Flash doesn't load in IE

Loading bar at %Infinity%

[StoutFiles]

There's a particular flash file on my site that won't load. It loads in Firefox ok but not in IE.

I found the same flash file on another site that loads in IE alright. I took that exact file and tried it on my site, but still the exact same problem. I copied his <object> code perfectly to see if our minor changes affected it but no. I'm displaying the exact same file as the exact same height and width with the exact same code but his file displays and mine doesn't.

Any reason why this would happen?

[dreamcatcher]

Are you blocking flash content in IE by mistake?

dc

[StoutFiles]

Nope. Almost all of my other flash files play.

As a test when a .swf didn't play in IE, I found a site with that exact same .swf file that worked while I was on IE. I took his code and pasted it into my site, downloaded his .swf file, and then changed the file source to where I put the new .swf file. Same exact problem.

The only thing I can think of now is that it's a server problem because the code is 100% the same.

[rocknbil]

because the code is 100% the same.

The method of including the file is the same, and you're correct, it's probably not that. But it may not be a server problem either.

The **only** time I experience this is when there's a dependent file missing and there is no error handling in the Flash to manage it.

Example:

Slide show
XML file loads image paths and captions
Flash reads in XML file, builds array

When it goes to display the image, the image file is not present or is pointed to the wrong directory

Instead of the "red X" we're used to for missing resources, the Flash will just sit there, and the page will keep "loading" forever. If the Flash is coded properly, the caption should report "file not found" and continue after a time (or something.)

There are other similar situations that can cause this, but a missing resource won't act the way you'd hope with Flash.

A second possibility ,and is a speculation: I don't use many AS3 classes, but it is *possible* that the Flash file requires a class file to be uploaded with it; look at it as "external Javascript" for a web page, because in some cases the relationship is the same. This may (or may not) cause the same type of hang.

[StoutFiles]

I have a second server that correctly loads the file in both IE and Firefox.

I'm 100% sure that it has something to do with the server...either a caching issue or a path problem.

[encyclo]

If no Flash files load on the server, check to see if the mime type for .swf files is set correctly in the server configuration (httpd.conf or equivalent).

[StoutFiles]

Most flash files load correctly on the first server, there's just a few where it can't get past the loading bar on IE. They all work fine on the second server which is shared. I'm completely stumped on why this is the case.

The server that doesn't work is dedicated, so it's something I've got wrong. Both servers are currently using the exact same .htaccess file, so this must not be the problem.

[StoutFiles]

Found the problem.

Dedicated server has mod_gzip on, which breaks some flash preload files. Set that to OFF in the flash file.