Online Video Problem

Acer Aspire 7730Z (Laptop)
Dual Core, Intel, T3400
3 Gigs RAM
Win 7 Home Premium 64bit (Service Pack 1)

Problem

The Lappy plays DVD's and CD's just fine, also plays videos downloaded to the HDD with no trouble at all.

However when I play movies or videos from Youtube, Amazon and Hulu, they play fine for a short while, then they lock my entire computer up forcing me to "Force Power it off with the Power Button"....

I have tried changing the Amazon settings from "Flash" to "Silverlight" and it still locks up.

I have updated everything that can be updated as it is a fairly old lappy, but it has been a really good one for many years.

Any ideas would be very welcome. I have other laptops but this one has a special place in my heart as I have had it the longest..

a reply to: semperfortis

How's the memory look in Task Manager while you're watching videos from Youtube, Hulu etc?

If it's nearly full most of the time while you're watching videos - - it's probably the reason for your laptop locking up/freezing on you for a long period of time thus forcing you to force restart it.

If this is the issue, all you need to do is add more RAM to your laptop and it's solved.

I'd suggest watching your memory performance while you're watching your videos to see if this is true.

To do that; Ctrl+Alt+Del and go to the Performance tab and watch.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Sounds like a memory leak, maybe try a different web browser or try updating Flash. Are you sure YouTube is using Flash though, it should be using HTML5. Your computer doesn't seem old enough to have serious problems playing a video, except maybe at very high resolutions.

Go to the "Adjust desktop color settings" section and change "Content type reported to the display" from "Auto-select (recommended)" to "Desktop programs".

a reply to: semperfortis

In this order please check:

Browser and flash/silverlight versions are up to date?
Latest video drivers for your video card? (Seeing as you can play video via other means I doubt this is the problem)

Any other symptoms when it freezes such as BSOD, fan speed, machine noise or something of that nature?

Windows event viewer might aid you in your search but it is a little clunky to use.

Memory should not be a problem unless you have a lot of programs running. Youtube streams.

It is possible to use youtube without the flash plugin using a recent browser. Firefox works here. HTML5 is used for playback, I have no idea if amazon or hulu offer that but it might be worth a try.

Hope it helps

I agree with many of the suggestions already given.

I would also suggest trying a different browser, to see if that is the issue. Also, looking at the Task Manager as stated will show if the browser is a memory hog.

Maybe you should only have the browser running as well, in case it is a memory probem - older laptops did not come with much RAM, and that may also be a problem.

I just "Flashed" my BIOS to the Updated 64bit version... Played a Youtube movie with no freeze...

Maybe that was the issue... I hope!!!

Thanks All

Glad you got it sorted - now enjoy your old lappy and watching videos on it.

I now how you feel - i still have my first computer from over 20 years ago and will not let the wife through it out. It is a constant battle, and eventually I will lose

a reply to: semperfortis

I think it's the streaming that's stopping...Ram. You said you had it a long time. Depending...maybe you have only minimal ram for streaming now....