Tech help please! I can't watch videos longer than 3 minutes.

Factual Questions
1

What in blue blazes is going on with my video card? Of course, that’s assuming it’s the video card’s fault. I honestly don’t know.

I started noticing it a while ago when using Skype, that after a long chat, the video would slow and then eventually stop. At first it was just Skype but now it’s almost all video.

Basically, my videos will start slowing down around the 3 minute mark, eventually becoming unwatchable. Also the CPU usage will skyrocket and I’ll have to CTRL-ALT-DEL and force-close the offending program. If I let the video run on too long, not even CTRL-ALT-DEL can save me. It’s not a hard crash, because I can still move the mouse, and it will respond eventually.

Different programs will freeze at slightly different times. The problem is better with few programs running, but it won’t go away.

First I’m going to try updating my video drivers, and then maybe update any codecs I have. Also Shockwave. The problem started on Chrome with just Shockwave crashing and having to be reloaded. Anyway. if that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll re-install Skype, although I don’t see how it’s Skypes fault when all videos are freezing.

Any ideas?

2

I don’t think the question was corny, but here’s my one bump. I’ve been working all day on this problem with little progress. I checked all my drivers and it’s not them. It’s not a virus or malware. It’s not a registry issue. My last step is to uninstall and reinstall Flash and Skype. If that doesn’t work, then my only other guess is dust in the video-card heat fan. Wish me luck.

3

Total guess, but are you running out of RAM or hard drive space?

4

Are these videos online or local? Do you have anything in the Event Logs?

BTW If you have Chrome, Flash is built-in, not separate.

5

Well, good news. My local off-line videos are working perfectly now.

So, the videos that still give me problems are Skype and Flash. I’m uninstalling and re-installing them both now. Flash is built into Chrome though, so that’s tricky. The Flash stuff is being a problem on Firefox too though.

Making progress at least.

Not out of RAM or HD space in the slightest. Thanks for checking though.

Nothing in any event log that I’m aware of, as the browser never actually crashes, it just slows down to the point of complete system molasses.

6

Also, while I have no idea what video format it uses, Skype vide-calls also slow down at the exact same 3 minute-ish mark that the Flash shit does. Oh, and it’s not only Flash video, but Flash games too (if there’s a difference).

7

Uninstalled Skype. Disabled on Chrome and uninstalled the players for Flash and Shockwave. Re-enabled the relevant plugins for Chrome and did a video. Still started choking, this time at the 2 minute mark.

FML.

8

So it’s purely onlline stuff? Has there been a Windows update that has damaged your network driver. OTOH you say that Flash games are also affected. These normally download completely before running. This points to the problem being Flash.

Can you try running a Flash game with Task Manager open at the Processes tab? Sort the processes by memory used and see if one explodes.

If you want to delve deeper, grab Process Explorer and the debug libraries.

9

Good news, everyone! Through no effort of my own, the problem has gotten better. Not gone away, but gotten better.

Oh, and I should have posted this earlier, but here are the specs. It’s a laptop. Is 6 years old but was top of the line when I got it. Sooo, specs:

256 MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS
Dell Inspiron M1710 Intel Core2CPU @ 2.3GZ, 4GB RAM.
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2

I am very suspicious of Flash, but Skype video-calls are bad too. However, my Flash videos no longer pot out at 3 minutes. All I did was give up and shut off the laptop for a bit. Whiiiiiich reminds me that it was running awfully hot for a while. It gets hot often, but I mean it was hot to the point where touching the back under the monitor or underneath was almost physically painful.

I downloaded Speedfan4.0. As I suspected, the core CPU 1 and 2 temps aren’t changing, but the GPU is changing dramatically.

Upon boot, when everything is cold, it’s at 58. Standard temp with no videos going is 72. When I run Flash or a fullscreen skype video, it goes up to 77-78. Maybe that’s normal, but maybe this whole issue has to do with the fans getting jammed up.

Anyway, let me follow Quartz’s suggestion and check out Task Manager while running a flash game.

Pre-Flash, Chrome is using 1 CPU and 200MB of Ram. Now let’s play “Realm of the Mad God”

Ooooh boy. Well it was flawless for the first 5 minutes, and the game is playing a lot better than it was before. Now the relevant Chrome process is using 160MB of Ram and 60 CPU cycles. Other Chrome processes have launched even though I only have 3 tabs open, like 8 or 9, using 600MB total. It’s not the memory that worries so much as why it would take 60 CPU cycles. And the GPU is at 74C. Of course it’s possible it’s peculiar to this game. Let’s try something simpler.

Angry Birds! Well, this game is running smoothly with no slowdown, so hurray? 3 processes that seem related total 600MB of RAM usage and 50-60 CPU cycles. Still a lot, but is not impairing gameplay.

Well, online videos are mostly back to normal, so I guess it’s just that one game? Oh, and Skype calls still make the GPU run hot and the CPU cycles ramp up crazy. Sooo, I still suspect there’s something funky with Flash, or that my GPU is old and/or clogged full of dirt.

What do y’all think?

10

I should have asked if it was a laptop and was getting hot! Get a can of compressed air and blow it through. Dells aren’t too hard to disassemble if you’re being careful, so you could give it a more thorough clean.

Flash is a real CPU hog.

11

I had the exact same thing happen to me. fan quit working in my laptop. cpu gets too hot, and lowers the frequency as an emergency to not overheat, cpu usage jumps to a hundred. video is crap.
But yeah, if a fan is stuck, blowing some canned air in there might loosen it up. Helped me at least.