Strange problem, any ideas (1 Viewer)

[Wildman]

When downloading youtube vids, or streaming BBCi player or whatever, they run fine for 10 mins or so then freeze as though the internet connection has dropped off, but it has not Skype continues to work and if I open another utube vid in a seperate window it runs fine. But the original frozen vid stays frozen for nearly 3 mins then starts again.
So as far as I can see it is not an internet problem, nor is it a memory problem. I am running malwarebytes pro so should not have a problem there. I have run CCleaner and a virus check, plenty of memory so ideas please.

 

[PaulyP]

Is it buffering, needs to catch up with inself, how many other things are running at the same time, may be using up all the bandwidth if too many things on.

 

[Langtoftlad]

+1 on buffering issues
Try a different browser or media player.

 

[sdc77]

One thing of may be worth checking is whether your PC has an onboard video card.. If it is you could check in the bios settings to see if you can increase its resources.... Or.... By a replacement stand alone card for better performance...

 

[TheBig1]

if your using the latest version of firefox, I've noticed that it seems to struggle to download large files completely or stream youtube videos. not a problem using chrome, but dislike it in other ways

 

[Wildman]

I don't believe it is a buffering problem as already said, I can load another youtube video on a separate tab and it plays straight away (that I think rules out a bandwidth problem). sometime I find if I drag the time/position pointer further to the right it resumes. When running I generally have nothing else to speak of running at the same time though other tabs are open. It has only started doing this in the last week or so, alas XP is no longer supported by its creators I suspect the problem lies there. Thew problem also occurs when recording radio progs from bbci player using Audacity so not a browser problem. The is no automatic shutdown if keyboard is not used I have disabled that and same with screen saver so not that either.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Have you recently updated anything - or has anything been updated automatically? Adobe flash is notorious.

If you're still on XP, I would seriously consider updating your OS because as you said Micro$oft are no longer supporting it, and that means no more security patches leaving you more vulnerable to malware...

 

[Wildman]

flash player is a possibility I guess

 

[DBK]

Might be the cache is getting full and the video stops when it reaches the limit of the video that has been downloaded. When you load a second video it starts playing straight away because it hasn't started downloading much of it at that point, but then as it downloads the second video, faster than it is playing, the caches fills up to the point it is full and I guess the second video would then freeze.

Depending on your browser there will be a way to clear the cache. You could also clear out cookies, browsing history etc. at the same time although that will probably mean having to re-enter passwords etc. when you re-visit sites such as MHF.

I haven't got XP anymore but I am sure there is a way to increase the cache size. It will be in Control Panel and will be something like system/advanced tab then click settings under the performance section, then advanced tab and follow your nose!

Might also be worth checking how much free space you have on your hard disk and using the Resources Monitor to check how much RAM is being used as it plays the videos - I doubt there will be a problem but worth checking everything.

 

[Wildman]

2.4tb free space on hd. Will try clearing and increasing the cache size but it was fine doing the same job 2 weeks ago.