Ubuntu Unleashed: Howto: Fix Firefox and epiphany web browsers from crashing when using flash sites like youtube!

Howto: Fix Firefox and epiphany web browsers from crashing when using flash sites like youtube!

Labels: Bugs, fix flash in ubuntu, Flash crashing ubuntu, flash freezes ubuntu, Howto Posted by defcon on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 9:15 PM

The other day my girlfriend was surfing on myspace tv and youtube and firefox kept on randomly closing on her, and she said to me... Firefox sucks, and so does ubuntu, so im like nah it doesnt suck, its just a bug that all applications have that needs to be fixed, she said to me... "a bug" like a virus?... lol I said no, just a mistake in the developers implementation/port for linux that I will fix for you this weekend, so she said ok, and I searched launchpad and fixed the issue..
Here is what I found:

It seems Flash has a compatibility issue with pulseaudio and randomly crashes on most flash sites, it really sucks, and it angers my friends to the max. What this fix will do is grey out the flash area when flash itself crashes and leaves firefox or another browser alone so you are able to save your work and restart your browser safely. Alternatively you may want to use swfdec or gnash and I have provided a easy 1-click solution after this quick fix:

This is a quick fix that will require the terminal: Applications->Accessories->Terminal
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/13470096/nspluginwrapper_0.9.91.5-2ubuntu2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nspluginwrapper_0.9.91.5-2ubuntu2_i386.deb
sudo apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-nonfree
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

This should fix the issue of crashing your browser, alternatively you may want to try a different free flash player like swfdec, or gnash if you just watch videos and play movies. Swfdec and Gnash are more secure and not vulnerable to the same bugs/exploits as Adobe flash because it is opensource and you will notice that these alternatives use less ram/cpu power as well. The only issue I have had with the free flash players is that you cannot upload or use web forms, which I rarely use anyways.

Howto: Get rid of Adobe Flash and install a free flash player!

Make sure you remove flashplugin-nonfree if you intend to use these flash alternatives:
sudo apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-nonfree

Click here to install swfdec adobe flash alternative

Click here to install the gNash Adobe Flash Alternative!

If the above solution's do not work for you please see the official bug report here

Comments (12)

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0 Vote up Vote down

Klaus Seistrup · 881 weeks ago

Is there an nspluginwrapper package for AMD64, please?

+1 Vote up Vote down

defcon 52p · 881 weeks ago

If you're using Ubuntu for AMD64, you don't need the alternative workaround, you're already running nspluginwrapper.

The drawback: Scrolling over Flash with your mouse wheel no longer works.

Adobe needs to fix this issue, lets hope it happens soon.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Klaus Seistrup 0p · 881 weeks ago

Yes, I do use nspluginwrapper. However, Firefox 3 still crashes (and Flash is not working) as if there were no tomorrow.

Cheers.

0 Vote up Vote down

megaqwerty · 880 weeks ago

Try installing libflashsupport, I've noticed my flash working much better, and as an added plus, it doesn't stop other applications from using my speakers anymore :)

Hope that helps!

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max · 879 weeks ago

I installed it, but now on some sites, flash doesn't work, it apperas for a second and the flash area goes white.

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mattheO · 878 weeks ago

I have the same problem Max has. Firefox does not crash anymore. But sometimes the video goes white.

1 reply · active 878 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

defcon 52p · 878 weeks ago

that isnt firefox crashing, that is a flash specific crash

0 Vote up Vote down

mattheO · 878 weeks ago

ok I'm gonna try gnash and get rid of adobe.

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Jeff · 874 weeks ago

I just stumbledupon this article, and while that workaround works, I've found that installing and using Flash Player 10 beta works even better. Even though it's still in beta, sound works, doesn't crash, and it appears that it doesn't grab the mouse (fixing the scrolling problem). The only thing that it doesn't do is log keystrokes (flash games that require WASD or the arrow keys, etc., don't work for me). BUT, you can check out Alternativa's awesome FP10 3D demos! xD

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-install-flash...

Note: I did NOT write that tutorial. Credit goes to Vivek Gite for writing it.

0 Vote up Vote down

tagra123 · 871 weeks ago

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=866593

I manually installed and wrote a simple how to (link above)

Firefox 3 has not crashed once in the past 24 hours. It's working as good as 2 did now.