Proposed new solution to some FlashPlayer problems (From ''Carm" "/user/566222" )

10 de dezembro de 2013, 20:33:40 -0800

Intro

I have deliberately posted this here rather than in the KB section as I think it deserves the higher exposure it will get here.

Any opening comments anyone ?

I think as an absoluter minimum we should monitor closely any threads where users try this method (Possibly open an etherpad)
and try to gather crash reports for the cases where this method helps. (Always assuming the apparent success of "Carm" is in fact reliably reproducible)

The solution is rather out of our ordinary scope, but then Flash Player problems are extensively reported and notoriously hard to solve. We have discussed Flash & Flash KBs endlessly already, but this proposal is a radical and different approach.

Is this something the new HelpDesk staff should get directly involved with testing and co-ordinating ?
(I will ping Patrick by pm)
I will quote Carm's full post /questions/968190?page=6#answer-510624 next in this thread, with my invitation, to discuss this here.
- Note that single thread alone is a 6 page thread with approaching: 700 me too votes, 45,000 views, and over100 posts
At the same time may I ask is it any good trying to promote the new Flash Reporter for some of the advanced users that we may manage to recruit in testing out this solution. (i.e user willing & able to try other versions of Firefox and multiple profiles, and to reproduce,or at least report crashes with crash IDs)

Edit, IIRC the new crash reporter is still active but only on pre-Release versions and not being moved up the train to Releases. Not able to locate the relevant bug at present but did find this note

https://crash-analysis.mozilla.com/hang-reports/
- in turn linking to the one year old https://wiki.mozilla.org/Socorro/Hang_Processing_Proposal and a list of 2012 reports.

===Intro=== I have deliberately posted this here rather than in the KB section as I think it deserves the higher exposure it will get here. Any opening comments anyone ? *I think as an absoluter minimum we should monitor closely any threads where users try this method (Possibly open an etherpad) * and try to gather crash reports for the cases where this method helps. (Always assuming the apparent success of "''Carm''" is in fact reliably reproducible) The solution is rather out of our ordinary scope, but then Flash Player problems are extensively reported and notoriously hard to solve. We have discussed Flash & Flash KBs endlessly already, but this proposal is a radical and different approach. # Is this something the new HelpDesk staff should get directly involved with testing and co-ordinating ? (I will ping Patrick by pm) # I will quote ''[/user/566222 Carm]'''s full post [/questions/968190?page=6#answer-510624] next in this thread, with my invitation, to discuss this here. #* Note that single thread alone is a 6 page thread with approaching: 700 me too votes, 45,000 views, and over100 posts #At the same time may I ask is it any good trying to promote the new Flash Reporter for some of the advanced users that we may manage to recruit in testing out this solution. (i.e user willing & able to try other versions of Firefox and multiple profiles, and to reproduce,or at least report crashes with crash IDs) -------- Edit, IIRC the new crash reporter is still active but only on pre-Release versions and not being moved up the train to Releases. Not able to locate the relevant bug at present but did find this note * https://crash-analysis.mozilla.com/hang-reports/ ** in turn linking to the one year old https://wiki.mozilla.org/Socorro/Hang_Processing_Proposal and a list of 2012 reports.

Modificado por John99 em 10 de dezembro de 2013, 20:59:48 -0800

John99 3665 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 20:35:00 -0800

Initial AAQ forum post

Carm posted in AAQ /questions/968190?page=6#answer-510624

I been running Firefox and experiencing NO problems with flash player crashing! Why you might ask? Simple I wrote a script, compiled it to an executable and ran it in windows task scheduler every 15 minutes to delete the following files:
C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf
C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf

I HAVE NEVER HAD A FLASH PLAYER CRASH SINCE IMPLEMENTING THIS FOR MONTHS !
I see the same people posting solutions that same stuff over and over and over to all these people having this same issue, and find it funny they keep posting this like safe mode, hardware acceleration, update, reinstall, and most of the time it don't work and SO MANY people are facing this issue.
Do you really think posting the same thing so many times is helpful when so many are having this issue? Not really! It just bumps your number up, that's all.
I will share my script with everyone and they can report back to see if this resolves their problem, but first a quick overview of what to do.
First the script clears out all temp directories I made for this installer, and then recreates them in case you run it multiple times. The same goes for the folder it creates under
C:\Programdata\scripts\Delete_prefetch.exe There is a simple executable in there made in AutoIT that preforms the following deletions mentioned above.

