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Thread: Problems with a new computer. Please help

  1. #1

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    Problems with a new computer. Please help

    My desktop computer was about to crash, so, I got a new one.
    After getting it out of the box and turning it on, it walked me through all those steps to set up the new computer (Language on the computer, my account, etc.)
    Once completed, I decided to reset Windows 10 to get rid of all the commercial stuff that come with new computers.
    That turned out to be a total new installation of Windows 10.
    But, that's ok. I proceeded with the new installation, and chose to preserve nothing (the reinstall wouldn't preserve any of my data files or anything).
    The reinstallation of Windows 10 completed successfully and in the end it again walked me through all those steps to set up everything (Language on the computer, my account, etc.)
    Everything went fine and completed successfully.

    Now, I am using my new computer but two strange problems bother me a lot:

    Problem 1:

    Microsoft Edge acts up when I go to youtube page.
    Here is a screen print of the youtube homepage (in Microsoft Edge):
    https://i.imgur.com/ydOU7JQ.jpg
    And if I click on one of those thumbnails to play it, it looks like this:
    https://i.imgur.com/7i8wAkd.jpg
    The video plays (I can hear it), but I can't see it. It doesn't show the picture of the video.
    Hoping to find it below, I scroll down to the bottom of the page (involving several fetches as i keep scrolling down), and it is not there! But, its sound is played!

    Please note that Microsoft Edge shows any other webpage properly. It is only youtube that has this problem
    Also, other browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, and even Internet Explorer) show youtube fine. It is only Edge that has this problem.

    I reinstalled Microsoft Edge as per the instructions on this page (including the two re-boots):
    https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-r...in-windows-10/
    And it was successfully reinstalled
    But the problem persists

    One more time i reinstalled Microsoft Edge (including the two re-boots)
    And again it was successfully reinstalled.

    But the problem STILL persists!

    Problem 2:

    When I use Firefox to watch videos on this page:
    https://gem.cbc.ca/series/the-nation...c-6c168d68c0ba
    The videos (only the picture, but not the sound) keep pausing very repeatedly (several times every minute).
    Notes:
    1. There is absolutely no pause in the sound, so if I look away or walk away from my computer and just listen to these videos I will never know there is any pause.
    2. The ads that are played in the beginning and during these videos do not have this pause problem. They run very smoothly
    3. Other browsers (Google Chrome, Edge and even Internet Explorer) play these videos without any pause. It is only Firefox that has this problem.
    4. Firefox shows other videos for example youtube videos fine and without any pause. It only plays those videos on that page with repeated pauses.
    These problems are very frustrating.
    Please help
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    With regards to the overall issue, my guess would be a video driver issue. Do you have a dedicated graphics chip or are you using Intel integrated graphics? If possible, I'd suggest installing/reinstalling the latest video drivers.

    With regards to Edge, I'm inclined to recommend that you use the new, Chromium-based version rather than the one that comes with Windows. It's still in beta but Chromium itself is perfectly stable so Edge is too. They still have more functionality to add but there's plenty there for your average user. I've been using the Dev version for months and had no real issues. The only major item missing from old Edge that I've noticed is the ability to set aside groups of tabs, but I'm not sure that they intend to add that anyway. It's going to replace old Edge in Windows when it's ready for release anyway, so you may as well do it now. As you have an issue with YouTube specifically, you're less likely to encounter that with Edge based on Chromium, which comes from Google originally. Google have sabotaged YouTube on old Edge before.

  3. #3

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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Quote Originally Posted by jmcilhinney View Post
    With regards to the overall issue, my guess would be a video driver issue. Do you have a dedicated graphics chip or are you using Intel integrated graphics? If possible, I'd suggest installing/reinstalling the latest video drivers.
    ......
    Thanks for your help.

    How do I do that (installing/reinstalling latest video drivers)?
    Do I also need to reboot after that?

    Thanks.
    Ilia

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    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Quote Originally Posted by IliaPreston View Post
    How do I do that (installing/reinstalling latest video drivers)?
    That depends on the graphics card/chip that is in your machine. If it's possible, you'll likely need to find the appropriate file on the manufacturer's web site, download it and then run it.
    Quote Originally Posted by IliaPreston View Post
    Do I also need to reboot after that?
    Almost certainly, but the installer will prompt you in that case.

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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Quote Originally Posted by jmcilhinney View Post
    That depends on the graphics card/chip that is in your machine. If it's possible, you'll likely need to find the appropriate file on the manufacturer's web site, download it and then run it.

    Almost certainly, but the installer will prompt you in that case.
    This is my computer:
    https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...0-eng/13579663

    And this is a screen print of diagnostics:
    https://i.imgur.com/V1qLFIU.jpg

    And this is a screen print of my Device Manager:
    https://i.imgur.com/AxsHCqN.jpg

    Looks like there is no video driver in the Device Manager, or if there is one, I can't find it.
    There are a number of things that appear to be audio drivers, but I don't see any video driver in there.

