Cannot play Flash content in IE7

Question

When I navigate IE7 to any site (including adobe.com) that
has Flash content, I get a message saying I need to enable
javascript (it is) and/or upgrade my Flash player. I am running
Vista, and this worked until sometime in the last week or so.
Flash content does run on this machine inside Firefox 3.0.1,
but IE7 appears to be dead.
The error message I get is "Error in loading DLL". It appears
to pop up when the javascript code is trying to load or access the
flash content.
I tried installing the Flash Player 9.0.124 using the web
site - no luck.
I tried uninstalling (clean), rebooting, then installing from
the web site - no luck.
I tried uninstalling (clean), rebooting, then used the manual
installer (Install Flash Player 9 AX) - no luck.
I tried uninstalling (clean), rebooting, then used the manual
installer (FlashUtil9f) - no luck.
I tried running reset_minimal.cmd (per instructions) - no
luck.
I tried disabling my AV (Kaspersky) while repeating all of
the above - no luck.
I tried running sfc /scannow but it reports no errors.
I tried the Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Reset to "reset"
IE to its defaults - no luck.
I am really, really stumped on this one. What should I do
next?

Answer 1

BWolfe, dougclutter, and others with Doug's problem:
BWolfe, I'm truly amazed that dougclutter and others have had
this very specific and real problem for so long, and Adobe hasn't
lifted a finger to cure it. I'm stunned. I've been plagued with
this thing for at least 3 months now, and have been all over the
net looking for a remedy, after finding absolutely no help from
Adobe.
Here's what my symptoms are:
IE with Flash works in all accounts but mine.
Latest Adobe Flash player (10) is properly installed. Flash
content will play on IE8 in anyone's User Account on this machine
but mine. The only way flash content will play in my user account
is if it is started as "Run As Administrator". Can actually run 2
instances of IE side by side, one started normally, the other
started as "Run as Administrator". Oprah, U Tube, etc., will run
flash content in the latter window, but won't in the former. Flash
errors (in IE7} are something to the effect, "Can't run DLL", with
line number reference, etc. No help from Adobe, HP (my machine
manufacturer) or Microsoft without paying them a bundle. Just
updated IE7 to 8, problem unchanged.
Elaboratiing:
When right clicking on where Flash Player is supposed to be,
then clicking the "about Adobe Flash... ", the browser is sent to:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/
When clicking on the error message at the bottom of the
browser, the following error message is displayed. (This was
copied, which Vista gives you the opportunity to do, then pasted
here.)
Webpage error details
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT
6.0; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0;
InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3;
OfficeLivePatch.0.0; .NET CLR 3.0.30618)
Timestamp: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:08:33 UTC
Message: Error in loading DLL
Line: 182
Char: 4
Code: 0
URI:
http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/lib/com.adobe/swfobject.js
Flash content DOES play with Adobe Flash 10 in my user
account with Apple Safari browser when started normally, just not
with IE8 browser. However, the IE8 browser does play Flash content
in any and every other user account.
BWolfe, instead of telling us about proper Adobe procedures
for reporting and troubleshooting these things, how about you
forward this to someone who can tell us how to fix this thing! I,
like dougclutter and others, have been thru the entire Adobe Flash
Player troubleshooting guide, carried out every suggestion there
exactly, to no avail. I can show you at least 3 other instances of
different folks with this same problem. And, as I think I've seen
elsewhere in this thread, and tried myself, Adobe certainly doesn't
make it easy to report non-paying customer problems, as with Flash
Player.
It's high time Adobe gets with at least one of us to help
diagnose and cure this problem, and then adds the info to their
troubleshooting guide, or else fix it in the application if
possible. Whether the problem is in the app, or do to interaction
with Vista and possibly XP, you guys need to look into this thing.
I, for one, would be more than happy to help you 'shoot this thing,
I am and engineer and have been computing since the DOS days.
Bewildered,
Dave