Firefox no longer follows some links and no longer opens ESPN3 player [Solved]

[Ditzian]

Are you fully up to date? Enter the following in a terminal. You don't need root privileges.

rpm --version
apt-get --version

You should see RPM version 4.8.1 and apt 0.5.15lorg3.95. No one has yet asked what video card you are using and what driver is loaded for it. Look for that information in PCC>Hardware>Browse and Configure Hardware. Click the arrow to the left of Videocard in the left pane, then click the videocard shown to see the information.

RPM version 4.8.1
[jan@localhost ~]$ apt-get --version
apt 0.5.15lorg3.95 for linux i386 compiled on Jun 10 2011 19:24:14

It says Radeon HD3300 Graphics.  While I do not remember exactly, this sounds right, especially when I look at the Misc. Module information, which says: Card:ATI Radeon HD 2000 and later (radeon/fglrx).  I remember that when I configured it a few years ago I had to select the item that included a number of graphics cards, and was labeled "[something] and later."  I do not think this has been altered.

Jan

 

[djohnston]

It says Radeon HD3300 Graphics.  While I do not remember exactly, this sounds right, especially when I look at the Misc. Module information, which says: Card:ATI Radeon HD 2000 and later (radeon/fglrx).  I remember that when I configured it a few years ago I had to select the item that included a number of graphics cards, and was labeled "[something] and later."  I do not think this has been altered.
 

Well, I had to switch to another PC where I have an Ati card. Mine's older, a Radeon 9200 SE, using the "X1950 and earlier" driver. I didn't have Firefox installed, so I installed it. Been meaning to do it, anyway. Okay, with no Firefox addons and using flash-player-plugin from Synaptic, I went to the ESPN3 site. There's nothing currently streaming, so I picked a rerun of a girl's basketball game. In the viewing window that popped up, I waited a couple of minutes while the circular red arrow quit spinning. Then I refreshed the page, and the video started playing about a minute later.

It looks to me like you have the right driver for your video card. You could try renaming the .macromedia folder in your home directory. You'll have to enable view hidden files and folders in your file browser to see it. The folder only has settings in it, nothing necessary for running flashplayer, and should be recreated. One other thing you can try, and it's a longshot. Go to the flash control panel page and delete any flash cookies. No, your browser settings will not do that for you. Currently, you have to do it manually.

I'm out of other ideas for the time being. All I can say is that if ESPN3 will play back on my humble Ati rig, 900mHz AMD Duron CPU with 1152MB of RAM and 128MB of video RAM, yours should also be able to. To see how much RAM your video card has, do: lspci | grep VGA. You will see something like "01:00.01 VGA compatible controller:" followed by the card model. Using this example, do: lspci -v -s 01:00.0. You will see two lines beginning with "Memory". The larger amount is main RAM and the smaller amount is cache RAM.

[Ditzian]

It looks to me like you have the right driver for your video card. You could try renaming the .macromedia folder in your home directory. You'll have to enable view hidden files and folders in your file browser to see it. The folder only has settings in it, nothing necessary for running flashplayer, and should be recreated. One other thing you can try, and it's a longshot. Go to the flash control panel page and delete any flash cookies. No, your browser settings will not do that for you. Currently, you have to do it manually.

I followed the directions, and found the right place, and deleted the sites, but no difference.  I never get any action after receiving the player.  No spinning wheel, no response to any link.

I'm out of other ideas for the time being. All I can say is that if ESPN3 will play back on my humble Ati rig, 900mHz AMD Duron CPU with 1152MB of RAM and 128MB of video RAM, yours should also be able to. To see how much RAM your video card has, do: lspci | grep VGA. You will see something like "01:00.01 VGA compatible controller:" followed by the card model. Using this example, do: lspci -v -s 01:00.0. You will see two lines beginning with "Memory". The larger amount is main RAM and the smaller amount is cache RAM.

I have more memory and a much faster processor.  And the whole thing worked for over a year.

Jan

[Ditzian]

Here is a new wrinkle on the problem.  I went to a site that worked two days ago, and the videos failed there as well.  I checked youtube and those worked.  So I decided that perhaps Flash needed an update.  There were two Flash programs, one was Adobe Flash, and the other was Flash plugin.  I reinstalled the plugin, however, when I tried to do that to Flash, it could only be removed.  I figured it did not matter, since it did not work anyway, so I removed it, then updated Synaptic and looked for it again, but it was not there.  Now, when I go to any page with Adobe Flash, I get the message that there is no Flash, and that I should download it.  I could do that directly from Adobe, but I know that PCLinuxOS recommends that we only use software from Synaptic.  So how do I get Flash back, and will that fix my problems?  I am using ibiblio as my repository.

Jan

[Ditzian]

OK. Here is another update before I shut down the computer.  Now, some Flash pesentations play, some spin the wheel but do not play.  ESPN3 still does not play.  I reloaded Synaptic and Flash is still missing.  I see that there is a configuration program for KDE4 and Flash.  Do I need that?

Jan

[djohnston]

I am using ibiblio as my repository.

