Fix Shockwave Flash Crashes in Chrome

I guess all Google Chrome users would have gone through the most annoying problem where in Google Crashes while using shockwave flash. This problem has been reported to Google many times and they have tried to fix it however still the problem has continued through Chrome 10 to the current Chrome 15. In this tutorial today, I am going to help you on how to fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome.

Before heading onto the ways to fix this issue, I will be sharing some info with you that what exactly is this problem, when does it occur and why causes chrome to crash.

When does Chrome Crashes and Why?

You might have observed that when you try to browse a Flash-based website like YouTube, or tools like Gmail which rely on Flash. The flash plugin crashes with a message saying: “The following plugin has crashed: Shockwave Flash”. If you ignore the reference to Shockwave, the error message actually means that the “Abode Flash Player plugin has crashed.” Please note that it has nothing to do with the Abode Shockwave Player which is a separate program.
Google chrome already includes an integrated version of Flash Player which is automatically updated by Chrome. Normally there is no need to download the standalone version of Flash Player, it’s actually planned for non-IE users (primarily Firefox). Please note that if Firefox or any other Web Browser is installed on your computer, then it’s quite likely that there is an installed standalone version of Flash for firefox or other web browsers on your machine. Therefore Chrome tires to use the two versions of Flash Player – one its own version built into Chrome and second the standalone Abode version that has been installed for Firefox or any other browser. As both of these versions are active it often makes Chrome unstable as both version of Abode Shockwave flash conflict with each other.
In this article I have shared seven methods to fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome.

Method 1: Fix  for shockwave crash in chrome using Plug-in settings

In this method we will fix the shockwave flash crashes using Plug-in settings:

• Open Chrome browser.
• Type   “about:plugins” (without quotes) in the website address bar at the top of the chrome browser.
• Now press the ENTER key to display Chrome’s Plugins page
• Look down the list of Plug-ins for ‘Flash’ – if it says ‘Flash (2 files)’ then you do have both versions of Flash installed which may be the cause of Chrome to crash while you try to access Flash-based websites.
• Now click on the ‘+ Details’ link on the top right of the Plugins page to expand the list of all Plugins
• After the list of all plugins open, scroll down the list to find the Flash plugin – you would now be able to see the full details of the Flash plugin displaying two versions of Flash as in the example below:

• Look at the ‘Location:’ of each version – one is the integrated Chrome version:

“Application Data\Google\Chrome”

the other is the standalone Adobe (formerly Macromedia) version which is located in the following location:

“Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash”

• Now Click on ‘Disable’ option you would be able to find it just under the Location of the Chrome version. After disabling it will be greyed out.
• Ensure that the standalone Adobe version is enabled – if it is disabled (greyed out) then click the ‘Enable’ link just under its Location to enable it) then close the Plugins tab.
• Now close Chrome.
• Now for your Firefox browser you need to download Adobe standalone version of Flash from Filehippo.
• After downloading the standalone version of Flash, start the installation.
• After installation start Chrome and visit the Adobe Flash Player test page to check if the Flash is now properly installed and working ok.

Method 2: Fix for shockwave crashes in chrome using standalone version for flash.

If you have only one flash plugin which is integrated to Chrome in that case also you need to install a standalone Flash version. Please download the latest version of standalone Flash application from Filehippo here.
After download close the Chrome browser and start the installation of the downloaded flash program and follow the steps given in Method 1. I believe this method will work better for you as you will be switching off Chrome’s Flash completely and instead of that you would be using standalone Abode’s Flash.

Method 3: Fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome using built in Chrome Flash settings.

If the above methods of disabling Chrome’s flash have not worked for you then probably this time we are going to try it vice versa i.e. instead of disabling in-built Chrome Flash we will be trying to disable the standalone version of Flash by uninstalling it. After uninstalling the standalone version, restart your computer and try to access flash based sites like YouTube and check if Chrome is working fine now without crashing.

Method 4: Fix for shockwave crashes in chrome using Incognito mode.

In this method we will try to fix the problem by enabling Flash in Incognito mode. Please follow below mentioned step by step procedure:

1. Open Chrome Browser.
2. Click the wrench or spanner option available on top at Right hand side of the menu.
3. Select “New Incognito Window”. Incognito mode disables all Extensions of Chrome.
4. Now check if your Chrome is working fine while accessing Flash based websites.
5. If it does work fine without crashing then it means that your Extensions are causing the problem.
6. Now go back to normal mode in Chrome.
7. Disable your extensions by clicking on the wrench or spanner option available on top at Right hand side of the menu.
8. Select Options. Under options select Extensions on the Left hand side of the pane.
9. Now try to disable all extensions one at a time. After disabling each extension test if Flash works in Chrome without crashing or not.
10. Once chrome stops crashing, leave the last extension disabled and enable other extensions.

So this disabled extension is the root cause of the crashing issue of your chrome.

Method 5: Fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome by updating graphics card drivers

If your chrome is still not working fine after trying above mentioned four methods then you may try to update your graphics card drivers. It often happens that Driver Updates are released in market to fix an issue with Windows and other programs or to enable new features.

Method 6: Fixing shockwave flash crashes in chrome by disabling flash acceleration

Diver or hardware compatibility issue might also be the possible cause of the crash. To eliminate this you need to Disable Flash hardware acceleration. You need to uncheck ‘Enable Hardware Acceleration’ in the Flash Display panel. You need to do this during flashback of a Flash Video, right click the picture and select ‘Settings’. Now select the “Display” panel which the first tab is shown at the bottom of the settings. Here in this pane, uncheck ‘Enable Hardware Acceleration’.

After disabling it check if chrome is working fine now without crashing.

Method 7: Fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome using nuclear option

If none of the above options has worked for you then I will suggest you to try Flash based websites in Firefox once. If these websites do not crash in Firefox although they have crashed in Chrome then probably your version of Chrome has been corrupted. The last resort to fix it is to uninstall chrome completely, remove all browsing data and after this try to reinstall latest stable version of Chrome (Chrome 15)

Please remember to take backup of all links and bookmarks before you uninstall.

So this was all about how to fix shockwave flash crashes in chrome. Please share your suggestions and concerns in comments section below.

Cheers!

Tagged as: Chrome, Firefox

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Article by Ankit

Ankit is the founder of Geek Revealed. He is tech Geek who loves to sit in front of his square headed girlfriend all day long. :D   You can find Ankit on FaceBook or Google Plus