Firefox/new Adobe update/keeps telling me to update w/ Farmville game

[crittersitterz]

Hello

I was instructed by my internet provider Wildblue to change from Explorer to Firefox in which I did with no problems.  The problem that I am having since I have updated to Firefox is that I can not load my farmville game and it tells me to update to the new version of Flash in which I have done.  It is still not letting me play my games.  What is the problem and is there any fix for it.

Please help

JoAnn

[Guest]

Hi, sorry you are having problems. Facebook/Farmville etc have problems and their games also. If you contact them, they will more than likely tell you to update to the latest Flash Player or advise to use a different browser because IE and Flash Player have a problem. LOL

They are the ones that have problems, but they won't admit it. If you want some background, do a search on Facebook & Farmville and some of their most popular games. I did and it was an eye opener.

Most all of the time it is not Flash Player is not working, it is Facebook/Farmville/their games are not working.

Just my experience from dealing with those websites.

eidnolb

[Guest]

Actually Farmville/Adobe is causing my entire computer to crash everytime I play it. At random my entire computer powers off and sometimes I can get 5 minutes of game play while other moments I can get up to 40 minutes of game play. It has been getting worse daily. I sincerely doubt it's farmville because a game can't shut a computer down but bad software can. Windows error reports also state to keep uninstall/reinstall adobe but with out adobe fixing the issue I stay in the same boat. 70 million people play farmville so somehow Adobe/Windows/Firefox/Zynga need to figure it out.

[Kerosene24]

DUH me!  I posted on wrong group.  LOL I should have post here.  Anyway,  I read above and see that they said it was facebook/farmville.  Let me explain,  I have NO problem with farmville until AFTER I installed the new version of newest flash player.  It kept crash for 3 nights and I am unable to play.  Good thing that there is no crops on so I don't lose anything.  But I hope that this will be more helpful.

So anything can be resolve?  Please let me know with any instruction or what to do.  First of all, I am using 3.6.4 FireFox and all I can remember is installed latest flash player, I believe it is 10.1 ?

Thank you for your cooperation.  I do appreciately if there is anything that can be fixed. 

[Guest]

Hi K, Since you have updated Flash Player to the 10.1, you may want to take a look at this thread.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/660726?tstart=0

Many users are having a problem with the hardware acceleration feature that is in the 10.1, and turning it off has helped.

In addition, it is recommended to update your graphic and video drivers to the latest versions.

Read the thread above and Post #16 will tell you how to turn the hardware acceleration off.

Hope this helps.

eidnolb

[Kerosene24]

Thank you for explaining.  I just wanted to be sure, that I read the thread that it was facebook/farmville that is having the problem?  The reason I asked is because farmville was working fine until I get update with new flash player, then it keep say flash is crashed with gray screen.  Maybe they are not updating with their own?  (older version vs newer version is what I am saying.)  Just wanted to be sure.

And I did read another post that you mentioned.  It is for Video on YouTube, I have no problem with YouTube, it works just fine.  Only farmville that I am having problem with.  And I am using firefox.  Thank you very much.

[Guest]

Hi K, What I have seen with Facebook/Farmville/games is even before 10.1 many users were having issues with that site. Not everyone, but from those that were, it appeared a combination of what they had on their systems in the way of add ons to the browser. Also with what version of Flash Player Farmville and the various games supported. And yes, it could very well be that they have not updated to the latest version of Flash Player.

Also changes have been made with the 10.1 and perhaps these conflict with what they do support. Something changed, since you had no problem and then updated and did. Now it does not necessarily mean it is that site. You aren't having any problem with youtube, but many are. A lot of this is with the hardware acceleration, since is it turned on by default.

That's why many are turning it off. Following is the site that explains some of the hardware acceleration.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/help01.html

If you are having the problem with Farmville/games I would try following those instructions in that thread and see if that helps. Also it should not affect youtube, since many that are having problems with youtube are turning the H.A. off.

You'll see in that H.A. info that the graphic/video drivers need to be updated to the latest also. I'd try the H.A. first.

Let me know.

eidnolb

[billitant2]

Adobe Flash and Firefox 3.6.4 are NOT compatible. Firefox 3.6.4 includes a "crash protection". Basically, if Firefox thinks that the flash player is crashing, it somehow isolates the flash player, yielding a gray screen. The rest of the browser remains open. They did this because over 1/3 of their crashes were the result of faults with the third party flash player. HOWEVER, the Firefox software is over-achieving. Adobe Flash is ALWAYS crashing.

Zynga Facebook games like Farmville and Cafe World use Adobe Flash. The games freeze a lot because they are RAM hogs. This freezing seems to trigger Firefox to read it as a "crash" and it won't load up.  I had to roll back my Firefox to 3.5 in order to play my game.