When you run the installer i have a link below, you will see a cmd window appear and disappear quickly, followed by a folder appearing on your desktop called " Firefox_Flash " in that folder is an xml file which is what you import into task scheduler, a readme file for SIMPLE instructions to import it, and a picture of the import process that is mentioned in the read-me file. You will have to either modify the XML file , which is super easy in windows 7, or make the changes while importing it as it shows for my machine and username. Unfortunately I don't know how to make this so you don't have to modify it.

I am sharing this with everyone so people can stop dealing with the headache.

So is this a Firefox or Adobe problem? Well, each one will point the finger at the other, however, i am hoping since i posted this here Mozilla will take the initiative and look at what i found ... hint , hint..

PLEASE NOTE: this is for win 7 64 bit systems. It may work on win 8 64 bit, but untested.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6u9fhg7iwapog2/FireFox-Flash-Fix.exe

Modified by Carm

My Comment in AAQ

/questions/979491

Hi Carm, We may be able to reconsider the advice offered and consider promoting and testing your method.
Lets try to see when and if this method helps people. I think you mentioned your method is specifically aimed at Windows 8 64 bit systems.
It is an advanced method and not something I think the support forum would normally consider, however Flash Player is currently used by such sizeable proportion of users, and causing so many problems IMHO we at support.mozilla would be doing a disservice to users if we do not investigate your proposals further.
P.S. There is a new crash reporter being tried out. That may help in identifying Flash Problems better.

=== Initial AAQ forum post === [//user/566222 Carm] posted in AAQ [/questions/968190?page=6#answer-510624] <blockquote>I been running Firefox and experiencing NO problems with flash player crashing! Why you might ask? Simple I wrote a script, compiled it to an executable and ran it in windows task scheduler every 15 minutes to delete the following files: C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf I HAVE NEVER HAD A FLASH PLAYER CRASH SINCE IMPLEMENTING THIS FOR MONTHS ! I see the same people posting solutions that same stuff over and over and over to all these people having this same issue, and find it funny they keep posting this like safe mode, hardware acceleration, update, reinstall, and most of the time it don't work and SO MANY people are facing this issue. Do you really think posting the same thing so many times is helpful when so many are having this issue? Not really! It just bumps your number up, that's all. I will share my script with everyone and they can report back to see if this resolves their problem, but first a quick overview of what to do. First the script clears out all temp directories I made for this installer, and then recreates them in case you run it multiple times. The same goes for the folder it creates under C:\Programdata\scripts\Delete_prefetch.exe There is a simple executable in there made in AutoIT that preforms the following deletions mentioned above. When you run the installer i have a link below, you will see a cmd window appear and disappear quickly, followed by a folder appearing on your desktop called " Firefox_Flash " in that folder is an xml file which is what you import into task scheduler, a readme file for SIMPLE instructions to import it, and a picture of the import process that is mentioned in the read-me file. You will have to either modify the XML file , which is super easy in windows 7, or make the changes while importing it as it shows for my machine and username. Unfortunately I don't know how to make this so you don't have to modify it. I am sharing this with everyone so people can stop dealing with the headache. So is this a Firefox or Adobe problem? Well, each one will point the finger at the other, however, i am hoping since i posted this here Mozilla will take the initiative and look at what i found ... hint , hint.. PLEASE NOTE: this is for win 7 64 bit systems. It may work on win 8 64 bit, but untested. https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6u9fhg7iwapog2/FireFox-Flash-Fix.exe Modified by Carm </blockquote> ===My Comment in AAQ=== [/questions/979491]<blockquote>Hi Carm, We may be able to reconsider the advice offered and consider promoting and testing your method. Lets try to see when and if this method helps people. I think you mentioned your method is specifically aimed at Windows 8 64 bit systems. It is an advanced method and not something I think the support forum would normally consider, however Flash Player is currently used by such sizeable proportion of users, and causing so many problems IMHO we at support.mozilla would be doing a disservice to users if we do not investigate your proposals further. P.S. There is a new crash reporter being tried out. That may help in identifying Flash Problems better. </blockquote>

NoahSUMO 519 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 21:06:47 -0800

I think this doesn't really solve the problem as I've learned the prefetch files don't do much at all and erasing them give a tiny blip in terms of performance. It could be just a coincidence. But then again who can say how many of each of these files exist. If it's more than one for each, this could be interesting. Are hundreds of these files created with a random number added to the end?

C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf
C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf

Though I'm not sure how a prefetch file could contribute to a Flash crash. But it could be possible I suppose. I've seen stranger things.

