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I have updated my O/S from Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.10. Nothing else. Now Firefox is nearly useless

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  • آخر ردّ كتبه teeny_weeny

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This is basically a copy of what I put in the Ubuntu forum. The problem is the same, no matter where I post it.

Originally I was using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

I thought it would be good to update to GG (20.10) though I did briefly try FF (20.04).

As the install was done on an existing 18.04 version things remained the same for programs, book marks, etc.

Ok, now the crunch: I USE Firefox ""A LOT"". When it loads, there are...... 8 x 6 windows of FireFox and each of those have anywhere from one to ""THIRTY"" tabs loading.

Believe me: ""It worked!!""

I could use it, also run other tasks as well - though a VM was pushing it with the RAM. But the entire machine worked.

Now, I am lucky if FireFox loads at all. Let alone let me browse.

When it loads some of the window's tops are flashing. A screen shot does not really show this. (I tried)

All that has changed is the O/S from 18.04 and Firefox from (what ever it was) to 83.0

I don't want this to be a finger pointing exercise between Mozilla and Ubuntu. I would prefer it is helpful to all.

What have I tried? I've tried starting FireFox with all addons disabled. Still happens.

I am going to try to remember to (next time) launch FireFox from a Terminal and pipe the output to a file to look for things.

The machine I am using has shown it is well up to being able to have this running. I have had it working for a few years like this.

This post is (for now) to establish there is a problem. I will post more information when I get it, rather than waiting to get it then post, as I feel there are a lot of people who have very similar problems and I want it known: ""You are not alone!""


Now a bit of extra stuff.

Other things which are weird: When I am watching stuff - youtube for example - the playback is/WAS jerky. I hadn't touched anything in the settings.

After digging around, I discovered that I had to turn ""OFF"" the hardware acceleration for the graphics. Question: How did it get turned on? (Semi rhetorical)

I have a lot of local pages I open with passwords. When I load them the CPU load goes through the roof and nearly invariably the program just exits. No crash report.

Which is a good 50% of how it happens. The other 50% is the machine just locks up and I have to power it down.

This is basically a copy of what I put in the Ubuntu forum. The problem is the same, no matter where I post it. Originally I was using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I thought it would be good to update to GG (20.10) though I did briefly try FF (20.04). As the install was done on an existing 18.04 version things remained the same for programs, book marks, etc. Ok, now the crunch: I '''USE''' Firefox ""A LOT"". When it loads, there are...... 8 x 6 windows of FireFox and each of those have anywhere from one to ""THIRTY"" tabs loading. Believe me: ""It worked!!"" I could use it, also run other tasks as well - though a VM was pushing it with the RAM. But the entire machine worked. Now, I am lucky if FireFox loads at all. Let alone let me browse. When it loads some of the window's tops are flashing. A screen shot does not really show this. (I tried) All that has changed is the O/S from 18.04 and Firefox from (what ever it was) to 83.0 I don't want this to be a finger pointing exercise between Mozilla and Ubuntu. I would prefer it is helpful to all. What have I tried? I've tried starting FireFox with all addons disabled. Still happens. I am going to try to remember to (next time) launch FireFox from a Terminal and pipe the output to a file to look for things. The machine I am using has shown it is well up to being able to have this running. I have had it working for a few years like this. This post is (for now) to establish there is a problem. I will post more information when I get it, rather than waiting to get it then post, as I feel there are a lot of people who have very similar problems and I want it known: ""You are not alone!"" Now a bit of extra stuff. Other things which are weird: When I am watching stuff - youtube for example - the playback is/WAS jerky. I hadn't touched anything in the settings. After digging around, I discovered that I had to turn ""OFF"" the hardware acceleration for the graphics. Question: How did it get turned on? (Semi rhetorical) I have a lot of local pages I open with passwords. When I load them the CPU load goes through the roof and nearly invariably the program just exits. No crash report. Which is a good 50% of how it happens. The other 50% is the machine just locks up and I have to power it down.

الحل المُختار

24 Dec 12:18 (local)

I have had Firefox running now for a while (on this session) and though I may not have flogged it that hard, I have been on a video conference for 2 hours and not a glitch.

It may be the extra 16 gig of memory has fixed (resolved?) the problem I was having.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (20)

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Update:

I ran FireFox from a terminal and just after posting this it just exited.

