I have the 'simple' problem that everytime I see a "play" button on a web page with flash content, clicking on it won't start the movie. However, e.g. YouTube movies work fine. So it seems it's just movies that do not start automatically after clicking on a link.
Also, checking the flash player e.g. at the Adobe site (http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/find-version-flash-player.html), tells me in a flash box I have the latest flash player installed, and I see the flash movie 'flash player is running on your system' with the red ball rolling in it.
I have the same problem for both google Chrome and for IE. 
I still have an old Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook with Win XP (latest updates) and ATI mobility Radeon X300 graphics chip, for which I also installed the latest available drivers.
Experimenting with Flash Player settings was unsuccessful so far (e.g. no hardware acceleration, clearing all internet data in the Flash Player global settings tool).
My desktop (also with Win XP and with the same browsers and Flash Players/Flash Plugins installed works fine...).
I also know that it worked at an earlier time with this NB...
I managed to run the movie with a Linux Live CD but that is not what I want to do every time...
Any idea is highly appreciated.....