But usually it improves the bootup speed of Windows if you clear the prefetch folder. That's the rumor anyway.

As far as what .pf files do technically, there's an in depth breakdown here:
http://www.swiftforensics.com/2010/04/the-windows-prefetchfile.html

Nothing it does strikes me as interesting besides it keeps track of files opened by the program in the first 10 seconds of running and the serial numbers of volumes that are referenced by the application in those 10 seconds (serial numbers of external thumb drives, etc).

Also this summary from the same page:
Here are some basic facts about prefetch files.

Pf files are created by the “Task Scheduler” service (which runs under svchost) and are stored under “\\Prefetch” folder. It is used to record frequently used memory pages by applications. The first 10 seconds of an application's run are monitored (by windows cache manager) and this information is written out to a pf file. Inside the pf file for a particular app, which will be named “application.extension-HASH.pf”, you will see several paths to files that were read by the application in its first 10 seconds. The HASH is a 32 bit number, represented in hex and looks like “19B4A02D”. This hash is calculated from the fullpath of the application which will be of the form: \\DEVICE\\HARDDISKVOLUME1\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\NOTEPAD.EXE

I think this doesn't really solve the problem as I've learned the prefetch files don't do much at all and erasing them give a tiny blip in terms of performance. It could be just a coincidence. But then again who can say how many of each of these files exist. If it's more than one for each, this could be interesting. Are hundreds of these files created with a random number added to the end? C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf Though I'm not sure how a prefetch file could contribute to a Flash crash. But it could be possible I suppose. I've seen stranger things. But usually it improves the bootup speed of Windows if you clear the prefetch folder. That's the rumor anyway. As far as what .pf files do technically, there's an in depth breakdown here: http://www.swiftforensics.com/2010/04/the-windows-prefetchfile.html Nothing it does strikes me as interesting besides it keeps track of files opened by the program in the first 10 seconds of running and the serial numbers of volumes that are referenced by the application in those 10 seconds (serial numbers of external thumb drives, etc). Also this summary from the same page: Here are some basic facts about prefetch files. Pf files are created by the “Task Scheduler” service (which runs under svchost) and are stored under “\\Prefetch” folder. It is used to record frequently used memory pages by applications. The first 10 seconds of an application's run are monitored (by windows cache manager) and this information is written out to a pf file. Inside the pf file for a particular app, which will be named “application.extension-HASH.pf”, you will see several paths to files that were read by the application in its first 10 seconds. The HASH is a 32 bit number, represented in hex and looks like “19B4A02D”. This hash is calculated from the fullpath of the application which will be of the form: \\DEVICE\\HARDDISKVOLUME1\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\NOTEPAD.EXE

Modificado por NoahSUMO em 10 de dezembro de 2013, 21:14:54 -0800

Carm 15 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 21:44:10 -0800

Ok, i posted a 32 bit version first off, as i suspect the vast majority of systems were 64 bit, that's why i didn't originally offer it. I mentioned that I have not tested it on Windows 8 , only windows 7

I seen people moving away from Firefox towards Chrome which is not a bad browser, i use it infrequently for testing sometimes, but It does not play nicely sometimes with pages, and i just don't like the UI.

Second, I don't claim to fully understand why deleting these prefetch files works, but it solves the flash player crashing plugin issue.

Point in case. I recently re-installed windows from scratch, and in the process of updating and installing my default programs and preparing to create an image and I was watching some flash content and BAM it crashed, and crashed again, before i was like " oh duh i forgot to implement my fix ", i installed it and set it up, and never once again got the dreaded flash player has crashed.

If you asked how i figured this out, I started to look at all the threads and what was being suggested. I also tried uninstalling and re-installing flash, and that worked for a time, but i noticed after i closed and re-launched the program it started to randomly crash. So I started thinking what changes, and prefetch eventually came to mind, so before i wrote my Delete_prefetch.exe script i manually deleted the two files related to flash and Firefox in the prefetch. I don not delete the entire prefetch as i read that will cause longer start-ups and in a few rare cases other issues which i will not be held responsible for.

SO, that is my thinking and I appreciate the opportunity to assist and shed some light on this matter and hope others are successful.

