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Firefox has started freezing on opening and crashes/freezes frequently during use.

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  • 56 have this problem
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  • Last reply by tontoe

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Firefox has begun opening very [very!] slowly, as well as crashing and freezing during use. This is happening on all of my three machines, two running Win 7 and one Win 8. I have tried refreshing and disabling hardware acceleration, but to no avail. Now it seems to freeze on opening and takes a minute or two even to become responsive, if at all. When I look at Task Manager during a freeze I see the Firefox process is using 35-50% of memory [i have 8GB, 12GB and 16GB] and up to 50% of processsor resources. All has been fine until the last couple of weeks. As an adjunct, in the last month I have noticed an almost permanent error message on the status bar - "Sync encountered an error while synchronising: Unknown error. Sync will automatically retry this action."

Firefox has begun opening very [very!] slowly, as well as crashing and freezing during use. This is happening on all of my three machines, two running Win 7 and one Win 8. I have tried refreshing and disabling hardware acceleration, but to no avail. Now it seems to freeze on opening and takes a minute or two even to become responsive, if at all. When I look at Task Manager during a freeze I see the Firefox process is using 35-50% of memory [i have 8GB, 12GB and 16GB] and up to 50% of processsor resources. All has been fine until the last couple of weeks. As an adjunct, in the last month I have noticed an almost permanent error message on the status bar - "Sync encountered an error while synchronising: Unknown error. Sync will automatically retry this action."

Chosen solution

A few days in, looks like Sync is/was the culprit. Perhaps evidenced by the "unable to sync" error message? Can't quite understand why - Sync worked extremwly well until a few weeks ago.

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All Replies (20)

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We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it. Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.

  1. On the keyboard, press [Windows] The image "Windows key" does not exist. + [R]. This should bring up a Run window that contains a text field.
  2. In that text field, type %APPDATA% and press Enter. An explorer window should open.
  3. From that explorer window, double-click on the Mozilla folder, then double-click on Firefox and then on Crash reports. Double-click on submitted.
  4. Now, you should see a list of files that contain reports. Go to View > Arrange Icons by > Modified to get the most recent files at the top of the window.
  5. Open the most recent 5 files with a text editor and copy the IDs.
  6. Paste each ID with bp- into the reply window on the forums.

Thanks in advance!

You can find more information and troubleshooting steps in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

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Note: The Windows 8 you posted this from,

Security Issue: Update your Flash Player Version 18.0.0.209
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html
Note: Windows users must download the “Internet Explorer” and “Plugin-based browsers” installers.

See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration


Also check all computers and update them.

Use this link to check that your plugins are up-to-date. If any are listed as unknown or research, do not worry about them.

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Hi there Fred McD

Thanks so much for this.

All computers have the latest Windows updates installed.

I have installed the latest Flash Player [to 18.0.0.209] on all three computers, and also checked plugins.

I have the latest graphics drivers installed.

Adobe Reader is shown as out of date, but I updated this last week. Just to be sure, I clicked the update link on the "check your plugins" page, and downloaded the "latest" version, and the installer reported the Reader was already installed [see screenshot].

Firefox froze again while I was typing this, peaking at 69% of CPU usage.

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kushagra said

We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it. Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.
  1. On the keyboard, press [Windows] The image "Windows key" does not exist. + [R]. This should bring up a Run window that contains a text field.
  2. In that text field, type %APPDATA% and press Enter. An explorer window should open.
  3. From that explorer window, double-click on the Mozilla folder, then double-click on Firefox and then on Crash reports. Double-click on submitted.
  4. Now, you should see a list of files that contain reports. Go to View > Arrange Icons by > Modified to get the most recent files at the top of the window.
  5. Open the most recent 5 files with a text editor and copy the IDs.
  6. Paste each ID with bp- into the reply window on the forums.
Thanks in advance! You can find more information and troubleshooting steps in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

Hi there kushagra

Many thanks for taking the time to respond.

I can only find one crash report on the desktop: bp-8957fa24-007f-456a-aea3-948bd2150715

I will check the laptop too and post those in a few minutes.

