Is there any pattern to it?

One possibility: Firefox's history list only shows the latest visit to each URL. So if you are missing previous visits to a particular URL, that's normal. You can use an external program (or possibly an add-on) to pull out a complete list.

For example, I use this one: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mozilla_history_view.html

No, it is not previous sites. These are new websites that I visit.

You should see the latest visit for each URL opened in a regular window. Of course, you won't see history for visits to URLs in private windows.

If Firefox stops recording history, it could indicate a problem with the database file used to store history and bookmarks, named places.sqlite (which is in your currently active profile folder). Possibly another process is accessing/locking the file so Firefox can't update it, or possibly the file has a corruption issue.

The next time this happens, you could try running the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

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

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button usually starts with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

Some pages might be opened in an iframe and in such a case you might not see a history item.

Try to visit the homepage of the website to see whether this creates an history item.

Just to be sure;

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
• do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems

It is happening when Firefox crashes when I close it.

> Task: checkIntegrity + The places.sqlite database is sane + The favicons.sqlite database is sane > Task: invalidateCaches + The caches have been invalidated > Task: checkCoherence + The database is coherent > Task: expire + Database cleaned up > Task: originFrecencyStats + Recalculated origin frecency stats > Task: vacuum + Initial database size is 66560KiB + The database has been vacuumed + Final database size is 66560KiB

click25060 said

It is happening when Firefox crashes when I close it.

Firefox has a forced shutdown feature if it's taking too long to finish file updates. That usually kicks in after 60 seconds, although perhaps it could happen earlier. Please check the support article "Firefox crashes - asking for support" for steps to get those crash report IDs from the about:crashes page, and then post some of the recent ones here.

Also, this thread started September 19th and is coming up on its six month anniversary when it may lock automatically.

Is there a way to extend the timeout?

And thank you for your help..

click25060 said

Is there a way to extend the timeout?

You could experiment with this setting:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste crash_ and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the toolkit.asyncshutdown.crash_timeout preference and Firefox should display an editable field where you can modify the value as desired.

The default of 60000 represents one minute: 60 x 1000 milliseconds. So 120000 would represent two minutes, and so on. Since you won't be able to start Firefox again during the timeout period -- if it has frozen -- you may not want to make this period too much longer.

To save the change, press Enter or click the blue check mark button. To reset to the original value, use the button toward the right end of the row with the left-pointing arrow.

jscher2000 said

click25060 said

Is there a way to extend the timeout?

You could experiment with this setting:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste crash_ and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the toolkit.asyncshutdown.crash_timeout preference and Firefox should display an editable field where you can modify the value as desired.

The default of 60000 represents one minute: 60 x 1000 milliseconds. So 120000 would represent two minutes, and so on. Since you won't be able to start Firefox again during the timeout period -- if it has frozen -- you may not want to make this period too much longer.

To save the change, press Enter or click the blue check mark button. To reset to the original value, use the button toward the right end of the row with the left-pointing arrow.

Though, this certainly may help in the future. The Nirsoft program which I overlooked appears to be the lifesaver I was looking for.