Thank you

Ok, i posted a 32 bit version first off, as i suspect the vast majority of systems were 64 bit, that's why i didn't originally offer it. I mentioned that I have not tested it on Windows 8 , only windows 7 I seen people moving away from Firefox towards Chrome which is not a bad browser, i use it infrequently for testing sometimes, but It does not play nicely sometimes with pages, and i just don't like the UI. Second, I don't claim to fully understand why deleting these prefetch files works, but it solves the flash player crashing plugin issue. Point in case. I recently re-installed windows from scratch, and in the process of updating and installing my default programs and preparing to create an image and I was watching some flash content and BAM it crashed, and crashed again, before i was like " oh duh i forgot to implement my fix ", i installed it and set it up, and never once again got the dreaded flash player has crashed. If you asked how i figured this out, I started to look at all the threads and what was being suggested. I also tried uninstalling and re-installing flash, and that worked for a time, but i noticed after i closed and re-launched the program it started to randomly crash. So I started thinking what changes, and prefetch eventually came to mind, so before i wrote my Delete_prefetch.exe script i manually deleted the two files related to flash and Firefox in the prefetch. I don not delete the entire prefetch as i read that will cause longer start-ups and in a few rare cases other issues which i will not be held responsible for. SO, that is my thinking and I appreciate the opportunity to assist and shed some light on this matter and hope others are successful. Thank you

Modificado por Carm em 10 de dezembro de 2013, 21:58:57 -0800

philipp 1301 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 22:09:59 -0800

to my knowledge the mozilla maintenance service is already clearing the prefetch files for firefox.exe but for performance reasons only - so in case clearing prefetch fiiles is shown to work reliably to address flash issues also, this might be easy to implement for those other components too..

Carm, have you also tested which results you're getting when clearing only PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf or vice versa?

to my knowledge the mozilla maintenance service is already clearing the prefetch files for firefox.exe but for performance reasons only - so in case clearing prefetch fiiles is shown to work reliably to address flash issues also, this might be easy to implement for those other components too.. Carm, have you also tested which results you're getting when clearing only PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf or vice versa?

John99 3665 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 22:44:23 -0800

Thanks for the comments Noah & Philipp.

I did think it worth trying to track this proposal outside the long and noisy AAQ threads themselves. Thanks for the summary regarding pf files.

IIRC there may have been prior discussions about deleting pf files to improve Firefox performance but that will be a slightly different topic & I suspect it was never accepted as an improvement.

Carm

Are you able to reproduce crashes on your own system when you are NOT using your new method ?
If so maybe try for a few days and post the crash IDs you get. Then confirm with the same profile and visiting the same sites your method prevents crashes ?

Anyone
Any other ideas/proposals to test this out, besides asking users in these threads when they try Carms's method whether or not it works.

and is it simpler for now to instruct users how to do this manually ?
or just survey by initially asking how many such files exist ?

It would be good to encourage any such testers to start new threads of their own and include TroubleShooting Information by using the green button to activate the troubleshooter add on.

Thanks for the comments Noah & Philipp. I did think it worth trying to track this proposal outside the long and noisy AAQ threads themselves. Thanks for the summary regarding pf files. IIRC there may have been prior discussions about deleting pf files to improve Firefox performance but that will be a slightly different topic & I suspect it was never accepted as an improvement. Carm *Are you able to reproduce crashes on your own system when you are NOT using your new method ? *If so maybe try for a few days and post the crash IDs you get. Then confirm with the same profile and visiting the same sites your method prevents crashes ? Anyone Any other ideas/proposals to test this out, besides asking users in these threads when they try Carms's method whether or not it works. * and is it simpler for now to instruct users how to do this manually ? *or just survey by initially asking how many such files exist ? It would be good to encourage any such testers to start new threads of their own and include TroubleShooting Information by using the green button to activate the troubleshooter add on.

Carm 15 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 22:47:57 -0800

philipp said

to my knowledge the mozilla maintenance service is already clearing the prefetch files for firefox.exe but for performance reasons only - so in case clearing prefetch fiiles is shown to work reliably to address flash issues also, this might be easy to implement for those other components too.. Carm, have you also tested which results you're getting when clearing only PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf or vice versa?

I have not tested each file individually as i know the current method works, and would be curious to know which it is. Now that you mentioned that Mozilla Maintenance service I looked it up:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Windows_Service_Silent_Update

and

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-mozilla-maintenance-service

and

http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/Mozilla-Maintenance-Service-5231-program.aspx

It appears to only run during an update not every 15 minutes, furthermore I was not able to find out what it actually clears out. Nevertheless it only seems to run when updating Firefox, which is not what my script does.

I could try to narrow it down with one file or the other to see which is actually the culprit, but for now the script works, and will take a few days of testing for one or the other.

