YouTube freezing computer

N

Nate

New member
It could be a few minutes, or a few hours of watching Youtube videos and eventually the computer locks up making a buzzing noise. With some visual artifacts on the screen.
I have to hold in the power button to turn it off, to reboot.
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I have updated all drivers, windows, and reinstalled video and wifi drivers and I still have the problem.

Just got this computer a few days ago. I also own a Z93 with no Youtube issues. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update

I have installed a plugin that makes Youtube play H. 264 videos instead of VP8/VP9 videos
Plugin- h264ify
The computer has not locked up since installing the plugin.
 
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Hi Nate,
Just to say thank you - I had same problem on my NEO G41V-4 with freezing Youtube videos after 1-5 minutes (pc completely lockws with buzzing sound). Looks this has started after a Windows update.

Using h264ify plugin seem to help - no crashes after an hour of continuous playing.
 
I also have this problem. Posting to note that I tried a Windows 10 "app" (FizzTube) instead of a web browser and had the same problem.
 
What Windows version do you currently have installed on the device?
I'd like to replicate the problem and hopefully find a solution.

Nate said:
I have installed a plugin that makes Youtube play H. 264 videos instead of VP8/VP9 videos
Click to expand...
Which plug-in did you install?
Thanks.
 
Just a note: I have the impression that the freezes are associated with YT switching to an advertisement in the middle of a video, so if you're a subscriber that doesn't see ads, and you don't replicate the problem, try logging off.

Also, not to be Captain Obvious, but this problem is known outside of this forum, and often seems to be reported in conjunction with the Chrome browser. Trying to replicate it with Chrome might increase your chances of "success". This problem doesn't seem to appear on Android BTW, not sure if any users of Minix Android boxes are reporting it?

I also searched for the h264ify plugin mentioned above, and that's a widely-known remedy. It's also available for Firefox I think. Personally I'd prefer a solution that was not specific to (a) particular browser(s).

Villa said:
That appears to be the latest 21H1 update.
Click to expand...
Cheers.
 
Tried the following:

- Disabled hardware acceleration on both Chrome and Firefox browsers.
- Ran the video troubleshooter, got a message like "Protected audio is turned off - Fixed".

Now testing with Firefox.

Anyone know what the latter message means?
 
Firefox failed after about 5 minutes, and looks very much like it was associated with switching to an ad. Interestingly, the box rebooted itself this time instead of just sitting there humming.

Gonna try Chrome next, but expecting the same result.
 
LOL! Chrome was WORSE. Never even got to the video, it hung when I clicked "Skip Ad". That, by the way, is strong evidence that the ads are the problem, as I suspect.

Not bothered to try FizzTube.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Decided to try the h264ify plugin. Made the bonehead mistake of allowing Chrome to "Restore pages". Hung immediately in an ad.

Rebooted, loaded h264ify plugin into Chrome. It has an option to block 60fps video, left that unselected for now. Here we go...
 
4:15 in, it survived switching to and from an ad.

10:40, survived another one, I clicked "Skip Ad" this time.

15:00, survived again, clicked "Skip Ad" again.

It's a ~90 minute long video. I'll report in again if it crashes.
 
It survived to the end of that video and on to the next. About 95 minutes counting ads, some of which I let run, others I skipped.

It looks like the plugin solves the problem, at least for Chrome. At least for me.
 
~1 week later, no recurrence of the problem with Chrome in normal use (1-3 hours/day) by my wife.

Didn't bother trying Firefox; uninstalled FizzTube.
 
I am having the same issue. BUT i have PopOs Linux installed.

For all you Penguins out there
Firefox and hardware acceleration helped nothing.
Installing Chromium and the above mentioned h264ify seemed to help. Test is running for 1.5 5h now, no issues so far...
 
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Whatever said:
aaand freezing again.
The more i read up on it. I think it is a hardware issue
Click to expand...
Nate said:
It could be a few minutes, or a few hours of watching Youtube videos and eventually the computer locks up making a buzzing noise. With some visual artifacts on the screen.
I have to hold in the power button to turn it off, to reboot.
I also own a Z93 with no Youtube issues. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
The best is to do a stress test with G41V-4 basic installed programs (Windows 21H1 and chrome for example).

Example:
-After that Run 3D mark tool and ensure your hardware is working well.
-test Youtube again (with chrome, quality auto) and let the device play videos for a couple of hours , don´t install youtube plugin.
 
From experience, this is less of a hardware issue and more of an Intel driver issue. The latest "DCH" drivers for Intel iGPUs appear to cause this issue on a selection of low-power platforms (from testing). The stock Minix driver does not, although Minix doesn't seem to update drivers anymore with the latest available being over four years old.

Questions
1. Which driver are you using?
2. Where did you obtain it?
3. Have you tried using software like youtube-dl to grab the video and playback the VP9 file in MPC-HC or VLC? H264ify is no real solution going forward as the hardware (HD 500) is capable of decoding H.264 'AVC' (8 bit), H.265 'HEVC' (8 & 10 bit), VP8/9 (8 bit - used on YouTube), & VC1 (8 & 10 bit).

Suggestions
1. Run Intel's diagnostic tool (link) to check the hardware (it's not a perfect tool, but it will find most common hardware faults).
2. If no problems are detected:
a) Completely uninstall the current driver using DDU (make sure you follow instructions provided) or Windows Safe Mode (less helpful)
b) Install the old Minix version (using compatibility options if needed). I'm sure one of the Moderators or Trusted Helpers can provide a link to the correct driver pack for the G41V-4
c) Try the exact same video again



Hope that helps
 
I've seen this problem intermittently since my last post on this thread, and recently popped back on here to check for updates. I'd be interested in trying the above-mentioned drivers, or newer ones known to fix this problem. I tried a dedicated YouTube player app as well as multiple browsers, in case that answers the third question above.

This forum gets very little traffic, which I take as confirmation that the G41V-4 is a solid unit, which I also agree with. However, the few of us with this issue would appreciate a solution to it, if one was out there.
 
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