All Versions of Flash 10- 10.1 are crashing Safari 5.0.1

Question

2 days ago this problem came out of nowhere and now I can't load any flash content without Safari crashing within seconds. Firefox, Chrome, and Opera also suffer a similar fate when confronted with a flash based page.
I have trashed the plist repeatedly, reset safari automatically and manually, uninstalled flash and then reinstalled various beta versions of flash (one worked for a few hours, 10 r45 I think it was), ran safari under a new account (this crashed too), repaired disk permissions a dozen times, renamed my hard drive, and none of this has worked.
I don't have an install disk for my computer or any way to back up my files so I'm not willing or able to reinstall my OS. What other solutions are out there?

Answer 1

Hi and welcome to Apple Discussions...
ran safari under a new account (this crashed too)
Which indicates it's a system wide problem not just your user account.
I don't have an install disk for my computer or any way to back up my files so I'm not willing or able to reinstall my OS. What other solutions are out there?
Given that criteria, not much.
Since booting from the install disc isn't possible, try booting in Safe Mode
What is Safe Mode
Booting up in Safe Mode can take a little while longer then a normal boot. Once you've reached the Desktop, go to Applications/Utilities and launch Disk Utility.
Select the startup disk on the left, select the First Aid tab, then click Verify. At least this way you will know whether or not the disk needs repairing. Unfortunately, the only way to repair the disk is with your install disc or purchase either DiskWarrior or TechToolPro
one worked for a few hours, 10 r45 I think it was)
If Disk Utility reports that the startup disk, "appears to be ok", *since that Flash plugin version is outdated* you could try uninstalling the current plugin then reinstall new then repair permissions.
Uninstall Flash
Install the most recent version of Flash here.
Now repair permissions.
Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select the FirstAid tab. Click: Repair Disk Permissions. When it's finished from the Menu Bar, Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac. If you see a long list of "messages" in the permissions window, it's ok. That can be ignored. As long as you see, "Permissions Repair Complete" when it's finished... you're done. Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac.
If reinstalling the correct Flash plugin doesn't help, post a Safari crash report.
If Safari has just crashed, press the Report button on the CrashReporter dialog box to view the crash information. Now copy/paste the entire contents of the Crash Reporter window into your reply here. If the crash report dialog does not appear or the crash is hard to reproduce, crash logs can be retrieved from the ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter> folder.
Carolyn