YouTube only works if speakers connected mystery

[3D Jed]

Everyone must have seen the dreaded YouTube message 'an error has occurred, please try later' accompanied by a blank screen. I had this on a pc recently (Asrock G31M-GS Q9400) and it was driving me out of my tree. I tried IE reset, enable Javascript, clear cookies, Memtest, Intel cpu test, reinstall Windows - even got to the point of swapping hardware but no dice.

Then I saw a post on Google that said 'have you got speakers plugged in'. I plugged in some headphones, and voila - YouTube video. See pic lower right speaker icon



There must be something in the YouTube code that looks for speaker present. I have repeated this test on other pcs, and it seems to just apply to some not all mobos. A bit of a mystery.

edit - the pic is IE. IIRC Firefox had the same problem, but Chrome was unaffected by speaker present.

 

[Callender]

Check plugins

Hi,

I see that you're using Chrome (comes with it's own version of flash player).

Now I'm no expert on Chrome but when I did use it in the past I found that letting it update automatically never removed the old versions.

Flash Player: Sounds like you've got at least three versions installed.

1). The version that comes with Chrome
2). The version for Internet Explorer
3). The version for other browsers (includes Firefox)

I suggest firing up Chrome then type:

chrome://plugins

into the address bar. and take a look at the entry for flash player. If you see:

Adobe Flash Player (2 files)

or

Adobe Flash Player (3 files)

Click the Details link near the upper-right corner of the browser window and if you see any dll's listed check the location to find out what they are. Try disabling so that only one is left enabled.

Also try clearing flash cookies from Chrome:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Dele...sible-from-Chrome-User-Interface-197173.shtml

If that doesn't work try uninstalling then reinstalling flash player. The correct procedure is listed in the link below and it's important to follow every step listed.

Uninstall Flash Player | Windows

Pay particular attention to steps 3 and 4 as they are often overlooked by users.

After rebooting start IE and download and install flash player for IE.

Then start Firefox and download and install flash player for Other Browsers.

Adobe - Install a different version of Adobe Flash Player

As for cleaning up old versions of Chrome - perhaps another member could offer some help with that.

[EDIT]: Ignore all that lot. I see you state that you've reinstalled Windows and still have the problem. If that's the case the above steps won't fix it!

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
See if anything here helps,
How to configure your Flash Player settings for maximum privacy and security
Speakers are not necessary to watch a youtube video I'm doing now without issues,
I would uninstall flash as instructed prior,
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html
If using ie11 you might want to check out this,
http://www.youtube.com/html5
Cheers.

P.S.
You might want to disable all Java browser add-ons,
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/manage-add-ons#ie=ie-10-win-7
And or uninstall if you don't play allot of games,
http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2013/01/java-zero-day-again-time-to.html

 

[3D Jed]

Speakers are not necessary to watch a youtube video I'm doing now without issues,

That's what I have always thought as well. I have built a few dozen pcs over the years and repaired many also. I usually don't connect speakers when building/fixing but normally do a quick test to see if YT plays - so when I had the above problems I never imagined 'no sound device' was the issue.

I spent hours on that 775 box even reinstalling Windows (all versions from digitalriver) many times. I can assure you I'm not making this up. I have 5x i7s in my flat and they don't show this YT sound thing, but others that do seem to be older, less sophisticated mobos.

I've given the (now working) 775 box to a friend, and although I'm tempted to pop round and make a video of what's in the screenshots to show you, quite frankly I never want to see that ***** computer again.


draws line under topic >>------------------------------------

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I'm sure you right clicked the speaker icon and clicked on Sounds or Playback devices to see what is checked ?
The prior link should of given you how to clear what ever flash player was retaining,
But Yes it's very weird to say the least,
But as a fresh install unless you connect actual speakers I don't know if there would be a speaker icon in sounds or play back ?
Cheers.

 

[3D Jed]

@ThrashZone - I did a new build for a mate and the prev mentioned YouTube error message came back (i3 4130, MSI B85M-E45 8GB - so fairly recent gear). I've done a video of 'no speakers, no YouTube' using Camtasia, for all you doubting Thomases. Hosted on DropBox -

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106200668/youtube_error_msg.mp4

this 'an error has occurred' malarkey was driving me out of my tree . . .

BTW the MSI B45 is a cool board - can drive 3 * HD monitors without a separate gfx card (DVI, VGA + HDMI)

 

[ThrashZone]

Pretty weird stuff :shock:
Unfortunately I can't replicate the issue
Cheers for sharing the video.