This is what I see:

me@me-desktop:~/crashes$ firefox > log.txt Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Killed me@me-desktop:~/crashes$

"Due to channel error."

Does that help anyone?

P.S.

log.txt is EMPTY!

Modified by teeny_weeny

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More news: Today it crashed and this was written to the log file:

[GFX1-]: Managed to allocate after flush. [GFX1-]: Managed to allocate after flush.

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Could you try this:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test a bit of browsing.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Take a quick glance at the page and make a mental note of which Profile has this notation: This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted. That is your current default profile.

Click the "Create a New Profile" button, then click Next. Assign a name like Nov2020, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

Firefox will switch your default profile to the new one, so click the Set as Default Profile button for your regular one to avoid an unwanted surprise at your next startup.

Scroll down to Nov2020 and click its Launch profile in new browser button.

Firefox should open a new window that looks like a brand new, uncustomized installation. (Your existing Firefox window(s) should not be affected.) Please ignore any tabs enticing you to connect to a Sync account or to activate extensions found on your system to get a clean test.

You may want to disable hardware acceleration if there are compatibility concerns with your updated OS: Firefox's performance settings. After changing that and exiting Firefox, you can re-launch this profile using the already open about:profiles page.

Do problematic sites work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, you can close the extra window without affecting your regular Firefox profile. (Nov2020 will remain available for future testing.)


Probably you will want to test your regular session history file in the new profile. It's a little late for me to go through that in full detail, but as you may know, those files are:

  • [oldprofile.folder]\sessionstore.jsonlz4 => only exists after Firefox does a normal shutdown
  • [oldprofile.folder]\sessionstore-backups => live files and archives from recent updates

Rather than delete any files or folders, rename the ones in your new profile

  • [newprofile.folder]\sessionstore.jsonlz4 => sessionstoreOLD.jsonlz4
  • [newprofile.folder]\sessionstore-backups => sessionstore-backupsOLD

This is to avoid major regrets if you happen to copy files in the wrong direction.

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Hang on.

> Firefox will switch your default profile to the new one, so click the Set as Default Profile button for your regular one to avoid an unwanted surprise at your next startup.

Oh, sorry. Ok.

I don't mind rebooting and loading it in the "new profile" and give it a go.

Then, if all goes pear shaped, I could load Firefox and switch back to the original profile.

Is there a way I could copy all the open sessions in the "suspect" profile into the new one? That way it will get a good test.

It will take a lot of time for me to open that many tabs again.

This is a screen shot of the tabs....

Note: Those are only the windows! Some have a lot of tabs!

Modified by teeny_weeny

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teeny_weeny said

Is there a way I could copy all the open sessions in the "suspect" profile into the new one? That way it will get a good test.

That was this part:

jscher2000 said

Probably you will want to test your regular session history file in the new profile. It's a little late for me to go through that in full detail, but as you may know, those files are:
  • [oldprofile.folder]\sessionstore.jsonlz4 => only exists after Firefox does a normal shutdown
  • [oldprofile.folder]\sessionstore-backups => live files and archives from recent updates
Rather than delete any files or folders, rename the ones in your new profile
  • [newprofile.folder]\sessionstore.jsonlz4 => sessionstoreOLD.jsonlz4
  • [newprofile.folder]\sessionstore-backups => sessionstore-backupsOLD
This is to avoid major regrets if you happen to copy files in the wrong direction.
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Sorry. I interpret things rather than compile them.

I got to the question and stopped reading and asked the question.

I don't want that to seem dismissive or negligent of me but just now, that's how I am parsing things.

I will get around to applying them and testing it ASAP. I need to get FireFox back to being reliable.

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Well, this is interesting.

I copied the file and started firefox in the "test" profile.

Amazingly I have not yet had a crash/exit.

Though one of the windows with my e-mail and this discussion wasn't brought over for some reason.

I won't say it has helped yet, but I am surprised at how well it is behaving for now.

I'm guessing the next step would be to start installing any addons (one at a time) and see if they cause problems.

Would that be a good idea?

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That sounds like a logical next step. Starting with the most essential extensions, I would think.

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It is a weird feeling on the net without some of the addons.

All those ads!

