Opera 43 Not Responding error playing YouTube

roberth1951

roberth1951

Windows 8.1 | Opera43.0.2442.991 (PGO)
Hello everyone. I am hopeful someone can offer a solution to the problem I am having. Recently (last 2 weeks) I have not been able to play YouTube videos more that a couple of minutes before the video stops and seems to buffer, then stops and I see a message “Opera Not Responding.”

At this point everything gets slow… pointer movement, close program requests, etc.

I even disabled my virus protection and there was no change. Using “Task Manager” I found Opera was using 989 Meg of memory and running 100% of disk activity. There was also 4 incidents of “Opera Internet Browser (32-bit) running in the “Background Processes” listing.

I have run F-Secure Virus scan and found nothing. If I use a different browser YouTube plays fine.

Any Ideas anyone?
Thank you.

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

Do you use any extensions? If so, did you test with them disabled?

Did you try to disable hardware acceleration?

Did you test with a clean profile?

zalex108

zalex108

Recently (last 2 weeks)

What changed two weeks ago¿?

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

roberth1951

roberth1951

leocg, thank you for your response. I do not use extensions. I have never added any by my own doing.
If buy using a "clean profile" you mean "clearing all browser data," yes. I have a habit of clearing 100% of history, cache, etc. several times a day. I also use MAXA cookie manager to monitor and remove cookies. (some cookies I have to go in and dig out myself.)

BUT... your suggestion on hardware acceleration may have been the key. As hardware acceleration does not work when VPN is turned ON, as my VPN is on, I thought what if I turn VPN off? Well I just played several YouTube videos (totaling 30 minutes) and none of the previous symptoms were observed. With VPN ON the remote proxy server protocols that are in effect "may be" altering the YouTube video integrity. (I emphasize "may be" as I do not know this to be factual) (Question now is... has anyone else noticed problems with YouTube while using VPN?)

zalex108 thank you also. More like "what changed a about a month ago?" Answer, I started using VPN.

I will monitor this more closely and report any variations that are noteworthy.

Thank you both for your input.

RH

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

As hardware acceleration does not work when VPN is turned ON

There is no relation between hardware acceleration and VPN.

roberth1951

roberth1951

Thank you leocg. I was thinking of VPN not running with "Opera Turbo."
I am now looking for "hardware acceleration" in Opera 43 and so far can not find it.
Is it under "Settings" in Opera 43?

Thank you.
RH

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

Is it under "Settings" in Opera 43?

Yep. You may need to enabled advanced settings.

roberth1951

roberth1951

Indeed! In the lower left corner of the "settings" page I checked "show advanced settings."
Under "Browser" I found "hardware acceleration" was checked "ON."

Will view Youtube videos with "hardware acceleration" turned OFF and VPN ON and see if the vid's play without incident.

Thank you leocg.

roberth1951

roberth1951

Hello.
Having watched several YouTube videos with "hardware acceleration" turned OFF and VPN ON I still have the same problem of Opera giving a “Opera Not Responding” message at the top of the browser.
If VPN is turned "OFF" then the video's play just fine.

I am monitoring background programs with Task Manager and hope to find an answer.

Thank you for your suggestions.

RH

zalex108

zalex108

Roberth1951

Hello.
Having watched several YouTube videos with "hardware acceleration" turned OFF and VPN ON I still have the same problem of Opera giving a “Opera Not Responding” message at the top of the browser.

LeoCG

As hardware acceleration does not work when VPN is turned ON

There is no relation between hardware acceleration and VPN.

Just test it HW Acceleration + VPN + Youtube: Played fine.

Recomendation:

Sync in Opera Sync.
Export extensions https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/v7-extension-manager/?display=en or http://nirsoft.net/utils/web_browser_addons_view.html
Create a New "clean" Profile, here it's the "How to" Frequently Asked Questions (Opera for Windows)
Test VPN | If Ok
Sync again
Configure browser
Bckp the New Profile
Install needed extensions
Test VPN | If Ok
Configure extensions or import extension settings from first profile (the problem should be here, so import just the most neccesary or leave it and configure them again)
Bckp the New Profile

If VPN fails in 1st step: Something missed
If VPN fails in 2nd step: An extension is problematic

PS: In %AppData%\Local, rename the Opera cache folder too.

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

If VPN is turned "OFF" then the video's play just fine.

Turned off in settings? Or you just disabled it by clicking on the VPN icon at the address bar?

roberth1951

roberth1951

Hello leocg. I disable VPN by clicking on the blue icon in the address bar.
For instance, Last night I started to watch the U.S. Congressional speech via YouTube with VPN on. Within 2 minutes the video is out of sync with the audio, the pointer moves erratically, hard drive thrashing increases & fan speed greatly increases. Then everything is in near freeze up.

After clicking "X" to close browser the “Opera Not Responding” message shows at the top of the browser and it takes about 2 minutes before the browser shuts down. It was also minutes before Task Manager would start when I asked for it.

