Linux Mint Forums

I have been experiencing immediate system shutdowns while watching certain youtube videos. The computer shuts down with no hesitation or warning - as if I'd held the power button. This only happens while viewing certain videos. Every time I've experienced the problem, I've been in the middle of a controversial progressivist or revolutionary type clip. I have noticed the phenomenon is particular to certain videos. Not every video crashes my computer - most play fine. I noticed the problem initially running Mint 13 with mate, but have since re-installed to 14 mate and experienced the same problem. I have so-far experienced the issue on two different wifi connections. I have noticed that if a shutdown occurs, after immediately rebooting and reloading the last viewed page, I get another shutdown within seconds, whereas the first would have been after the video played for a few minutes. The nature of the problem leads me to believe it is a targeted shutdown, due to government surveillance paranoia. I really have no proof though. Are there any logfiles or other places to look that would help me find the root of the problem? Is there any way to reject/override a shutdown command? lastly is there any simple approach to downloading flash videos first and then watching them with vlc (or another open player) embedded in the webpage? Ideally I'd like to bypass flash altogether.

Here is one of the videos I was watching when the shutdown occured:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fVAifnnlg0

Firefox version 18.0.1
Adobe Flash version: 11.2.202.243
Gnash version 0.8.11 (I have even experienced the problem when using gnash with adobe flash disabled)

Some info:
Linux Mint 14 32-bit with Mate
CPU~Single core Intel Celeron CPU 900 (-UP-) clocked at 2194.684 Mhz
Kernel~3.5.0-17-generic i686 Up~1:41
Mem~458.3/3872.3MB HDD~250.1GB(5.4% used) Procs~156 Client~Shell inxi~1.8.4

Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
X.Org: 1.13.0 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.0

Again, I can watch hours worth of youtube videos and videos from other sites, its only when I watch anything that would clearly put up a red flag on any government surveillance software that bombs my system... which is why I feel I'm being attacked, but again, no proof. any advice on where to look is much appreciated. Thanks.

Flash is horrible. Have you tried smtube? It is an smplayer addon for viewing youtube videos. Much more reliable than flash in browser.

I get flash-related hangs about once every 2 weeks. I've never had it shut down on me though.