''philipp [[#post-55899|said]]'' <blockquote> to my knowledge the mozilla maintenance service is already clearing the prefetch files for firefox.exe but for performance reasons only - so in case clearing prefetch fiiles is shown to work reliably to address flash issues also, this might be easy to implement for those other components too.. Carm, have you also tested which results you're getting when clearing only PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf or vice versa? </blockquote> I have not tested each file individually as i know the current method works, and would be curious to know which it is. Now that you mentioned that Mozilla Maintenance service I looked it up: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Windows_Service_Silent_Update and https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-mozilla-maintenance-service and http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/Mozilla-Maintenance-Service-5231-program.aspx It appears to only run during an update not every 15 minutes, furthermore I was not able to find out what it actually clears out. Nevertheless it only seems to run when updating Firefox, which is not what my script does. I could try to narrow it down with one file or the other to see which is actually the culprit, but for now the script works, and will take a few days of testing for one or the other.

Carm 15 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 22:55:05 -0800

John99 said

Thanks for the comments Noah & Philipp. I did think it worth trying to track this proposal outside the long and noisy AAQ threads themselves. Thanks for the summary regarding pf files. IIRC there may have been prior discussions about deleting pf files to improve Firefox performance but that will be a slightly different topic & I suspect it was never accepted as an improvement. Carm
Are you able to reproduce crashes on your own system when you are NOT using your new method ?
If so maybe try for a few days and post the crash IDs you get. Then confirm with the same profile and visiting the same sites your method prevents crashes ?
Anyone
Any other ideas/proposals to test this out, besides asking users in these threads when they try Carms's method whether or not it works.
and is it simpler for now to instruct users how to do this manually ?
or just survey by initially asking how many such files exist ?
It would be good to encourage any such testers to start new threads of their own and include TroubleShooting Information by using the green button to activate the troubleshooter add on.

I mentioned earlier in my first post here:

Point in case. I recently re-installed windows from scratch, and in the process of updating and installing my default programs and preparing to create an image and I was watching some flash content and BAM it crashed, and crashed again, before i was like " oh duh i forgot to implement my fix ", i installed it and set it up, and never once again got the dreaded flash player has crashed.

So the problem ( crashes ) existed from a fresh install of windows and Firefox, after deleting these prefetch files on a regular basis no crashing. There is only one profile i use for windows and Firefox.

I wish i had an easier way to import the task without user intervention editing the xml file.

''John99 [[#post-55901|said]]'' <blockquote> Thanks for the comments Noah & Philipp. I did think it worth trying to track this proposal outside the long and noisy AAQ threads themselves. Thanks for the summary regarding pf files. IIRC there may have been prior discussions about deleting pf files to improve Firefox performance but that will be a slightly different topic & I suspect it was never accepted as an improvement. Carm *Are you able to reproduce crashes on your own system when you are NOT using your new method ? *If so maybe try for a few days and post the crash IDs you get. Then confirm with the same profile and visiting the same sites your method prevents crashes ? Anyone Any other ideas/proposals to test this out, besides asking users in these threads when they try Carms's method whether or not it works. * and is it simpler for now to instruct users how to do this manually ? *or just survey by initially asking how many such files exist ? It would be good to encourage any such testers to start new threads of their own and include TroubleShooting Information by using the green button to activate the troubleshooter add on. </blockquote> I mentioned earlier in my first post here: Point in case. I recently re-installed windows from scratch, and in the process of updating and installing my default programs and preparing to create an image and I was watching some flash content and BAM it crashed, and crashed again, before i was like " oh duh i forgot to implement my fix ", i installed it and set it up, and never once again got the dreaded flash player has crashed. So the problem ( crashes ) existed from a fresh install of windows and Firefox, after deleting these prefetch files on a regular basis no crashing. There is only one profile i use for windows and Firefox. I wish i had an easier way to import the task without user intervention editing the xml file.

philipp 1301 mensagens

10 de dezembro de 2013, 22:57:47 -0800

i've researched it more & actually what the maintenance service does in firefox 15 and above is to overwrite existing prefetch files for firefox.exe with a 0kb and read-only *.pf file: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Start-up_Performance_Improvements/TestPlan

it would actually be another approach for testing, if the flash crashes continue with 0kb .pf files set to read-only (then the necessity for the script to run in the background in recurring intervals would go away)

i've researched it more & actually what the maintenance service does in firefox 15 and above is to overwrite existing prefetch files for firefox.exe with a 0kb and read-only *.pf file: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Start-up_Performance_Improvements/TestPlan it would actually be another approach for testing, if the flash crashes continue with 0kb .pf files set to read-only (then the necessity for the script to run in the background in recurring intervals would go away)