    Please help
    Thanks.
    Ilia

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    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Re Problem 2 - Firefox. As I use Firefox, I tried to view them on my PC, but this content is not available outside of Canada. Sorry, so I can't try it.
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

    C++23 Compiler: Microsoft VS2022 (17.6.5)

  7. #7
    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    It appears that you have an nVidia GTX 1660 Ti video card but no nVidia drivers installed. You should visit the nVidia web site and download the latest drivers for that GPU.

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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Thanks everybody for your help and advice.

    Regarding the problem with Firefox (showing those videos with a lot of pauses), I finally found out how to fix it, and I am hereby sharing it with everybody, so that they know how to fix this problem in case somebody will one day encounter this same problem.

    The problem was solved by disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox (the Option 2 on the following page):
    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...owblinds-crash

    Disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox solved the problem, and now, those videos play flawlessly.

    Hopefully this will be helpful.
    Regards.
    Ilia

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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    Quote Originally Posted by jmcilhinney View Post
    ......
    With regards to Edge, I'm inclined to recommend that you use the new, Chromium-based version rather than the one that comes with Windows. It's still in beta but ......
    I installed the beta version of the Chromium-based Edge and it shows youtube home page and youtube videos perfectly flawlessly.
    But, it CO-EXISTS with the standard Microsoft Edge browser on my computer.
    I thought it would REPLACE it, but it didn't.

    Now, I have both the standard Microsoft Edge browser and the (beta) Chromium-based Edge both installed on my computer.
    The standard Microsoft Edge continues to show youtube pages in the distorted and ruined way
    And the new Chromium-based Edge shows youtube pages perfectly properly

    How long are these two competing browsers going to continue to co-exist on my computer?
    Is Microsoft going to delete the currently standard Edge from the computer (via one of its future Windows 10 updates)?
    And if yes, when?
    And will that update be smart enough to upgrade the beta version of Chromium-based Edge that I have installed on my computer from beta to main (non-beta)?

    Currently, the Chromium-based Edge has an icon that has the word beta on it. Obviously its content (in addition to its icon) is also beta content.
    So, I am afraid that one of the future Windows 10 updates responsible for removing Edge and replacing it with the then main version of Chromium-based Edge will probably miss this beta version on my computer.

    Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated.

    ...... It [Chromium-based Edge] is still in beta but Chromium itself is perfectly stable ......
    Based on your comments, I also became very interested in installing the Chromium browser itself as well, but the main download page:
    https://download-chromium.appspot.com/
    clearly warns:
    This is a raw build of Chromium for Windows x64, right off the trunk. It may be tremendously buggy.
    Consider Chrome Canary or Dev Channel for a build that regularly auto-updates to latest.
    And then when I go to the Chrome Canary download page:
    https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/canary/
    It warns:
    Get on the bleeding edge of the web. Be warned: Canary can be unstable.
    So, where is the stable download for the Chromium browser?

    Thanks for your help.
    Ilia

  10. #10
    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    With regards to Edge's future, to the best of my knowledge, new Edge will become the default browser for Windows 10 when it is ready for general release and fully replace old Edge. I don't believe that Microsoft have announced exactly how that will happen at this stage but I would expect that an update to Windows 10 will remove the old browser and install the new one. I would guess that it would be one of the two major updates per year that makes that change. It may take longer than the browser itself because they'll have to make sure that favourites, etc, migrate flawlessly for everyone.

    I would assume that the beta, dev and canary branches for Edge will continue to be available so your beta install will not be removed automatically. You could keep it and run it in parallel to the release build or you could uninstall it manually. As I said, I'd expect favourites, etc, to be migrated automatically to new Edge but you may have to migrate favourites, etc, from a beta install of new Edge automatically.

    As for Chromium itself, I've never used it but I just searched for "download chromium stable" and the first result was this page. Note that Chrome and Chromium are not the same thing. Chromium is an open source, bare-bones browser that is part of Chrome OS and also can be and is used as the basis for other proprietary browsers. Google Chrome is based on Chromium, as is the new Microsoft Edge, among others. The Chromium Project was started by Google but has numerous contributors, with Microsoft now being one of them.

  11. #11

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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    On the page that you provided
    https://chromium.woolyss.com/
    under the 64-bit section, there are a whole lot of links (multiple lines, several links in each line)
    Not sure which one to choose, but I chose the Installer from the last line (80.0.3947.0 (707690))
    The file is called "mini_installer.exe"
    When I try to run it, a message pops up that says:
    Windows Protected your computer
    Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.
    More info
    Not sure what to do.
    Please advise.
    Thanks

  12. #12
    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Problems with a new computer. Please help

    If you look to the right on that page you'll see a colour key, which indicates that orange means least stable and green means most stable. I would suggest that you select the Installer link from the top item, which is for stable version 77.0.3865.120. I've provided the same link below:

    https://github.com/macchrome/winchro..._installer.exe

    The warning you get just means that Microsoft hasn't officially vetted that file but it is from a reputable source so it is safe for you to go ahead and run the installer.

    I don't think that Chromium includes an auto-updater so, if you want to keep it up-to-date, you might need to keep an eye on that page and download new stable versions as they become available.

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