You should not be using http://distro.ibiblio.org/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/apt/ as your repository. All PCLinuxOS mirrors sync and update from that site. If users do, too, the site is slower and less responsive to the repository mirrors.

So I decided that perhaps Flash needed an update.  There were two Flash programs, one was Adobe Flash, and the other was Flash plugin.  I reinstalled the plugin, however, when I tried to do that to Flash, it could only be removed.  I figured it did not matter, since it did not work anyway, so I removed it, then updated Synaptic and looked for it again, but it was not there.  Now, when I go to any page with Adobe Flash, I get the message that there is no Flash, and that I should download it.  I could do that directly from Adobe, but I know that PCLinuxOS recommends that we only use software from Synaptic.  So how do I get Flash back, and will that fix my problems? 

You only need flash-player-plugin package. If the plugin is properly installed, you don't need anything else. Not sure where the Adobe flash package came from. Did you previously install that from Adobe's site?

The other thing I suggested was renaming the .macromedia folder in your home directory. I don't see any mention that you did that. As far as the kde4-config-flash package, if you're using KDE4, I don't see how it would hurt. Really don't see how it will help, either.

[Ditzian]

You should not be using http://distro.ibiblio.org/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/apt/ as your repository. All PCLinuxOS mirrors sync and update from that site. If users do, too, the site is slower and less responsive to the repository mirrors.

I changed it to Calgary.

You only need flash-player-plugin package. If the plugin is properly installed, you don't need anything else. Not sure where the Adobe flash package came from. Did you previously install that from Adobe's site? 

No, I do not remember installing from Adobe, but perhaps I did.  Usually I try to stick with PCLinuxOS.

The other thing I suggested was renaming the .macromedia folder in your home directory. I don't see any mention that you did that. As far as the kde4-config-flash package, if you're using KDE4, I don't see how it would hurt. Really don't see how it will help, either.

I missed that.  I just tried it and ESPN3 came back with a request that I select my provider from a list, and my provider was not on that list, so perhaps it no longer subscribes.   Now, when I try the same link, it simply does not work.  I do not understand why Windows can do what PCLinuxOS cannot do, since the provider, and even my ip address, is identical.

I have also discovered that Flash cannot decode a number of video presentations.  It asks me to let it find the required plug-in, but never finds a suitable one.

Jan

[djohnston]

I do not understand why Windows can do what PCLinuxOS cannot do, since the provider, and even my ip address, is identical.

I have also discovered that Flash cannot decode a number of video presentations.  It asks me to let it find the required plug-in, but never finds a suitable one.

PCLinuxOS can do what Windows can do, in this context, in relation to playing flash. Others here have already reported that they are not having the problems you are. I have reported the same. As far as I know, you are the only one experiencing this particular problem. Don't know what else to say.

[Old-Polack]

I missed that.  I just tried it and ESPN3 came back with a request that I select my provider from a list, and my provider was not on that list, so perhaps it no longer subscribes. 

Try each of the providers listed. Your ISP may have sub-contracted that service to one of those on the list.

[Ditzian]

I tried the three providers on the list, and my Windstream ID and password did not work.  There was no mention of Windstream at any point during the ID process.

As for my statement about PCLinuxOS cannot do what Windows can do, I meant it exactly as I experienced it.  I was not making a comment about PCLinuxOS in general vs. Windows, I made it with reference to my own experience.  I do not even understand how my Windows laptop could present the sports content to me if My ISP is no longer subscribed. 

I no longer expect to be able to view ESPN3, but I would like it if Flash were able to present all the Flash content.  I do not know how to update the codecs, and it seems that I do not have some of them.

As time goes on, I will try to determine the links that Firefox ignores which are acceptable to Opera.  At the next failure to open a link, I will bring up Opera and see what happens.

Jan

[djohnston]

Sorry I couldn't help you more, Ditzian. Maybe someone else will have some suggestions. I'm at a loss right now.

[CJ]

This is probably not of much help, but... maybe worth a try to stick in a live disk and see if it will work from that?
At least, it would give some comparison as to where the issue might be...

Cheers!
CJ

[Ditzian]

This is probably not of much help, but... maybe worth a try to stick in a live disk and see if it will work from that?
At least, it would give some comparison as to where the issue might be...

Cheers!
CJ

Aha, why didn't I think of that.  I will try that tomorrow if I have time.

Jan

[Ditzian]

Well, here I am, responding from a PCLinuxOS2010LiveCD on the same computer that has the PCLinuxOS2011 that no longer sees many videos.  Apparently, I can now see all videos just fine, although ESPN3 is still a loss.  I think that I understand the reason for the ESPN3.  What should I do to get my regular PCLinuxOS2011 to work like this LiveCD?

Jan

[Ditzian]

It is a few minutes after my last post.  I rebooted back to the hard drive, but selected an older version of the kernel, one that I know was working fine in the past.  I still have the problem.  So the situation is now that I do not have the problem with an old LiveCD, but I have it on the hard drive with more than one edition of the kernel.

Jan