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Product Firefox Version 38.0.1

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version 39

Total Virtual Memory 4294836224

Available Virtual Memory 3384438784

System Memory Use Percentage 85

Available Page File 5495721984

Available Physical Memory 602312704


This is for other sumo's Related Bugs

802825 NEW --- crash in nsFilePicker::ShowFilePicker / BaseThreadInitThunk working with attachments [windows vista] 601587 NEW --- Firefox 4.0b6 crash on Windows Vista/7 [@ BaseThreadInitThunk ]


Firefox uses too much memory (RAM) - How to fix This article describes how to make Firefox use less memory to make it run faster and prevent crashes.

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

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Hi

Thanks for your help.

Here's the only submitted crash report I can find on the laptop: bp-f59eb1dd-e9dd-44a7-af10-1e6a22150718

There are others in the "pending" folder... see screeenshot.

In the meantime I will try refreshing Firefox again...

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Some of your crash reports weren’t sent to the Mozilla Servers.

In the address bar, type about:crashes<enter>. Note: If any reports do not have BP in front of the numbers/letters, click it and select Submit.

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.

aboutcrashesFx29
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This is for Sumo's

Nothing was flagged in the report. Please wait for others to respond. Related Bugs

1121130 RESOLVED DUPLICATE after closing Firefox, the Crash Window comes up after 20 secs ca 1110217 RESOLVED DUPLICATE crash in mozalloc_abort(char const* const) | NS_DebugBreak | nsDebugImpl::Abort(char const*, int) 1087674 RESOLVED FIXED Firefox won't close with Avast 2015 10.0.2206 when HTTPS scanning is enabled 1079312 RESOLVED FIXED AsyncShutdownTimeout "AddonManager: Waiting for providers to shut down.", "OpenH264Provider", crash in mozalloc_abort(char const* const) | NS_DebugBreak | nsDebugImpl::Abort(char const*, int) 1071702 RESOLVED DUPLICATE AsyncShutdown crash with "AddonManager: shutting down providers" 1057312 RESOLVED FIXED AsyncShutdownTimeout "AddonManager: shutting down providers" 1037826 RESOLVED DUPLICATE Shutdown crash in mozalloc_abort(char const* const) | NS_DebugBreak | nsDebugImpl::Abort(char const*, int) 991668 VERIFIED FIXED Exporting bookmarks.html may cause AsyncShutdown to abort crash due to "too much recursion" error caused by old promises in Task.jsm 987323 RESOLVED WORKSFORME AsyncShutdown crash: "SessionFile: Finish writing the latest sessionstore.js" 944873 RESOLVED FIXED Crash in mozalloc_abort(char const* const) | NS_DebugBreak | nsDebugImpl::Abort(char const*, int) with abort message: ###!!! ABORT: file resource://gre/modules/AsyncShutdown.jsm, line 390)

Modified by FredMcD

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please disreguard

Modified by FredMcD

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options)
key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?

If you have problems with current Shockwave Flash plugin versions then check this:

  • see if there are updates for your graphics drive drivers

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

  • disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Flash 11.3+ on Windows Vista and later)

https://forums.adobe.com/message/4468493#TemporaryWorkaround

  • disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337 See also:


Use this link to check that your plugins are up-to-date. If any are listed as unknown or research, do not worry about them.

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Hi

Thanks again!

Here are the only crash reports I can find on my desktop [screenshot attached to verify]:

bp-bfaa94dc-a48a-4c73-ab69-4b0a92150720 20/07/2015 10:31 bp-8957fa24-007f-456a-aea3-948bd2150715 15/07/2015 13:13 bp-5cc35183-5837-4782-8b9a-dd6f87bb0857 20/05/2015 19:16

As an adjunct - would the message about sync error [on status bar of screenshot] be of any relevance or importance? It is there pretty much all of the time when Firefox is open...

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FredMcD said

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options)
key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there? If you have problems with current Shockwave Flash plugin versions then check this:
  • see if there are updates for your graphics drive drivers
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration
  • disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Flash 11.3+ on Windows Vista and later)
https://forums.adobe.com/message/4468493#TemporaryWorkaround
  • disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337 See also:

Use this link to check that your plugins are up-to-date. If any are listed as unknown or research, do not worry about them.

Thanks again for your help

Safe Mode When I start Firefox in safe mode the CPU loading drops to nearly zero.

I assume therefore it is an extension/plug-in?

I have disabled most, but the Kaspersky Safe Money & Virtual Keyboard Extensions refuse to be disabled - when I click the disable button a dialogue says they will be disabled on restart, but this doesn't happen. [See attached screenshots...]