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 00:46:40 -0800

philipp said

i've researched it more & actually what the maintenance service does in firefox 15 and above is to overwrite existing prefetch files for firefox.exe with a 0kb and read-only *.pf file: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Start-up_Performance_Improvements/TestPlan it would actually be another approach for testing, if the flash crashes continue with 0kb .pf files set to read-only (then the necessity for the script to run in the background in recurring intervals would go away)

Was reading under feature summary in the above article :

" Additionally, the about:config parameter "app.update.service.prefetchCleared" is set to true, indicating that the prefetch process is finished. "

I do not see the parameter and I am running Firefox 26, so now the question is why is it not there?

The closest thing i have in about:config is: app.update.service.enabled and that is set to true

''philipp [[#post-55904|said]]'' <blockquote> i've researched it more & actually what the maintenance service does in firefox 15 and above is to overwrite existing prefetch files for firefox.exe with a 0kb and read-only *.pf file: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Start-up_Performance_Improvements/TestPlan it would actually be another approach for testing, if the flash crashes continue with 0kb .pf files set to read-only (then the necessity for the script to run in the background in recurring intervals would go away) </blockquote> Was reading under feature summary in the above article : " Additionally, the about:config parameter "app.update.service.prefetchCleared" is set to true, indicating that the prefetch process is finished. " I do not see the parameter and I am running Firefox 26, so now the question is why is it not there? The closest thing i have in about:config is: app.update.service.enabled and that is set to true

philipp 1301 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 01:01:30 -0800

i have it neither in my configuration, maybe the implementation was changed slightly after this documentation has been written - however i still see locked 0.kb firefox.exe PF files under c:\windows\prefetch

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 01:26:35 -0800

philipp said

i have it neither in my configuration, maybe the implementation was changed slightly after this documentation has been written - however i still see locked 0.kb firefox.exe PF files under c:\windows\prefetch

I don't have any 0.kb firefox.exe PF files under c:\windows\prefetch , and am testing right now with the script disabled.

''philipp [[#post-55907|said]]'' <blockquote> i have it neither in my configuration, maybe the implementation was changed slightly after this documentation has been written - however i still see locked 0.kb firefox.exe PF files under c:\windows\prefetch </blockquote> I don't have any 0.kb firefox.exe PF files under c:\windows\prefetch , and am testing right now with the script disabled.

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 03:14:53 -0800

Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head

Since 11 am i been testing, 3 hours later! My Whole machine FROZE for about 5 minutes and was unable to do ANYTHING!

The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed !

bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211 bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211 bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211

here is a link to the most current prefetch data ( which seems to be re-created after the crash )

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk49xrpqwgw5fb4/Prefetch.rar

Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head Since 11 am i been testing, 3 hours later! My Whole machine FROZE for about 5 minutes and was unable to do ANYTHING! The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed ! bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211 bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211 bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211 here is a link to the most current prefetch data ( which seems to be re-created after the crash ) https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk49xrpqwgw5fb4/Prefetch.rar

John99 3665 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 05:22:45 -0800

Carm said

Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head .....

Carm
Thanks for posting the information.
If we can figure out why your method works for you we may figure out whether it will help others.
We may even discover a fixable bug

Thought I would add the links as this forum does not linkify.

bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211
bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211
bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211
(All three) Crash Signature: hang | WaitForMultipleObjectsEx | RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx | MsgWaitForMultipleObjects | npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c
link

N.B.

The test would not have been in a new profile and in safemode.
This signatures is from Fx26,
but I can't say I located it in a top crash listing.
no related bugs currently listed

''Carm [[#post-55916|said]]'' <blockquote> Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head ..... </blockquote> Carm Thanks for posting the information. If we can figure out why your method works for you we may figure out whether it will help others. We may even discover a fixable bug Thought I would add the links as this forum does not linkify. * [https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211 bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211] *[https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211 bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211] *[https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211 bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211] *(All three) Crash Signature: hang | WaitForMultipleObjectsEx | RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx | MsgWaitForMultipleObjects | npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c [https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/list?signature=hang%20|%20WaitForMultipleObjectsEx%20|%20RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx%20|%20MsgWaitForMultipleObjects%20|%20npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c&range_value=7&range_unit=days&date=2013-12-11 link] N.B. *The test would not have been in a new profile and in safemode. *This signatures is from Fx26, but I can't say I located it in a top crash listing. * no related bugs currently listed

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 06:39:07 -0800

John99 said

Carm said
Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head .....

