White box of doom!!!

[Fiery Diamond]

Also known as: "What's happening to the video player?!"

So, I've recently been encountering this problem on the vast majority of sites I try to watch streamed videos on. The page loads fine, but where the video player is supposed to be is simply a white box. That just sits there and does nothing. If I right-click on it it says "Video not loaded."

Can anybody explain to me what's going on? Is there any possible solution? I'm starting to get a little frustrated.

I do currently have the latest version of Adobe, in case you were wondering.
Also, I use firefox. However, when I tried to use IE to see if there was a difference, it was still a white box on the places I tried.

[Mystic Muse]

does youtube work? That might give you some indication of whether it's those sites or the whole intrawebz

[Krade]

Perhaps clearing out your cookies and temporary files? I'm pretty far from an expert but whenever I have wierd problems like that I delete them and see if it helps. Not sure how much it helps, but it feels like it does.

[golentan]

When was the last time you updated your version of flash? I ran a couple versions behind a few years back and had a similar problem, so if you're not updating regularly that could explain it.

[thubby]

you can always uninstall and reinstall flash.

[Fiery Diamond]

you can always uninstall and reinstall flash.

I, being not very computer literate, attempted this without searching for instructions first. And now, I'm stuck.

I went to the programs and features section, and clicked to uninstall Adobe Flash Player 10. Unfortunately, I also clicked to Uninstall Adobe Flash Active X. I now have no clue how to reinstall or re-download.

When I click on Adobe's site to download, it pops up saying I need additional plug-ins to see everything, but then it has no idea how to find the plug-ins I need (which I strongly suspect was the Active X). I now have no Adobe Flash and no idea how to fix this problem. HALP!!!

[lesser_minion]

ActiveX is for Internet Explorer. Firefox couldn't care less about it, and if you really want to re-install it, just click the "different operating system or browser" link and find internet explorer in the options (or visit the get flashplayer page in Internet Explorer).

If you go to the site, it should automatically give you the right page to download. You don't need to worry about the missing plugin notice - Adobe play a video on the download page so that people who already have the plugin can check whether or not it needs updating.


Which sites exactly did you have problems with? Flash isn't the only way to embed video into a web page, so it might not be the problem at all.

For Youtube, make sure you aren't using the html 5 beta. It doesn't work in Firefox.

[Fiery Diamond]

I'm suspecting flash may not be the issue, but now I'm trying to reinstall flash and I'm having problems.

Here, I'll describe what's currently happening.


1) I go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP
2) I click "agree and install now"
3) It takes me to the next page; the one that says "Thank You!

Your download will start automatically.
If it does not start, click here for troubleshooting information.

If a dialog box appears with the option to run or save, click run.

For Firefox users, please see the Installation Instructions.

Learn more | System requirements | Distribute Flash Player | Installation instructions "

4) Up top, I have a bar that says, "Additional plugins are required to display all the media on this page" and has a button I can click labeled "Install missing plugins."

5) Nothing is being downloaded.

6) If I click on the "Install missing plugins," it gives me a window titled "Plugin Finder Service" that says "No suitable plugins were found."

Below it says "Unknown Plugin (application/getplusadobe16263)" with a button labeled "Manual Install" next to it. At the bottom it has a blue link that says, "Find out more about Plugins or manually find missing plugins."

And at the very bottom it has buttons labeled "back" "finish" and "cancel," of which only "finish" is clickable.

7) If I click Manual Install, it pops up with a window for opening or saving "gp.xpi" which it says "which is a XPInstall Install" "from: http://platformdladobe.com"

(In case it is relevant, I'm using Vista)

8) After saving said file and searching online to find out that I need to drag it to the browser window to use it, I do that and it tells me I need to restart firefox for changes to take effect. I do so. It makes no difference, taking me back to step 3.

9) If I click the Link instead during step 7, it just takes me to a page with a list of popular plugins, telling me nothing about my situation.

I'm stumped and worried.

[lesser_minion]

With Firefox, Adobe like to make people install a load of other junk. Try using Internet Explorer to visit the Get Flash Player page and then using the "Different Operating System or Browser" link to get the correct version.

The Thank You page has a flash animation on it - that's what's causing the "additional plugins are required" message (which comes from the Mozilla Default Plug-in).

Did you check that the sites you were visiting used Flash as opposed to Java or Silverlight?

[Fiery Diamond]

Thanks for the advice on using IE to install it. It worked.


How do I check to see what's being used on the sites I'm visiting? Some of the sites the white box appears for all of the videos I try to view, but others it only appears for some of the videos.

Edit: I have Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Java, Silverlight (whatever version came with the computer), Windows Media Player, DivX, RealPlayer... I'm really not sure at all what I'm missing out on.

Here's an example of a video that is just showing me a white box: Clickie (http://www.anilinkz.com/d-gray-man/d-gray-man-episode-45/)

[lesser_minion]

With any luck, the site will have a help link somewhere explaining what you need.

AdBlock can interfere with videos on some websites - if you're using it, see if the video loads when you right-click on the AdBlock icon and choose 'disable for this page only' (you might have to hit F5 as well).

It's possible to create a filter that blocks ads while leaving worthwhile content in place, but the process is a little more complicated.

There is a way to display videos without using a plug-in, and it's possible that some websites are trying to use that. In that case, there isn't much you can do about it if it fails to work.

The site you were using doesn't work for me either, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a problem on their end.

It looked to me like that site was actually getting the video from somewhere else - it's quite possible that all (or several) of the sites you're trying to use are referencing videos from one site that has either dropped the video, died, or been nuked.

[Fiery Diamond]

Huh. Well, that could be problematic.

Here's another site with the white box problem (http://www.animecrazy.net/d.gray-man-episode-45/53111)

And it makes me wonder about Flv. Do you need some kind of special plugin to watch Flv stuff? Is there a plugin that is specifically suited for it? I did a quick look on the internet and found that flvplayer.com basically exists for downloading stuff so you can use flv imbedding, but not for viewing; I found things elsewhere offering downloads for flv viewing, but I have no idea what sites are trustworthy on that.

[lesser_minion]

That other site appears to be serving a flash video weirdly - I'm not sure what's going on there, but I don't think that one is a problem on your end either.

To actually download flv as a file you can work with normally on your computer isn't that hard - there are quite a few Firefox add-ons that can handle it. VLC handles flv in theory, although I've never actually got it to work.

In general, you shouldn't need to do so, but it's there if you need it.


As far as I'm aware, the best way to view flv is as intended - using the player provided by the website serving the video. I don't know of any attempts to make a plugin that does flash better - I think most of the people who would just find another website.