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kerosen · Feb 20, 2011, 12:13 PM

From one day to another Safary has refused to play any youtube clips anymore. It just display the black rectangle where the clips should play but nothing happens and there are not play/pause buttons on the bottom of the clip display area. I don't remember doing anything wrong or installing anything. Flash works well in websites like yahoo. Mozilla works well with youtube as well.

I have Snow Leopard 10.6.6 and Safari 5.0.3 (6533.19.4).
Please help.
Thanks.

Cold Warrior · Feb 20, 2011, 12:41 PM

Have you installed any extensions or other programs or software lately, around the time Safari stopped working?

kerosen · Feb 20, 2011, 01:07 PM

Nope, as far as I know.
I looked on the net to find a solution; I did reset the permissions, I uninstalled and reinstalled adobe flash. I checked whether there are updates for MacOS and Safari. No success.

Spheric Harlot · Feb 20, 2011, 01:17 PM

Bizarre. Exact same issue here.

Thought it was ClicktoFlash, but turning off that extension didn't help.

Only thing I've installed recently was Dropbox.

I had it with a different site a few weeks back, but it was their issue, and they fixed it after a couple days.

All other Flash content works fine.

Thorzdad · Feb 20, 2011, 01:42 PM

Interesting. YouTube works for me on Safari (5.0.3), and I have the AdBlock extension installed.

Have you installed the most recent Flash update? It came out recently. I was noticing some odd control issues with embedded YouTube videos until I ran the update. But, even then, YouTube itself was working fine.

kerosen · Feb 20, 2011, 02:50 PM

Adobe flash is up to date.
Safari works ok with the video clips from yahoo, for example. Youtube still doesn't work.
Can I uninstall and reinstall Safari?

Spheric Harlot · Feb 20, 2011, 06:46 PM

Yes, Adobe Flash is up to date here, as well.

Big Mac · Feb 21, 2011, 12:40 AM

Have you tried testing Safari on another account?

You could also try a Webkit (Safari) nightly build:

WebKit Nightly Builds

kerosen · Feb 21, 2011, 04:42 PM

I've just tried safari on a guest account, it doesn't work either.
I don't know what webkit is...

Is it any possibility to reset Safari on the factory settings?

Cold Warrior · Feb 21, 2011, 05:12 PM

Yes, from the safari menu there is a reset safari option.

You could also try reinstalling safari. The latest version is on apple's site. (5.0.3)

kerosen · 02:27 AM

I've just done both suggestions and still no luck.

But, I've searched again on the net and I've seen that this behaviour is spread all over the safari users. It started suddenly on 17 Feb and, as far as I read nobody knows why.
Here is a workaround:
Youtube Videos Not Working on Macbook OSX - starting Feb 17th - YouTube Help
But once I quit safari the setting is gone and I need to start the process all over again.
I think apple should come with a fix soon.
Another oddity is that youtube clips are working well in the author channel: click on the author name and then click on the video. Strange ...

kerosen · Feb 25, 2011, 05:02 AM

Still no solution or explanation of this problem?
Or maybe it is a Youtube issue?

Spheric Harlot · Feb 25, 2011, 05:12 AM

I think it's a YouTube issue.

New account (non-admin), no plug-ins, no nothing - it works for the first video, second one gives me a black screen.

DarkStarRed · Feb 25, 2011, 05:48 AM

This is strange works fine for Me, Safari 5.0.3 OS-X 10.5.8 ofcourse your asked to link your accounts to Google now!
Has for the the videos are fine no matter how many I play also htlm5.

Spheric Harlot · Feb 25, 2011, 05:56 AM

I have not switched YouTube prefs to HTML5.

I am on 10.6.6.

TETENAL · Feb 27, 2011, 08:37 AM

Maybe you can use this as a workaround for the time being:

Vertical Forest :: YouTube5

I find it excellent anyway.

ghporter · Feb 27, 2011, 09:56 AM

I just opened Safari and played a video from YouTube (The Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody, if that matters). Worked fine. I'm running Safari version 5.0.3 (6533.19.4) and OS X version 10.6.6. I'm on ADSL with a nominal 6Mbps, actual 5Mbps downlink speed. No glitch, hiccup or other problem found.

I wonder if it's a European network issue.

msuper69 · Feb 27, 2011, 11:06 AM

YouTube works fine here. Mac OS X 10.6.6, Safari 5.0.3 with AdBlock active.

Spheric Harlot · Feb 28, 2011, 06:54 PM

Kerosen, what machine are you on?

I was on a Nov. 2006 MacBook (GMA 950 graphics) and just swapped the hard drive into my new i7 13" MacBook Pro (updating the OS from the newer install disk immediately), and it's working here again.

I'm thinking graphics card problem with Flash player?

kerosen · Mar 4, 2011, 01:33 PM

I've been away for a week, and guess what? It works ok...

I think it was a youtube issue. Nobody touched the macbook for a week and just now I've powered it on. Mine is from January 2007 and the graphics is GMA X3100.

lpkmckenna · Mar 4, 2011, 02:10 PM

I'm bothered that YouTube now nags me switch back to the Flash-powered video player. Sorry Google, HTML5 video is waaaay better than that resource hog you've gotten into bed with.