Please note that this is not simply a Zynga/Facebook problem. Adobe Flash gives a crash report ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE!  I can't use my weightwatchers.com site either...but I'm not sure if that is Adobe Flash.

Anyway, Firefox and Adobe have some work to do. I like the idea of the browser staying up if the flash player goes down...but this simply isn't working out. I haven't discovered whether 3.6.4 will allow me to turn off that feature. I don't think so. I need to keep my browser updated...so I'm going to have to stop using Firefox if this continues...which would make me unhappy.

[subangel]

Try this. It worked for me to be  able to play the Facebook games such as all the Zynga games.

In Firefox,  type--  about:config  in the location bar at the top  (The URL bar)

It should pop up or go to a box that has a "Filter"  box. In that box type this--  dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs

IF it  doesn't bring it up, then do what I had to do and search for it. They  are in alphabetical order.  When you find it, it has 10 in the timeout  secs.  I changed it to 60 and have been able to access  all the Facebook games for the last 2 hours. You will need to right  click if I recall correctly. Then you can figure out how to get into it  and change the 10 to a 60. Adobe recommends 30 but I have found that  Zynga games can take awhile to load so 60 seems to work the best.

Hope this  helps ya.  I know how frustrating it is to not be able to get into the  games. Been having that for 2 days now.

[Guest]

Hi subangel, This information came in last night from this thread, you must have seen it too and applied it. The person that posted this "solution" is Kcawley. The thread is : http://forums.adobe.com/message/2926710#2926710

The problem that I have with using that suggestion is that in his post, he said and I quote: "The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear"

I think if it were my computer system, I would want to understand what that means. Increasing the time before Firefox shuts down Flash? If Firefox is going to shut down Flash, what is the difference if it's 10 seconds or 30 seconds?

Is he saying and are you confirming that within that time frame of 20 additional seconds that the games have time to load and then Firefox does NOT shut Flash down?

However it is, I would urge some caution here in using this. Especially what warranty is being warned about. There is another post that has suggested the latest Firefox update is not compatible with Flash Player 10.1. Then another post saying that they reverted back to a previous Firefox version and that fixed their issues.

Just my point of view on this "config"

eidnolb

[subangel]

I did not get this from a poster. It came from Adobe's own site. Posted by Adobe.com.I will attempt to find it again.

Changing the 10 to 60 increases the amount of time that allows Farmville and such to load, and prevents Flash from crashing in the first 10 seconds.  Farmville and such usually take up to 30-60 seconds to load, so by increasing it to 60 it keeps Flash from crashing straight away.

[Guest]

Hi subangel, I just replied to your other post. So I'll just make the correction here. Since that other thread posted about this config suggestion and you and I were both on the forum, I assumed you saw it and applied it. So that part, I retract,

since you found it on Adobe.com. I have never heard of doing that before and my greatest concern was about the "voiding your warranty" warning and still is.

So by using that config, Firefox and Flash Player are working correctly on the game sites? I guess that would be the objective. The warranty issue could be researched, however I don't have that kind of time. It should be available somewhere.

Thanks,

eidnolb

[pwillener]

Subangel: I think you made a great discovery regarding Firefox 3.6.4 and dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs

This newly added "hang detector" can be completely disabled by setting the value to -1

I think your solution may help quite a few people here with similar problems.

[Kerosene24]

Okay, I did tried and type about:config

And page loaded and read....

This might void your warranty!

Changing these advanced setting can be harmful to the sability, security, and performance of this

application.  You should only continue if you are sure of what you are doing.

[ check ] Show this warning next time.

[ I'll be careful, I promise! ]

That is what it read on page when I do that.  I didn't do anything, just wanted to double check to be sure before I continue.  Any suggestion or anything? Thanks!

[Kerosene24]

Sorry, but I am tired of this.  It is been 4-5 days after the update,  The flash is still crashing on the farmville.  Why can't it be fixed?  It doesn't matter if it is firefox, Adobe or farmville, why not all 3 work together to get it all straighten out?  It is getting more frustrated.  Enough is enough!

[pwillener]

Kerosene24 wrote:

Sorry, but I am tired of this.

So have you tried Subangel's solution?

[Kerosene24]

I tried, first time it didn't work so decide to restart the firefox and it finally work.  Thank you for helping.

I appreciate it so much.

[billitant2]

Wow! This solution works, however it is no longer necessary! Mozilla

listened to our complaints and came out with a new version 3.6.6 that

extends the load time from 10s to 45s. I upgraded to this version and it

works fine!

I am really happy about this. All in all, I think Mozilla worked really

quickly to solve the problem. They said that they beta tested the 3.6.4

version with 1 million users. I think they need to take a better look at

their sample-set. Out of 1 million users, they didn't catch the Zynga

problem? But, I'm sure they've learned a lesson from this. Again, I am very

happy with the fact that they listened to us and provided a fast solution.