I Need a Flash Player - Mac OSX 10.5.8 Intel

[bluewaterpig]

I have a MAJOR problem. My flash player had no issues for years but I tried updating it to fix Safari and had to uninstall my Flash player. This created all kinds of problems.

Naturally, when a page tells me to update my Flash player, it brings me to the Adobe page that says my OS doesn't support the latest version of Flash and I need to find an archived version.

From what I've researched, I need to use Flash player 10.3.183.90 .........so I found that archived version. I'm opening the "Install Adobe Flash Player" folder and it just keeps bouncing in my dock...nothing happens.

I'm so frustrated that I don't know what to do anymore. All I'm asking for is a working version of Flash here. Please help me.

[dandab]

Does this work?

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/fp_10.3.183.90_archive.dmg

[bluewaterpig]

If you read my post, you'll see I already have the .dmg file...it's just that when trying to open the "Install Adobe Flash Player" red folder icon after unzipping, it bounces and nothing happens.

[C_F_McBlob]

There can be a few reasons for this to happen, but the most likely cause is a disk permissions error. Disk permissions are flags set for each item in the file system. They define whether an item can be read, written to, or executed. Permissions are initially set when you install an application, such as Flash Player.

If these permissions get out of whack, they can prevent an application from running correctly. The result may be a bouncing Dock icon, as you mentioned, and an application that never finishes launching. Other times an application may appear to launch normally, but then some part of it fails to work, usually a plug-in that the application uses.

The first thing to try in this situation is to repair disk permissions. Luckily, you don’t need to know what the permissions should be; your Mac keeps a database of the default permissions for most applications that you’ve installed. All you need to do is launch Disk Utility and run its Repair Disk Permissions feature. You can find instructions on how to do this in the About: Macs guide, "Using Disk Utility to Repair Hard Drives and Disk Permissions".

[bluewaterpig]

I thought this would solve everything but it didn't. It found lots of paths that "didn't agree" or something like that, and many of them had Adobe in the name. After that, I repaired disk permissions on both my hard drive and the Macintosh HD icon (I think they're the same thing) and restarted my computer. I opened my installer and the same thing happened...

Am I opening the correct file? I'm guessing I don't touch the "Debug" folder. I'm opening the other folder and I see a DMG file, a zip file, and an uninstaller. I'm opening the DMG file which mounts a disk that has the red "Install Adobe Flash Player" folder and when I open that, it bounces for a while in my dock and then sits there (there is no white light under the icon to signify that the installer is actually open) and then I have to force quit it.

I also tried verifying the disk and it says it appears fine.

Also, after I do the "veryify disk permissions" it says that repairing disk permissions is complete. Do I still click repair disk permissions after I verify them?

What could this possibly be?

[C_F_McBlob]

Best way to check if it's permissions is to create a new (admin) user account and try the installer under that account. If it works, your permissions are "broken". One advantage Leopard has over Lion or Mountain Lion is that it can still run AppleJack. (http://applejack.sourceforge.net/)

That's a great utility for repairing permissions at the Kernel level. Very effective, very thorough. Keeps you from having to totally wipe out a user account.

[bluewaterpig]

I have a different user account that I created very long ago that has almost no activity on it whatsoever, but it isn't the admin. I logged onto this user and had the same message asking for an updated Flash player, downloaded the same installer for Flash Player 10.3.183.90 and the SAME THING happened with the bouncing icon going for a few mins...then stopping and not responding all while never even actually opening.

Does this prove anything?

[bluewaterpig]

Here's what I see when repairing disk permissions.

There are 9 "Permissions differ on System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/xxxxx" that seem to be plugins. I'm assuming that Front Row is irrelevant here.

There is 1 "Perm. differ on "Sys/Lib/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework..."

Finally, there are 3 lines that say "Warning: SUID file "example" has been modified and will not be repaired. The 3 files are:

System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework...

usr /sbin /pppd

usr / sbin / vpnd

The last 2 usr ones seem odd...could that be the problem?

[C_F_McBlob]

Whenever I got "could not be repaired" or "will not be repaired" messages I knew it was time to run AppleJack. It'll fix things that the Disk Utility won't because Disk Utility operates in the GUI and AppleJack runs in Single User Mode (Unix Command Line)

[vthomeabq]

I just figured out a possible solution to the bouncing folder issue. Instead of double clicking on the "Install Adobe Flash Player" icon in the .dmg folder, right-click (control-click) and select "Show Package Contents" from the resutling pull-down menu.

Then select the following file: (folder) / Contents / Resources / Adobe Flash Player.pkg

Double-click to open. It should open the installer app "Install Plugin" and will run after you click continue.

I was able to get this archived version of Flash Player working in Safari on OS X 10.5.8 on MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz Intel Duo. It also works within Google Chome, but you have to allow it each time it's called. No workaround for that hiccup.

Huge pain in the ass though! It really feels like Apple and Adobe both don't want you to easily find and install this version of the Flash Plaer, even though many websites still require the plugin to view certain content. In my case, it's content shown on my son's school's e-learning website Egenuity.com — which for us is s non-negotiable, since it's his eduction—not a video game. 

This B.S. cost me an hour of time to figure out how to reslove this problem for him. It's unlikely that most parents (or the school's Windows IT staff) are as savvy as me when it comes to troubleshooting these types of Mac OS issues. Which means that other students and their parents with this Mac OS X 10.5.8 (or ealier) setup will face similar frustration. Unacceptable Adobe!

[C_F_McBlob]

You have to bear in mind that OS 10.5.8 is the LAST universal binary OS that Mac released and since they no longer support ANY Power PC equipment at all, their answer to ANYTHING involving Leopard (even if your Mac is an Intel) is "Upgrade your OS". Considering that you can do that for all of $20  (store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard) They'll be the first and last to tell you there's no excuse for not upgrading.
As you are no doubt aware, Adobe's support for older OS version is less and less by the week, so the $20 would be a good investment to get you into a system that's more able to run the necesasary software for what you do and want to do.

[vthomeabq]

Did you know that installing OS X 10.6.x on several MacBook Pro models released prior to OS X 10.6 will suddenly lose their audio output to the built-in speakers? I've been reluctant to upgrade because I did so on another MacBook Pro that I own, and Apple never fixed or patched the probem. Can only get audio-out if I connect an external speaker via the audio jack, USB or BlueTooth. Totally frustrating!

[C_F_McBlob]

I remember hearing a lot about that because I bought my MBP the day before Snow Leopard was released, but I never had the problem. For most people (from what I read) it was a matter of a simple adjustment to the Audio MIDI Output settings, or a reinstall of the 10.6.8 update. Others (who did a "migration" vs a clean install - I did the latter since my system was only 24 hours old) had software that needed updating after the switch to SL, like a game or sound editing software that wasn't quite ready for the change.

[Guest]

I have to thank you (I almost worship you!) I was going completely insane with downloading Flash Player 10.3.183.90 after having uninstalled an earlier version and feeling like a complete FOOL for doing so. All I got was that bouncing red icon in my dock and nothing would happen, then it would even stop bouncing (no more response so I'd trash it time and time again and start over)! I did what you said here and IT WORKED LIKE A MIRACLE, and I LOVE YOU AND YOUR GENIUS WAYS FOR THIS!!!!!!!!! I know, a lot of emotion for a video player, but heck, I'm weird. Thank you so much for sharing that REAL SOLUTION as opposed to all the other ineffective stuff posted by so many others.