THEN: I started over again by disabling VPN at the address bar and watched 30+ minutes of YouTube flawlessly.

I do not use extensions. I will now try the suggestions posted above by zalex108 and let you know the results.

I thank the both of you for your assistance.

roberth1951

roberth1951

I followed the instructions posted by zalex108,
In "settings" I "unchecked" VPN,
I renamed the "Opera Stable" folder and allowed the program to create a new one.
Restarted Opera. (Lost bookmarks etc. but expected that.) It created a new "Opera Stable" folder.
First thing I did was " disable hardware acceleration."
Next I enabled VPN.

NOTE: I do not use any extensions or SYNC, also I use Opera on 1 computer only so I did nothing regarding these parameters.

Nothing changed. With VPN "ON" YouTube videos cause Opera to slowly (a few minutes) decay in performance. “Opera Not Responding” message shows at the top of the browser when I try to close the program.

With VPN "OFF" YouTube video plays just fine.

Should I re-install Opera? (Twilight Zone here I come)

zalex108

zalex108

NOTE: I do not use any extensions or SYNC, also I use Opera on 1 computer only so I did nothing regarding these parameters.

Sync also create a copy on the cloud, after create a new profile or reinstall your data will be downloaded to the new profile, despite you use just one device.

Weird behavior
Did you rename/delete cache too?
Is there any software monitoring net connections¿?

I don't know what could be the problem. Full uninstall / install? You may try it to find out the problem.

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

With VPN "ON" YouTube videos cause Opera to slowly (a few minutes) decay in performance

This may be expected as the connection needs to go through VPN servers, what adds another step to it.

Opera Not Responding” message shows at the top of the browser when I try to close the program.

This is unexpected.

I remember have seen some people complaining about 'out of memory' issues with VPN enabled.

Maybe your issue is related.

roberth1951

roberth1951

I thank you two for your support.
When considering that VPN is adding to the process, I must keep in mind that I have viewed full length movies with VPN "ON" and there were no problems. Other video formats are not effected. Only YouTube.

I have also deleted the contents of the Opera cache folder. I have also turned off the "deep" monitoring of my virus protection software with no positive results. I may do a total un-install/install of Opera as there could be some form of corruption or undetected virus within Opera.

I did get an "out of memory" message once, and as I recall, that showed up before the VPN/YouTube trouble started. That may be noteworthy as once while I monitored Opera using 'Task Manager' I saw 'memory usage' at 989 Meg. As it approached that figure the video froze up more frequently with time. That alone seems out of bounds.

Next move is to contact my virus protection support for any known problems. "Down the Rabbit hole."

Thank you again.
RH

zalex108

zalex108

I do not think that AV is causing problems since the problem it's only with Y2b and you have tested with it disabled, rigth?

Despite you don't use extensions, just check it in Opera://extensions
Otherwise, some AV install it's own browser extension (Although I do not think it's the problem)

"What the bleep do we know" xD :sherlock:

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

roberth1951

roberth1951

Hello zalex108.
If you mean by 'AV' Anti-Virus, yes, I have tested with it turned off with no improvement. I have yet to contact tech on that but I doubt it is really the problem.
I checked Opera extensions and it shows "No extensions installed.

zalex108

zalex108

Do you have any other security soft?

If you have tested with a clean profile and tested with/without HW Acceleration then... I don't know what could it be.

With an Opera portable version or beta or Dev, could be tested too if you like.

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

roberth1951

roberth1951

No other security software in process.

I did a complete Opera uninstall - install. 43.0.2442.1144 (PGO).

Disabled "hardware acceleration." enabled VPN.
Immediately ran a YouTube video and within 4-5 minutes the same problem. Video starts to act like it is buffering, my pointer movement stops responding and it takes about 3 minutes before 'Task Manager' will open as everything I try to do has a very delayed response.

Restart Opera and 'Task Manager.' Now VPN is turned OFF at the address bar.
Play YouTube Vid and monitor activity with 'Task Manager.'
After 10 minutes video is fine and Opera memory usage is stable at 105 Meg. CPU usage= 24%.
Turn VPN "ON" and instantly Opera memory usage is rising every 5 seconds. I turn VPN "OFF" and Mem usage stops rising and stays at 183 Meg. CPU usage= 29%. (the Mem usage did not change until I turnrd VPN back ON several minutes later.

In short I played the video for 18 minutes. Turned VPN ON/OFF at 2 minutes intervals. Opera memory usage increased rapidly with VPN ON and the usage never dropped during the off period. Mem usage got to the 987 Meg level and the computer was almost dead in the water, as they say.

APP's running only, Opera & Task Manager. In"Background Process's there were "3" Opera Browser (32 bit) listed with the first in the list was using 39% of CPU. Other 2 were not doing anything.

There are some observations and I recall an "Out of Memory" error when this started weeks ago.

All other video formats play fine with VPN ON including movies.
Strange stuff. (last night I watched The Twilight Zone and X-Files they were normal.)