Carm
Thanks for posting the information.
If we can figure out why your method works for you we may figure out whether it will help others.
We may even discover a fixable bug
Thought I would add the links as this forum does not linkify.

bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211
bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211
bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211
(All three) Crash Signature: hang | WaitForMultipleObjectsEx | RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx | MsgWaitForMultipleObjects | npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c
link

N.B.

The test would not have been in a new profile and in safemode.
This signatures is from Fx26,
but I can't say I located it in a top crash listing.
no related bugs currently listed

I know the bugs are odd ones, i usually get them lol..

I was not in safemode or a new profile as from my experience with this does not really matter; besides the sheer number of users with flash player crashes of some kind would point to something else.

I would also like to state that a version or two after FF 4 is when i started noticing all these flash player crashes as well. My money is on the plugin container.

I just hope that this is going to result in some kind of resolution, it has been going on for years now. Even if a simple fix integrated into FF which just deletes the files that i have been deleting every 15 minutes will be a welcome one for many with this headache.

I do know the ultimate goal is to get to the root cause, however in my years of support people just want it to work. I think if we can confirm my method and then simply add that command into Firefox to delete the prefetch files in question, I think then working on the root cause would be looked at. Lets get people up and running with something asap then dig for a permanent fix for this issue..

Once again I will be monitoring this thread and appreciate everyone's time to investigate my possible solution.

''John99 [[#post-55917|said]]'' <blockquote> ''Carm [[#post-55916|said]]'' <blockquote> Ok, so I am convinced that my script is the solution, I dont think I need to prove to myself anymore that i have hit the nail on the head ..... </blockquote> Carm Thanks for posting the information. If we can figure out why your method works for you we may figure out whether it will help others. We may even discover a fixable bug Thought I would add the links as this forum does not linkify. * [https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211 bp-286fbbbe-07a9-41e0-b299-67d462131211] *[https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211 bp-b5f26913-f6ac-47a1-82b9-de4d92131211] *[https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211 bp-e640ed7b-aaea-48a3-a1fd-86aac2131211] *(All three) Crash Signature: hang | WaitForMultipleObjectsEx | RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx | MsgWaitForMultipleObjects | npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c [https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/list?signature=hang%20|%20WaitForMultipleObjectsEx%20|%20RealMsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx%20|%20MsgWaitForMultipleObjects%20|%20npswf32_11_9_900_170.dll@0x35f67c&range_value=7&range_unit=days&date=2013-12-11 link] N.B. *The test would not have been in a new profile and in safemode. *This signatures is from Fx26, but I can't say I located it in a top crash listing. * no related bugs currently listed </blockquote> I know the bugs are odd ones, i usually get them lol.. I was not in safemode or a new profile as from my experience with this does not really matter; besides the sheer number of users with flash player crashes of some kind would point to something else. I would also like to state that a version or two after FF 4 is when i started noticing all these flash player crashes as well. My money is on the plugin container. I just hope that this is going to result in some kind of resolution, it has been going on for years now. Even if a simple fix integrated into FF which just deletes the files that i have been deleting every 15 minutes will be a welcome one for many with this headache. I do know the ultimate goal is to get to the root cause, however in my years of support people just want it to work. I think if we can confirm my method and then simply add that command into Firefox to delete the prefetch files in question, I think then working on the root cause would be looked at. Lets get people up and running with something asap then dig for a permanent fix for this issue.. Once again I will be monitoring this thread and appreciate everyone's time to investigate my possible solution.

patrickmc 79 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 07:07:18 -0800

Hello Carm and everyone else,

It's great that you've found a solution for the Flash crashes on your system. Can you write up some manual instructions on how to remove these files? I'd like to add it to our canned answers and see if it works with more customers.

Cheers, Patrick

Hello Carm and everyone else, It's great that you've found a solution for the Flash crashes on your system. Can you write up some manual instructions on how to remove these files? I'd like to add it to our canned answers and see if it works with more customers. Cheers, Patrick

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 07:34:16 -0800

patrickmc said

Hello Carm and everyone else, It's great that you've found a solution for the Flash crashes on your system. Can you write up some manual instructions on how to remove these files? I'd like to add it to our canned answers and see if it works with more customers. Cheers, Patrick

I can do that, however, just removing them once will only delay the potential crash as theses files are recreated at will by Firefox/Windows and the user would have to be constantly removing them manually. I already have a manual way to do this via an exe that runs in the task scheduler.