Ok, baby steps for now.

I'll do them slowly and over a couple of days (maybe) to establish if they do/not have an affect.

Ok, P.S. Would installed addons which were disabled make any difference?

I have documented them all and removed them all anyway. But just asking in passing.

Modified by teeny_weeny

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teeny_weeny said

Ok, P.S. Would installed addons which were disabled make any difference? I have documented them all and removed them all anyway. But just asking in passing.

In theory, no, but users sometimes report that things don't work correctly again until they are removed. I can't explain that.

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That's ok. It was only I was mentioning it to declare it so we are both on the same page.

Here's a weird happening:

I copied the file over to the TEST profile and ran FF. It was going great.

Ok...... Weird in some ways.

Reloaded the original profile (switched back to it) and went through and UNINSTALLED ALL the addons. (Writing down their names)

One I used for ads was adsblock. (Red stop sign with a white cross in it.)

UNINSTALLED!

Reloaded the browser.

It is still here, but.....

It isn't according to about:addons.

And for the sake of saying it: The browser (or sorry: machine) has been REBOOTED since that.

It is still showing up.

Should I be worried?

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Ok, another update.

(Sorry, but I don't know what is about to happen and am posting when things change)

I rebooted again. No AdsBlock shown.

Installed AdBlock ultimate (red shield icon... Sorry grey) with a `+` sign in/on it.

Ok....

Firefox crashed and I reloaded it. AdsBlock AND AdBlock icons now showing.

`about:addons` show both removed.

Anyway, now it is booted and loaded. Neither showing.

I may leave it like this for a while and go through a few reboots to see what is happening.

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That's weird. If you cross-check the list on the Troubleshooting Information page, is there a "hidden" ad blocker listed there? Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return

Scroll down past "Application Basics" and "Firefox Features" to "Add-ons". Unfortunately, your extensions are mixed in with ones bundled with Firefox, such as DuckDuckGo ddg@search.mozilla.org. Hopefully you'll be able to spot any surprises.

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Ok, this is what I see:

Sorry it is off centre. I was checking how far down I had to scroll.

Nothing there that rings any bells for me. Though now (granted) both of those addons are removed and not showing up in the bar.

I may reboot and try again and see what happens.

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Things were looking good, but then all went pear shaped.

Attached are a couple of files.

error.txt is what was in the CLI

Oh, how do I attach .txt files?

I can't paste it here as text, as the editor goes nuts when I paste it.

This is what the log file caught.

[GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934808 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809 [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:8589934809

Modified by teeny_weeny

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You could create a paste on Pastebin (https://pastebin.com/) or other sharing site and provide the link here.

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(Sorry. I'll try. I don't use that stuff much so it is a bit foreign to me)

The log file created https://pastebin.com/N1ki2d1B

And what was seen in the CLI https://pastebin.com/wRdyUM4S

I hope that helps.

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Ok, a quick post from a recent events.

me@me-desktop:~/crashes$ firefox > log.txt Exiting due to channel error.

      1. !!! [Child][MessageChannel] Error: (msgtype=0x60038,name=PBackground::Msg_PHttpBackgroundChannelConstructor) Channel error: cannot send/recv

Exiting due to channel error.

      1. !!! [Child][MessageChannel] Error: (msgtype=0x60038,name=PBackground::Msg_PHttpBackgroundChannelConstructor) Channel error: cannot send/recv

Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Exiting due to channel error. Killed me@me-desktop:~/crashes$

It is interesting, for most of the afternoon it has kind of been behaving itself. Now, it is starting to crash more frequently.

(But I have been wrong before. It could be my perception.)

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Hi Try reinstalling firefox

sudo apt reinstall firefox

hope this helps

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These files seem very repetitive, but there are two main messages:

> [GFX1-]: DataSourceSurface of SharedSurfaces does not exist for extId:...

GFX generally would stand for graphics, I think, and surface would be a sensible word in that context. But what exactly is going wrong? No idea.

> Error: PWebRenderBridge::Msg_UpdateResources Processing error: message was deserialized, but the handler returned false (indicating failure)

WebRender is a graphics rendering engine that has been rolling out gradually as it gets refined. There are many preference in about:config starting with gfx.webrender but I don't know which ones might be relevant to this problem.

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