new plugins. (After that, you can use History > Restore Previous Session to get back your most recently used windows and tabs.)

(2) If that doesn't help, the setting to scan the registry for new plugins might have been disabled. You could check here:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(B) In the filter box, type or paste scan and pause while the list is filtered

(C) If plugin.scan.plid.all is not set to its default value of true, double-click it to toggle it back to the default. You might need to exit and restart Firefox to trigger another scan.

If this change doesn't stick, check for a user.js file as described in this article: How to fix preferences that won't save.

Fingers crossed we've solved it somewhere along the line!

Thank you both for your reply. I do see I made the mistake of not checking my plugins. I disabled it, and I guess therefore Firefox couldn't load Shockwave flash? I enabled the plugin--shockwave flash, and no I have the system. But, that raises the question of why I disabled shockwave flash in the first place. It was disabled because it was making my computer crash. When my computer crashed, I went into firefox safe mode, and my computer worked OK there after. That is until the problem appeared again a day or two later, and again using firefox safe mode. Once I disabled shockwave flash it seemed the problem went away? But, I need shockwave flash to hear and view the music on youtube, I guess? So, it appears I need the system of adobe shockwave flash? How do I resolve the problem with shockwave flash, because I know it is going to have problems again? I also noticed that when I viewed firefox problems Sunday, it said I had 21 computer crashes. I'm pretty sure most of those crashes were from shockwave flash. Hope you can help. Yes, I do now have shockwave flash. But for how long, before it causes problems again? Thank you both.

Rick

This is some standard guidance that addresses the most common issues with Flash:

(1) Disable hardware graphics acceleration in Firefox and in Flash

(A) In Firefox, un-check the box here and restart:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > General > "Use hardware acceleration when available"

(B) In Flash, see this support article from Adobe: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues

(2) Disable protected mode (Win Vista & Win 7 & maybe Win 8)

See this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

Thank you for your reply. I will try disabling the adobe shockwave flash and see what happens. I will let you know how this works out. Thank you.

Rick

I have done the suggestion of disabling hardware acceleration. That made no difference what so ever. My computer still hangs up and stops. I also keep getting the message: shockwave flash has stop responding, do you want to continue or stop shockwave flash? The only way to get out of the problem is to respond: stop shockwave flash. While it is simple to stop the plugin shockwave flash, how will I be able to view and hear the music on youtube? Being I have been able to view and hear that music on youtube for sometime, I'm confused as to why is has become a problem recently. Any reason why it has? Also, and more importantly, how do I resolve this persistent problem? Again, thank you.

Rick

Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

• You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

Hi sciencemagic, what is your OS? If you run Windows Vista or later, try disabling the Flash Player protected mode as described in this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

Thanks jscher2000,

      I will try and disable protected mode for flash player. But, I'm confused as to how to do that. The instructions per adobe confused me. Can you help me uninstall protection mode jscher2000? Also, I thought I would try using a earlier version of flash player. But, I couldn't find an easy way to do that. Is there an easy way to install flash 11.2 as was possibly suggested? Do you have a explanation as to why this is a recent problem? Also, is shockwave flash the same as flash player? Being the error message seems to pertain to that specifically? Thank you.

Rick

Waka,

    Thanks for the reply. I did try running in firefox safe mode, and that did solve the problem. But, the problem came back after sometime. Not sure though if I was still running in firefox safe mode when the problem came back. I know I never switched back to regular firefox. But, maybe firefox switches back to normal mode after sometime? Is shockwave flash the same as flash player Waka? Thank you.

Rick

Hello,

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Hi sciencemagic, to disable protected mode you either edit a file by adding one line of text, or create a new file with that one line of text. The tricky part is the file is in a protected location, so you may need to drag it out to another folder to edit, or create it in another folder, then drag it into the protected folder.

As for why it might be recent, I was able to use protected mode fine for the past year since Flash 11.3 was introduced last June, but after some recent Windows updates, it causes page with Flash to never load and eventually I got a dialog where I could stop a script. (I posted my tale of woe here: Flash hangs Firefox (eventually get script continue/stop dialog) ).

Regarding Flash 11.2, since it is so old, Firefox will block it. I wouldn't bother trying to track down that version.

Waka,

 I already tried that. It made no difference. The problem with shockwave flash came back. Again, is shockwave flash the same as flash player? Thank you.

Rick

jscher2000,

     Thanks again for your reply. If flash player 11.2 is not to be used, what earlier version should be used? I understand your comment about why now, and it wasn't a problem previously.
    Unfortunately jscher I will need, if possible, step by step instructions for disabling of the protection mode of flash player. I just don't have the computer savy  to know what to do without specific guided help jscher. Hope you can hang in there and help me. Again, thank you.

Rick

nope flash and shockwave flash are different http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/otherversions/ - shockwave http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ - flash

Waka,

        So, if my problem seems to be shockwave flash, why am I bothering with flash player? Am I wasting my time trying to explore ways to repair flash player when it's not the problem? After all, the error message I get is about shockwave flash very consistantly. Most of the time my computer issues are associated with a shockwave flash message. So, if my problem is shockwave flash how do I go about it's repair? From what I can see with your reply Wake, both are adobe systems? Is shockwave flash needed to run youtube music anyway Waka? Just what is shochwave flash needed for Wake? Can you please explain and help? Thank you again.

Rick

Go to FIrefox Button > Addons > Plugins > go beside Shockwave Flash and hit disable, do you have the issues now.

NOTE: Adobe Flash will still be enabled and videos like youtube are still viewable.

Waka,

     Thank you for your reply. Yes, I already did disable shockwave flash via plugins. And, it made no difference with my computer crashing. Consequently, I enable it again. And, I also keep getting the error message about shockwave. Something is happening Waka that apparently is causing computer problems with my system. Yes, I already did try running in safe mode, and the did solve the problem. But, the problem reappeared later, quite a bit later, when I didn't change my safe mode running. Does firefox automatically change back into normal mode without me doing it? Knowing what you do now Waka, what do you suggest? I will try disabling shockwave flash again, and see what that does. If I resort back to running in safe mode, how long will my system run in safe mode Waka? Thank you.

Rick

Hello,

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

There is some confusion here about "Shockwave". There originally was a product named Shockwave player for the Director product line, and when Flash was released it was named Shockwave Flash. When you view the Plugins list in Firefox, Flash is called Shockwave Flash and the other Shockwave player is called Shockwave for Director. When you view Flash in Windows, it may go by a different name. Yes, it's needlessly confusing...

Regarding the protected mode change:

(1) In a Windows Explorer window, open this folder:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

(2)

(A) If a file named mms.cfg exists, drag it to your Documents folder where you can edit it without being bothered about administrator privileges

(B) If a file named mms.cfg does not exist, open your Documents folder, right-click > New > Text File and name the new file mms.cfg

(3) Open mms.cfg from Documents into a text editor such as Notepad. Add this on its own line (I put it last):

ProtectedMode=0

Save the file and close Notepad.

(4) Ctrl+drag the mms.cfg file back to the Flash folder to make a copy there, keeping the original in Documents

This change should take effect the next time to restart Firefox.