streamed images and videos not loading properly

Just got done taking care of some malware issues over here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=125806
One of the problems I was experiencing that I perceived to be a part of the malware seems to not be solved and Jeffce recommended making a post here to get some help.

Basically anything that is streaming images or videos over the internet don't always seem to load properly. Whether it's within any internet browser or internet connected programs like Steam. Images often are fragmented or don't load at all and videos, assuming the player even shows up on screen (it's often just a black rectangle), will usually simply stop playing anywhere between 5 and 30 seconds into the video as if it reached the end (this is most often seen on youtube videos). If I rewind/restart the video, it will stop in the same place every time. If I start watching the video several seconds after the point it stopped it will play from that point, but it will again stop after a short amount of time. My video drivers, windows, java, and flash are all up-to-date and apparently working, so I'm at a loss at this point as to what could be causing this issue.

Thanks for any help.

Edit:
forgot to add system info…
Running Windows 7 64
Self built desktop (about 4 years old now?)
ATI Radeon HD 6850
Quad core CPU (I think like a 3.2 ghz?)
4gb RAM

Sounds like a possible flash problem. Have you tried uninstalling flash and installing the latest version?

just tried uninstalling and reinstalling, didnt seem to do anything…

Add-ons can often be the cause of many Browser related problems including streaming video.
Disable them all and if the problem you are having disappears, try enabling them one at a time to find the culprit.

How to disable Firefox extensions, themes, and plugins (disabling an add-on will turn it off without removing it):

At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button, and then click Add-ons. The Add-ons Manager tab will open
In the Add-ons Manager tab, select the Extensions or Appearance or Plugins panel
Select the add-on you wish to disable (ALL)
Click the Disable button
Click Restart now if it pops up. Your tabs will be saved and restored after the restart

To re-enable an add-on, go to the list of Add-ons and click Enable (one at a time), then restart Firefox.

* If it is not in the add-on list, disable Grab Pro

* You might like to remove the Ask toolbar which you probably installed accidentally anyway (add-on toolbars are not a good idea and use far more resources than you think):
Close Internet Explorer and Firefox if either web browser is open. Click on the Start orb / Control panel / Programs and Features / right-click Ask Toolbar / Uninstall.

PS note added:
Another possible cause: When watching online video using a slow internet connection, you may experience interruptions and buffering (loading).
Check your internet speed.

sorry for the slow reply, was out of town. I primarily use Chrome, but that being said, nothing along the lines of extensions and plugins and whatnot seem to be the problem. Given that the issue extends beyond any given browser, for example Steam, an internet connected program separate from Chrome or Firefox or IE has similar issues, I have a hard time believing that could be the problem, anyway. I considered internet speeds possibly having something to do with it as well, but that remains steady and normal. Like I said, videos don't buffer or buffer indefinitely. The video simply ends as if it played the whole video and will always end at that same point from then on. Or, in the case of certain web players, the place where the video player would be is nothing more than a non-interactive black rectangle. Up until about a week ago, I've never experienced problems like this before. Quite frankly, it's rather weird… I've attached a couple screen shots of kotaku that shows the problem rather well. The first showing a fragmented image, the second showing no video. I can't easily post a picture of the videos that do work for only a few seconds, obviously, so hopefully you can understand what I mean by that.

nothing along the lines of extensions and plugins and whatnot seem to be the problem.

Have you actually tried disabling browser add-ons as suggested (inc. in Chrome)? Please make sure browser setting are set to default so we are working with the basics with no changed setting or add-ons. Under those circumstances, flash video should work (this can be all done in just Internet Explorer if you like, to see we can at least get videos streaming properly in that browser).

I need to know in future posts that you are trying the things I suggest, as sorting out any computer problem is one of deduction (ruling things out through application of steps suggested and then moving on to other steps if need be).

I'm a very sus. about Grab Pro. Does it enable you to take a 'video grab' at any time? If so, all video content must filter through that program. If that is the case, disable it so it cannot do so and see if it makes a difference. It could be contributing problems or even be the problem, especially if it can do a 'grab' in any browser.

If all of the above has no effect, try a system restore to a date before the video problem started. If it is not possible to do that (no restore points available to that time) try to think back to any changes you made to your PC and especially any programs you may have added (?)

Up until about a week ago, I've never experienced problems like this before.

Yeah, sorry I didn't make it clear, but I did try disabling the addons in all browsers. I haven't used grab pro since I first got it, but I uninstalled it anyway since I don't use it. I do have a couple restore points, though I'm not sure if they go far enough back… Guess I'll have to try those. Noticed something else weird just recently as well (though this may have been going on just as long), this time dealing with Steam. It has a number of games it's trying to update, but they are all suspended except one that starts to update before becoming suspended, then the next one starts updating then suspends and so on, constantly cycling through all the needed updates but never actually getting far enough to download anything. Additionally, It keeps telling me that Steam itself has been updated and needs to restart in order to install. This message pops up every time after Steam has been (re)opened for at least 10 minutes or so indicating to me that the update probably wasn't actually successful. Basically it just seems like everything dealing with the internet is going to carp** on my computer and its kinda frustrating… Btw, I'm very appreciative of you taking your time to offer guidance. I just hope my computer isn't totally messed up… edit: Also, before I do a restore, would a system restore potentially reintroduce the malware that I just got rid of?

