Firefox crashes since version 3. What do I do?
Ever since the release of version 3, or slightly before, Firefox has continued to crash and I can't seem to find an answer. I wish that I was trolling or making a joke, but this is the honest truth.
Systems I ran it on: Socket 939 AMD Athlon x2 2GB ram 500GB HDD (Seagate) (Can't remember GPU) Win XP
Socket AM3 AMD Phenom II x6 1045t 8GB ram 1333mhz 1TB HDD (Seagate) HD 5570, 6570, and 7770 Ati Radeon GPUs, aswell as a Nvidia 750ti Win7
Socket AM3+ AMD FX 8350 (8 core, 4ghz) 16GB ram 2100mhz 2*2 TB (Seagate) R9 270x Win 10, and Win7
Symptoms: After a few hours of browsing, watching videos, or simply leaving it idle with 4-5 tabs open causes it to prompt with Unresponsive script errors, become unresponsive and force me to open task manager and force the task to end.
Versions 3 through (now) 40.
Made multiple posts regarding this issue before, but it has gone unanswered.
Is it my usage that forces me to use other browsers? Is it just me imagining things that Mozilla Suite, Seamonkey, original Firefox(up until version 2) worked absolutely fine no problems? When version 3 came out, I used Lolifox for a while until they stopped managing it (before version 3) and it, too, worked flawlessly.
I'm legitimately concerned, because I do web development. I can't be constrained under 4 tabs, and I can't have a main used browser be so inconsistent when trying to develop for all browsers in mind.
Checked: Video card driver is up to date (Unsure about the past, but definitely is now, although I'm pretty sure it was in the past, too.) Hard drive has no errors or fragmentation. Recently reformatted, fresh install of Windows 7. Same issue previously from version 35-38 on previous OS, Windows 10. Other browser work correctly, don't become unresponsive, nor do they crash.
Chosen solution
Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select General. Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration.
Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open the Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> A)
On the left side of the page, select Appearance. Then select Default.
Now restart Firefox.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (10)
In the address bar, type about:crashes<enter>. Note: If any reports do not have BP in front of the numbers/letters, click it to submit them.
The crash report is several pages of data. We need the report numbers to see the whole report.
Using your mouse, mark the most resent 7 - 10 crash reports, and copy them. Now go to the reply box below and paste them in.
I think because I End Task, due to it hanging and being unresponsive, no report is ever generated. Is there anything else I could do, Fred? I'm saying this because the page about:crashes is empty.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).
Is the problem still there?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-look-wrong-or-appear-differently
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-slow-how-make-it-faster
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-hangs-or-not-responding
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding
Sorry for the double post, but I figured I'd add a little bit.
I checked C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox and C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox, but nothing seems to help there either, in terms of logs or anything. I think verbose logging would help a lot. I checked link Command line and don't seem to see anything in regards to making Firefox log everything.
Just to be sure, did you only check AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox & AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox or did you go into the Crash Reports folder?
if you haven't checked the Crash Reports folder, please do. There might be some submitted reports.
By the way, what happened when you try to open Firefox in Safe Mode?
Modified by Moses
Alright guys, I'm glad I'm receiving some help here, and I want to let you know, Firefox used to be my most adored and loved browser until these issues started happening. In Safe mode, it doesn't completely lock up, but these are the symptoms:
With safe mode on it comes back after a while instead of completely locking up (Don't have to end task) But it's still not working in a pleasant way that allows me to browse uninhibited. It's pretty much unusable, but refuses to crash. I can have over 50 tabs open in another browser and leave it on 24/7 without any hiccups and definitely not that much ram usage.
C:\Users\L\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports
Both local and roaming are pretty much empty, except for the one having install time.
More details (in text): 13-21% CPU usage 2.9-3GB ram usage After about 2 hours of use 6-10 tabs, it becomes unresponsive.
Facebook (1 tab) Wikia pages (2 tabs) Image search (1) Regular seach(1) New tab (1) Youtube (1)
Chosen Solution
Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select General. Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration.
Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open the Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> A)
On the left side of the page, select Appearance. Then select Default.
Now restart Firefox.
Hey, thanks to both of you for your help. Fred, turning off hardware acceleration now (so far) has produced no stalls or issues after over 3 hours of uptime and 6-10 tabs. Utilizing about 900MB ram, and idling between 0 and 11% CPU usage.
Any idea why for the past 40 versions hardware acceleration has been the bane of my existence on multiple systems?
All I can tell you is, some use it without problems, others bomb out. Glad to help. Safe Surfing.