Graphics drivers These are up to date

Plugins The Plugin Status report keeps reporting Adobe Reader is outdated . However I have the latest version, obtained through the "Update Now" button. I have tried again and I get the same result I have had before - an Adobe dialogue box saying Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is already installed [see attached screenshot]

Protected mode in the Flash plugin I have disabled this by editing mms.cfg as directed on the adobe link.

I am not experiencing problems with Flash, though.

In summary With all of the above completed, CPU usage with the browser "idle" is still at 25-55%

Freezing Firefox froze again when I was writing this. I left it for ten minutes and it was still frozen, so had to close it from Task Manager - as I have had to frequently.

I then [as before] get an error dialogue reporting that "plugin container for Firefox has stopped working"

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FredMcD said

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options)
key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?

An update - problem still there in safe mode Running Firefox in safe mode now, and just had a minute-long freeze. With only this window [the one I'm typing in] open CPU is still at 25-30%

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Hi there Here are the crash reports from the laptop:

bp-7616d73a-c8d0-41b0-9fd8-ea8202150720 20/07/2015 12:29 bp-f59eb1dd-e9dd-44a7-af10-1e6a22150718 18/07/2015 09:38

Still experiencing [very frequent] random freezes on this machine too, and high CPU usage.

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Update - Safe Mode on Laptop Running in safe mode on laptop, CPU usage around 40%

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Update - standard mode on Laptop 93% CPU Firefox process taking over 93% of CPU resources. This is on a Core i5 hi-spec ultrabook

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tontoe said

As an adjunct - would the message about sync error [on status bar of screenshot] be of any relevance or importance?

For now, disable it. It can't hurt. And if it was part of the problem . . . .

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The crash report flagged these programs;

bp-bfaa94dc-a48a-4c73-ab69-4b0a92150720 Signature EMPTY: no crashing thread identified +++++++++++++++++ bp-5cc35183-5837-4782-8b9a-dd6f87bb0857 Invalid crash ID ++++++++++++++++++ bp-7616d73a-c8d0-41b0-9fd8-ea8202150720 Signature appleffdav.dll

Appleffdav.dll = iCloud Control Panel = Apple Computer for the Windows

Rooksbas.DLL = Windows

RapportTanzan380.DLL

RapportGP.dll

RapportUtil.dll

shellstreams.dll = Apple


Disable Rapport as a test. It has caused many issues of late.


Perform a System File Check to fix corrupted system files Win 7, 8, Vista: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833

See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

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FredMcD said

tontoe said
As an adjunct - would the message about sync error [on status bar of screenshot] be of any relevance or importance?

For now, disable it. It can't hurt. And if it was part of the problem . . . .

I disabled Sync and restarted Firefox on the desktop, and the CPU load has immediately dropped to 00--01!

Modified by tontoe

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FredMcD said

The crash report flagged these programs; bp-bfaa94dc-a48a-4c73-ab69-4b0a92150720 Signature EMPTY: no crashing thread identified +++++++++++++++++ bp-5cc35183-5837-4782-8b9a-dd6f87bb0857 Invalid crash ID ++++++++++++++++++ bp-7616d73a-c8d0-41b0-9fd8-ea8202150720 Signature appleffdav.dll Appleffdav.dll = iCloud Control Panel = Apple Computer for the Windows Rooksbas.DLL = Windows RapportTanzan380.DLL RapportGP.dll RapportUtil.dll shellstreams.dll = Apple

Disable Rapport as a test. It has caused many issues of late.


Perform a System File Check to fix corrupted system files Win 7, 8, Vista: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833

See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

Thanks yet again! Laptop I ran sfc, which found one corrupted file on the laptop. After a bit of messing around I tried running DISM.exe, which seemed to do the repair, as a re-run of sfc revealed no problems.

I had already removed Rapport from this Win 8 laptop [but not the desktop].

After applying these fixes,running in Safe Mode produces a CPU usage of 1-2%. With plugins enabled it is 35-40% still.

Desktop sfc found corrupted files, but DISM.exe did not work in repairing these. However, Firefox is now running at 0-1% CPU, even with plugins enabled. Disabling Sync seemed to cure the problem on this Win 7 machine.

Modified by tontoe

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