That first screenshot you posted shows a rather worrying image. That looks to me like there's a possible malfunction with your graphics card.
Have you experienced any problems in games? Like weird artifacts and stuff?
Also, what drivers are you using for your graphics card?
I recommend the last official ones, 13.1.

I was also surprised few days ago when I uninstalled my graphics card drivers and google chrome stopped working but firefox worked flawlessly.
Some things sometimes don't make sense on a first glance.

Steam always experiments with their downloads so you can never be sure about that.

edit: Also, before I do a restore, would a system restore potentially reintroduce the malware that I just got rid of?

Yes, if it restores back to before you were cleaned it will probably bring back the malware.

I've only played a couple games since these problems began, but I can't say I ever noticed any problems. I'll jump into some others to test it out. I do have the most up to date drivers, though. I'll also try uninstalling and reinstalling them just to be sure nothing there went wrong. If its the video card itself, I guess i'm kinda screwed for the time being. As for the issue with the downloads in Steam, if it is them just experimenting, I gotta say that its really annoying since theres about 4 games I can't play as a result. I'll post an update in a little bit…

would a system restore potentially reintroduce the malware that I just got rid of?

Looking at your melware thread and the tests run, your computer was passed as "clean" (no melware). If infected, all your old restore points would be deleted and a new one set after malware removal (post-malware removal housekeeping). If you still have old restore points you had no infection as none can be seen in any of the tests run in the melware forum. That pop-up notice you saw must have been a false positive.
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As you have now run your browsers without add-ons and with default settings with no joy, time to test out your video card and your computer in general.

Please Run the PCPitstop Overdrive Test HERE.
You must use Internet Explorer as it needs to install an ActiveX program.

Note: Vista/Windows 7 users with UAC must first Right-click IE - Select "Run as Administrator"

If you haven't already registered, Click - "Sign up now!" (left hand column in User Login)
Register and create a password
Accept the ActiveX component to allow your machine to run the Full Tests
Registering and accepting the ActiveX are both SAFE and FREE.

The Full Tests take less than 5 minutes for most machines.
Once you have your Results, please post the URL (the http:// address) back here into this thread for review.

Vista/Windows 7 users, please close your instance of IE "Running as Administrator" after you are finished reviewing your Results.

Caution: During the testing of Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are “flashed” onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop Full Tests over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns.
If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, please look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence

The PCPitstop Full Tests Results is a free service, but is supported by various paid product advertisements for utilities that "could" remedy the OP's problem. Since this site is a "free-help" forum, we do not recommend or endorse purchase of any automated utilities advertizes on the Pitstop site.

Sorry for the delay, been working long hours.

Here's the results.

http://pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=25296074

Nothing wrong with your video-card.

Apart from your C: drive needing a defrag. your drivers all check OK but I notice your ping, download and upload speeds are 'queried'? Did you have your internet off?

FXAA Post Process Injector is a graphics modding tool, please try disabled to see if that has been causing any problems.

Folding@home-gpu Same as above.

DivX Plus Web Player Same as above.

As long as your download speeds are OK, something is interfering with your video.

I think I may have just solved the problem. After trying what you suggested to no avail I got to thinking about that curiosity of the PCPitstop scan not testing my internet. This got me thinking along the path of my wireless adapter. Knowing I didn't manually change anything about it, I decided to go back and look at the various updates that were installed from windows updater. Sure enough, one was a driver update for my wireless adapter installed 3/21/2013. After doing a bit of research I found there are actually two different versions of the adapter that I own, one of which was originally incompatible with windows 7 64bit. I don't own that version, but rather the version that is compatible. The driver update, I assumed then, was a compatibility patch for the version I didn't own.

I did a quick driver rollback in my device manager (literally took me 1 minute) and just like that everything seems to be in tip-top shape again! It seems this driver update, most likely for the other version of my adapter, is what completely messed with everything (including my frustration with Steam!). I find it kind of surprising that the driver worked at all for this adapter, albeit very poorly.

I'm incredibly grateful for the help you've provided and simultaneously rather sorry I've spent so much of your time trying to figure this out. I doubt I would have ever gotten on the right track if it weren't for that PCPitstop scan. No matter, hopefully this will possibly help out others that may be experiencing similar issues (I imagine there's at least one other person out there with the same adapter, OS, and driver update experiencing the same issues). Again, thanks so much for your time.

Side note: Just for reference, I'm using the Linksys WUSB100 adapter (I believe Ver. 1, though I can't be certain about that).

Thank you for the detailed account of the repair. I'm sure it will help others! I too was a bit sus. about Pitstop's broadband query, which was the reason for my little "did you have the internet off" joke Cheers, Lee