Help: Screen cuts to black when running anything flashplayer based

I have a Dell XPS M1730 which is about 2.5 years old. Whenever I try to run a flashplayer based video or game, there is a very high chance the screen will cut to black. It doesn't always happen, but happens very frequently, and I believe I cannot input any additional commands such as starting up task manager or anything. This will happen with website games running flashplayer and youtube videos. I have no problem running games, media players, or netflix online, so I am not sure the exact problem with flashplayer specifically as I have uninstalled and reinstalled it. Occasionally instead of a permanent black screen, it will flash multiple times to black, and eventually stabilize, listing a problem with some sort of kernel for the nvidia. I am not sure what this means and I haven't been able to get this type message to reappear, as soon as it does I'll try to list it.

I am very new to understanding computers so if there's any information you want me to find that could help, I would be glad to try and find it. I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me, or even just the knowledge that others may be having a similar problem.

Again, thanks for any input anyone may have.