Can't Stream anything anymore?

[mjacqu4]

Hello,

I consider myself fairly good with computers (I have a B.S in comp-sci) but I have been having an odd problem lately. I can no longer watch youtube or stream anything (pandora, online videos, etc.) on my computer. I'm running windows 7 with 6 gig ram and an Intel i5 2.5GHz. Youtube will load about 5 seconds of video then stop and pandora works on occasion but I usually get the first 30 seconds or so of a song then just choppy skipping after that. I have tried using chrome, firefox, opera and IE and the problem persists across all browsers.

I find this particularly odd because I play a few relativity high-end online video games which run perfectly. Also, when I first got this computer about 6 months ago, these things worked fine, this has only been going on about a month. I have run virus scans, spyware scans, and I even restored my computer state back before this issue and I still can't use these things.

Is there something I have missed? Anyone know what could possibly cause this annoying problem? Thanks.

Matt

 

[sincreator]

Update Adobe Flash player, Java, and make sure to try reinstalling/updating your graphics drivers. Also, in I.E. you can set advanced properties to use software decoding instead of hardware. Try this stuff and report back.

 

[ZippyPeanut]

Are you receiving streaming data through Wi-Fi? Or are you directly wired?

 

[mjacqu4]

The IE thing just made it worse. I was just getting green cubes on youtube instead of the usual 5-10 seconds of normal video. I updated Java and Flash and restarted my computer. Still the same. I usually use wifi, but when I plug in its the same problem. I didn't do my video drivers, but as I said I preform graphics intensive operations all the time with no issue, and things like Pandora that have no video rendering have the same problem so I really don't think thats the issue. If you REALLY think it will help I will do it but it seems like a pain.

Is it something with the way my computer is buffering things? everything works perfectly and loads right away for the first 5-10 seconds then it completely stops. I don't know too much about networking and things but it seems like its filling up some sort of buffer and then just stopping.

 

[ZippyPeanut]

OK, read this and give it a try:

http/www.pcworld.com/article/2036299/use-speedtest-to-help-diagnose-internet-problems.html

http/www.speedtest.net/

 

[mjacqu4]

Its saying "Download Test Error". I'm on campus right now and I don't think the school's network likes whatever its trying to do. Ill try it when I get home, but I realllllly don't think its the internet speed. I have tried to load videos in multiple locations, with multiple ISP's and furthermore, I can play online games perfectly and download large files very quickly. Can that tool diagnose more complex issues or is it just a measure of connection speed?

 

[ZippyPeanut]

Yeah, try it at home. If you still get "Download Test Error," then somehow you just aren't getting stable data via the Internet. Also run CCleaner (http/www.piriform.com/ccleaner) to clean up the junk and use CCleaner's registry fix (be sure to backup your current registry when CCleaner asks). By the way, what applications are running in the background?

 

[mjacqu4]

I am going to run the speed thing again, but why are only these types of things affected. I can open two large online games at once and have no performance issues but i cant load a youtube video? This just doesn't make sense to me and it seems to me that the issue isn't connection speed related. I am aware that different protocols are generally used to deliver streaming data... but its not like these things load slowly. They stop loading always at the same time in.

I ran the cleaner and restarted my computer. I used Spybot Search and Destroy to prevent any unneccessary background applications from opening and tried it again. Still same problem. Loaded 10 seconds of a you tube video then stopped. Tried pandora again as well. Played about 10-15 seconds of a song then stopped.

Is this a Flash issue? I re installed the latest version and as I understand it, chrome has flash "built in." It seems like everything I have trouble with uses flash but as far as I can tell flash is all up to date.

 

[techguy911]

It is possible you have a rootkit try these programs:
malwarebytes anti-rootkit make sure you update before scan.

http/www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/malwarebytes-anti-rootkit/
http/www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http/www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/

Run them in that order and try again

Also if it does not fix it try html5 version of youtube and let us know if it works then it's a flash issue.

 

[mjacqu4]

Works fine with HTML5... I tried reinstalling flash again and for some reason I can't get a valid .exe from adobe. I tried several times and it keeps saying "not a valid win32 application." I have a 64 bit system and I made sure to get the proper version but it still gives that error. Any suggestions?

 

[techguy911]

Works fine with HTML5... I tried reinstalling flash again and for some reason I can't get a valid .exe from adobe. I tried several times and it keeps saying "not a valid win32 application." I have a 64 bit system and I made sure to get the proper version but it still gives that error. Any suggestions?

Looks like you have a rootkit/virus follow the instructions above.