Flash Player will not download past 47% - "cannot contact reliable source" error everytime

[Proto923]

So just as the title states - I uninstalled Flash on my computer because it was giving me trouble. Now, everytime I try to redownload Flash for Firefox - it will not go past 47% download and the "Cannot contact reliable source" error comes up every single time. I'm on Windows 7 64 bit and I have Charter Security Suite for Antivirus if that helps.

Never had this problem before when I downloaded Flash and now this is just plain stupid.

[C_F_McBlob]

Download the offline installer

Run it with your browser closed.

[MossyRock20]

I'm currently at Flash 11.7.700.224 on all my systems (both 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 Pro), trying to go to 11.8.

I'm having the same problem on all my PCs, no matter what browser I use, whether the browser is open or closed, and no matter whether my security suite is running or not.  It is happening for both the activeX and the Firefox plug-in components.  There is nothing in my hosts file.

The only common element for all systems is my router, of course, and I have made no changes to it.  I have rebooted it. 

I'm not going to try uninstalling flash because I could end up stuck with having no flash at all.  And, one system had no Firefox plugin and it couldn't download it, either, so the possible cause of already having it installed is moot.

Please advise.

[C_F_McBlob]

Are you able to download it, say.... at work, or at a public Wi-fi hotspot?

If you are, I'd say it definitely points to a firewall problem at home.

[pwillener]

MossyRock20 wrote:

I'm having the same problem

The same problem as the original poster?  And the offline installers that C F McBlob do not resolve it?

[MossyRock20]

I'm having the same problem as the original poster.  When I click on the link for the offline installer, Flash Player for ActiveX (Internet Explorer) in the help document referenced by C F McBlob above, I get a "403 Forbidden" error.

However, this morning I was able to download and install the Firefox plugin from the regular Adobe site, but the ActiveX is still giving the same "cannot contact reliable source" error.

I think something is going on outside of my LAN.

I'm taking my laptop to work this morning to see what happens there.  Same ISP, but different infrastructure.

I'll post back with the results.

[MossyRock20]

The exact same thing is happening at work with my laptop AND all company Windows 7 systems, both 32- and 64-bit, but the  Win-XP systems were able to get the 11.8 ActiveX download successfully from the regular Adobe site.

The only thing my home and work have in common is that they're on the same ISP (Wave Broadband) and the Win 7 systems use F-Secure Security.  The Win-XP systems run MSE instead of F-Secure

I've turned off Windows Firewall and F-Secure on the Win 7 systems and the connection still fails.  It appears that the download uses Akamai 66.119.205.8 and .9 and I was able to ping those successfully.

I'm at a loss here.  Maybe I'm just chasing a ghost that will resolve itself eventually.

[C_F_McBlob]

This is the second "F-secure" problem I've seen today. the other one also said that "F-secure" warned that Adobe's download page was a "malicious software" attack site.

I said it to the other poster and I'll say it again here. "F-secure" is aptly named because it's "F'd".
Get rid of that garbage and use AVG.  It WON'T prevent you from updating software you NEED.

[MossyRock20]

C F, I got this sorted.  It was indeed an F-Secure issue - a hidden, silent false positive.

To make a long story short, F-Secure was blocking the site/IP address as malicious just like you said but WASN'T throwing a warning dialog that I could see and respond to. 

The more "automatic" update process just silently failed.  And, when trying to manually download the ActiveX stand-alone installer in Firefox, it just said "403 Forbidden" in the browser tab.  However, when I used IE 9 to get the stand-alone, I did INDEED get a warning dialog that I could then bypass and get the file.

I installed the ActiveX and I'm now at 11.8.x.x.

F-Secure said that Adobe needs to submit the URL and IP addresses to them for removal from this blacklist.  It's sometimes hard enough getting support at all, let alone me trying to find the proper person at Adobe to give them this requiest.

BTW - F-Secure has been a pretty solid security suite for us, despite some occasional operational glitches.  It's stopped nearly everything that's ever tried to infect our systems.  My home systems has had one infection over the past three years, and our office systems, never.  That's an excellent record.

[C_F_McBlob]

MossyRock20 wrote:

F-Secure said that Adobe needs to submit the URL and IP addresses to them for removal from this blacklist.

That's a two way street. My brother used TrendMicro for about four years before he got rid of it. TrendMicro's stance was "We build our product and update it. The rest of the world can keep up with what we do." When he was no longer able to update QuickBooks because of TrendMicro, he uninstalled it. They told him it was Intuit's responsibility to update their (TrendMicro's) IP database. That kind of arrogance is why Apple has surpassed Microsoft in recent years as the #1 tech company in the world. People won't keep using something that continually doesn't work, like Windows Vista and now 8 - Okay, 8 is more compatible than Vista was but it's far less user friendly UNLESS you're on a touch screen tablet, which means they NEVER should have developed it for desktop and laptop use.

I worked for Intuit from 2003 to 2006 and dev people in Mountian View ran me through the update process for their websites. There are protocols that remain constant that should NOT blacklist a new update from a trusted primary, secondary and tertiary domain that's properly written. It's what prevents hack sites (like... just an example: "xxx.porn.adobe.com") from getting onto a whitelist. Any GOOD antivirus company will have databases that maintain that primary ptrotocol. If they don't they're doing things bassackwards.
I spent six years testing all kinds of software for compatibility, including several antivirus apps (but not F-secure). After all that, I made a rule for myself:

ANY software that interferes with other software, especially software that I use frequently, is gone. If there's a more compatible replacement, I'll use it instead... if not, I'll learn to get by without it.
I do graphic  and web design by trade, and anything that hinders productivity is a liability. Be it photoshop plugins that crash the app, A/V that screws with FTP, or whatever.

[MossyRock20]

C F,

I agree with you that it's arrogance on the part of F-Secure to pass the buck to Adobe on this.  If it were some little-known site I could understand it, but with an important site like Adobe they should take the initiative.

Perhaps they did... the problem has now been resolved.  I was able to download the ActiveX stand-alone installer just now without being blocked.

Thank you for all of your help and input.

[MossyRock20]

The problem is back again.  I've reported it to F-Secure and they said that they will investigate it.  I've given them the link to this support thread.

To the folks at F-Secure:  the URL that is being blocked is:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/support/install_flash_player_ax.exe

This is the link Flash Player for ActiveX (Internet Explorer) found in the Adobe help document:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/installation-problems-flash-player-windows.html#main-pars_hea...

referenced earlier in this thread. 

Also keep in mind that the ActiveX download from the Adobe main site (www.adobe.com > Adobe Flash Player link) downloads initially but execution is blocked (which causes the 47% download hang -> "Cannot contact reliable source" error).  This leads me to also think that silent, automatic updates may also be failing.

This is serious.  Preventing updates to Flash puts F-Secure users in a dangerous situation.