oldhippie51

Q: Updated Safari last night.  Now the free online games on AARP, will not load.  It's not the website because my husband's macbook pro still loads them

I've updated to the latest version of Safari, on my 2015 macbook air.  Since then, the games I play, on the AARP website, won't load.  I checked to make sure Flash was up to date and it is.  I also have an old iMac  that I play on.  I haven't updated that machine yet.  Right now the games load on that one.  Is anybody else having this problem?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 11:57 AM

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Q: Updated Safari last night.  Now the free online games on AARP, will not load.  It's not the website because my husband's ... more

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  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 26, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Barbara Force
    Harp games no longer load on Safari.

    I may not have been looking in the right place, but I couldn't find any games referred to as harp. Do you mean the sharp games? I did try a few more randomly chosen games. All worked. But that also leaves a LOT of them I didn't try.

  • by Barbara Force,

    Barbara Force Barbara Force Sep 26, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Sep 26, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    Oops. Auto spell changed Aarp to 'Harp". None of the Aarp games will load. I have tried everything that oldhippie51 said eventually worked for her. When the problem first started, it was the shallow but wide black rectangular box that appeared, also for her. Then it switched to the normal sized black box with the spinning circle, indicating that it is trying to load.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 26, 2016 2:59 PM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 2:59 PM in response to Barbara Force

    Did the box look something like this?

    Screen Shot.png

    If so, you've got VoiceOver turned on. Open the System Preferences and click on Accessibility. Turn the check box off.

    Screen Shot 1.png

    What may be happening with it on is the the OS is trying to "read" the graphic for the game icon so it can speak what it says. But there's no readable text for an image, so you get the spinning lollipop as the OS tries to figure out what to do with it.

  • by Barbara Force,

    Barbara Force Barbara Force Sep 26, 2016 4:07 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Sep 26, 2016 4:07 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    The original box looked the shape you have above, but solid black. Now it is almost a square, like the game should be, solid black, but with the spinner. I checked the VoiceOver, but it was not turned on. By the way, thank you for trying to help me!

  • by Kurt Lang,Solvedanswer

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 27, 2016 7:11 AM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 7:11 AM in response to Barbara Force

    Got it. You mean this.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-09-27 at 8.29.11 AM.png

     

    You've clicked the button to launch the game, and this is all the further it gets. I had this happen under Sierra with both Safari and Firefox. I was testing in El Capitan before with Safari 10 figuring it would be the same.

     

    What's wrong is the box is a Flash ad that insists on running before you can actually play a game (one of those, "You can skip this ad in x seconds" things). I hadn't installed Flash in Sierra yet. The giveaway was small text that appeared before the black box covered it saying Flash was required. So the AARP site is stuck because it wants to cram an ad down your throat before you can play the game, but it can't do it without Flash installed and enabled in Safari. So it just sits there and stares back at you with a black placeholder for the stalled ad.

     

    Once I installed Flash and re-launched Safari, it stated that Flash was detected and conveniently turned it off for my safety. Sure. That's just what I would want the OS to do. Disable a plug-in I intentionally installed so I could use it. Went to Safari's preferences and told it to use Flash all the time.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-09-27 at 9.03.13 AM.png

     

    To get there, click on the Security heading, then the Plug-in Settings button at the bottom. In the left column, Flash is turned off. Turn on the check box. Then at the right, change the drop-down menu at the bottom right to On. Click Done.

     

    The games should now work in Safari. Though even with an ad-blocker installed, you're still forced to watch the Flash adds before the first play, and in between most requests to play the same game again.

  • by Barbara Force,

    Barbara Force Barbara Force Sep 27, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    Kurt - Thank You!  It works!

    The Flash was on, but the drop-down menu at the bottom right was selected to 'Ask'.  It didn't ask!

    Thank you so much. This was not essential, but sure was annoying. Like a car, I know how to use this thing, but I have a hard time with the detective work when things change themselves.

    Again, thank you for your time and help.

    B-

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 27, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Barbara Force

    You're welcome. I had tried "Ask" in El Capitan first, too. But Safari never asks when a site wants to present Flash content, making the choice just another "No".

  • by oldhippie51,

    oldhippie51 oldhippie51 Sep 27, 2016 9:06 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 9:06 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    I'm so glad you got this figured out.... I've been following along, even though my problem was solved.  Thanks so much, Kurt. 

     

    Barbara, it is very frustrating to have your favorite games stop working.  It sounds trivial but I too, love the AARP games, even if they do make you watch a stupid ad and sometimes you have to watch the full ad before the game starts.  I have Ad blocker on but it has no affect on the game window ads.  It's still better to have it though.  Before I got Ad blocker, I kept getting a nasty popup window from MacKeeper....malware disguised as a helpful program....  the popup would not give you a way to close it.  Your choices are to click to download or to force quit Safari....   I'm happy for you to be back up and gaming.  grin.  Thanks again, Kurt.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 27, 2016 9:18 AM in response to oldhippie51
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 9:18 AM in response to oldhippie51
    I'm so glad you got this figured out.... I've been following along, even though my problem was solved.

    Couldn't help it. I'm one of those weirdos who has to figure a puzzle out so my head doesn't implode. If I can't figure it out, I do give up eventually - reluctantly.

  • by Barbara Force,

    Barbara Force Barbara Force Sep 27, 2016 12:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2016 12:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    Thank goodness for people like you, Kurt!

    Doing this was not necessary, by any means, but it bugs me to not have it work. Then, what is the next thing that is going to be affected? There is so much to know. I don't know how you figure it out, but I am appreciative. (As was the writer of the initial query.)

    I no longer know how to mark questions as solved, as we used to do. Just the "Helpful" button. People used to get some kind of points for posting the solution. Perhaps that is no longer done.

  • by Barbara Force,

    Barbara Force Barbara Force Sep 27, 2016 12:09 PM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2016 12:09 PM in response to Barbara Force

    Well, I was wrong. I looked at the post with your solution, saw the green "Solved", and your info. I don't ever remember checking a Solved button - just the "helpful". But, you did solve it for me, and I won't take up any more of your time.

    Thanks again!

    B-

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 27, 2016 12:12 PM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 12:12 PM in response to Barbara Force

    Yup, they still do. The person who starts a topic is the only one who can directly hand out awards. A Solved earns the person who's post is marked 10 points, and a Helpful, 5 points. A recent addition to the forum software is any post that any five or more users have clicked the Helpful button on also earns that post a gold star, and that person's post 5 points.

     

    You can mark your own posts as Solved or Helpful, but to prevent users from just posting like mad to increase their level by awarding themselves, you get no points for marking your own posts.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 27, 2016 12:14 PM in response to Barbara Force
    Level 8 (37,958 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 12:14 PM in response to Barbara Force

    That means oldhippie51 clicked Solved on the post (as the only person who can), so any Helpful count went away.

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