If you run my installer , all it really does is create a directory to house the exe that does the deletion, and by creating a task as outlined in the other thread where i posted it, all it does is run that exe

I chose to bundle it up in an exe this was not cmd window would be seen.

The exe can be located after you run the installer in C:\programdata\scripts

The best way to " manually " do is to dig though the prefetch all the time and constantly deleting these files which is not something i want to be doing constantly. I believe my solution is a solid and care free one once implemented.

However for argument sake the cmd line code is as follows:

Run cmd as administrator

del "C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf"

del "C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf"

I chose to use the wildcard* since i do not know if those number at the end of the file name are random or not.

This will do the same as my exe does located in C:\ProgramData\Scripts

Not sure if this is what you wanted?

''patrickmc [[#post-55921|said]]'' <blockquote> Hello Carm and everyone else, It's great that you've found a solution for the Flash crashes on your system. Can you write up some manual instructions on how to remove these files? I'd like to add it to our canned answers and see if it works with more customers. Cheers, Patrick </blockquote> I can do that, however, just removing them once will only delay the potential crash as theses files are recreated at will by Firefox/Windows and the user would have to be constantly removing them manually. I already have a manual way to do this via an exe that runs in the task scheduler. If you run my installer , all it really does is create a directory to house the exe that does the deletion, and by creating a task as outlined in the other thread where i posted it, all it does is run that exe I chose to bundle it up in an exe this was not cmd window would be seen. The exe can be located after you run the installer in C:\programdata\scripts The best way to " manually " do is to dig though the prefetch all the time and constantly deleting these files which is not something i want to be doing constantly. I believe my solution is a solid and care free one once implemented. However for argument sake the cmd line code is as follows: Run cmd as administrator del "C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf" del "C:\Windows\Prefetch\PLUGIN-CONTAINER*.pf" I chose to use the wildcard* since i do not know if those number at the end of the file name are random or not. This will do the same as my exe does located in C:\ProgramData\Scripts Not sure if this is what you wanted?

Carm 15 mensagens

11 de dezembro de 2013, 19:57:16 -0800

All,

I have figured out how to change the xml file for the current username and hostname. I was not able to automatically import this file as the " schtasks " command errors out on me " No mapping between account names and security IDs was done ". Most likely needing a username and password. I will tinker with this later as it will not work under a bat file within AutoIT but does work under elevated cmd. I want to avoid having the user prompted for the Admin password.

I also created a shortcut link to the task scheduler in the desktop folder and a pdf instruction set with pictures i threw together to import the task.

I am interested in any feedback on this as its a more easier and simplified method, and it does successfully change the XML on everyone's machine correctly, so to make it easier on basic users to implement.

This installer will work on 64 or 32 bit win7 machines

Thanks

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp358n6ih1st761/FireFox-Flash-Fix%28x86%29_f.exe

All, I have figured out how to change the xml file for the current username and hostname. I was not able to automatically import this file as the " schtasks " command errors out on me " No mapping between account names and security IDs was done ". Most likely needing a username and password. I will tinker with this later as it will not work under a bat file within AutoIT but does work under elevated cmd. I want to avoid having the user prompted for the Admin password. I also created a shortcut link to the task scheduler in the desktop folder and a pdf instruction set with pictures i threw together to import the task. I am interested in any feedback on this as its a more easier and simplified method, and it does successfully change the XML on everyone's machine correctly, so to make it easier on basic users to implement. This installer will work on 64 or 32 bit win7 machines Thanks https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp358n6ih1st761/FireFox-Flash-Fix%28x86%29_f.exe

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer 833 mensagens

13 de dezembro de 2013, 05:49:10 -0800

Curiously I don't have any files that match this:

"C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf"

Could that be because I've disabled the protected mode feature, keeping my Flash processes confined to plugin-container.exe? Hmmm...

Curiously I don't have any files that match this: "C:\Windows\Prefetch\flashpl*.pf" Could that be because I've disabled the protected mode feature, keeping my Flash processes confined to plugin-container.exe? Hmmm...

user633449 503 mensagens

13 de dezembro de 2013, 05:56:30 -0800

I'm not too happy with distributing exe's on the forum, I think that if we can either have a batch file (that be opened to see what exactly is happening) or manual instructions would be best. I'd also like to see if this is a 100% reliable solution or if it's a hit or miss fix?

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