How to resolve yet another 'Unresponsive script' issue.. but with some twists?
There are so many 'unresponsive script' threads out there but none seem to quite match my symptoms, so bear with me. Will try to list all of the important points.
Firefox sporadically freezes. After a wait of 10-20 seconds of being completely unresponsive, the unresponsive script dialog appears.
- Interestingly, at the point the unresponsive script dialog opens, the website I'm on starts to work again in the background, fully finishing loading. Of course, I'm unable to access it due to the dialog.
- It doesn't matter whether I click Continue, Stop Script, or Debug Script - whichever one I click, the dialog disappears and Firefox re-freezes. If I click debug, I do see the debug panel open and start to load, but don't actually see the source code appear on the right.
- The script referred to in the dialog varies though I believe is always of the form chrome://browser/content/browser.js:xxxx
- It happens *inconsistently* and *not* in a replicable way - perhaps once a day, on all sorts of different websites. The same page that causes the crash will reload perfectly fine at a later stage. It happens while the page is loading (though I believe I've had it happen when a site AJAXed in a new ad too).
- I can often close the window by right clicking in the task bar and choosing close window, though the Firefox process continues to run.
- If I go into Task Manager and try to end the Firefox process, nothing happens, at least not straight away; the process remains there. Any attempts to open Firefox results in the 'Firefox is already running' popup; if I click the close Firefox button, it says the profile is inaccessible and is unable to.
- I've tried going into the profile folder and deleting the parent.lock file while this is happening, but get an error that the file is in use.
- After a few minutes, the Firefox process ends, and I can open it again.
- This problem only started happening after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 last year.
I have tried: - disabling all extensions - disabling hardware acceleration, both in the Firefox settings and in Flash settings (though I've had crashes with Flash disabled) - creating a new profile - and even running in safe mode
It's hard to test given it happens infrequently, but I've had crashes during all of the above.
The fact that I'm unable to end the process suggests a driver issue; I've checked for display driver updates but it says they're up to date.
Here's one example crash report - this was one with all of my extensions etc enabled, and may just say it crashes because I ended the process, but in case it helps: https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-342945b0-7e54-4a69-8f6a-99b082160417
Happy to provide other details as needed.
I'm a developer myself, so if there are any methods that allow *debugging* the problem as it is happening, that would be something I'd like to try.
Chosen solution
Dear people from the future.. ( https://xkcd.com/979/ )
I had a breakthrough by checking Windows Event Viewer. It had logs of a critical error of a "HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor" crashing, proving this was indeed Windows upgrade related and not Firefox.
Despite scans saying I had no driver updates available, going into Device Manager and searching for updates found a much newer version available. No crashes in the last couple of days - hopefully all fixed (even if not, at least I now know where to look).
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (16)
Also, here's troubleshooting info - split in two halves due to the 10k character limit:
Application Basics
Name: Firefox Version: 45.0.2 Build ID: 20160407164938 Update Channel: release User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0 Multiprocess Windows: 0/1 (default: false) Safe Mode: false
Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
All Crash Reports
Extensions
Name: ADB Helper Version: 0.8.7 Enabled: true ID: adbhelper@mozilla.org
Name: Adblock Plus Version: 2.6.11 Enabled: true ID: {d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}
Name: BrowserStack Version: 21.5 Enabled: true ID: {6cc0f0f7-a6e2-4834-9682-24de2229b51e}
Name: Firefox Hello Beta Version: 1.1.14 Enabled: true ID: loop@mozilla.org
Name: Password Exporter Version: 1.3.2 Enabled: true ID: {B17C1C5A-04B1-11DB-9804-B622A1EF5492}
Name: SQLite Manager Version: 0.8.3.1-signed Enabled: true ID: SQLiteManager@mrinalkant.blogspot.com
Name: User Agent Switcher Version: 0.7.3.1-signed Enabled: true ID: {e968fc70-8f95-4ab9-9e79-304de2a71ee1}
Name: Valence Version: 0.3.5 Enabled: true ID: fxdevtools-adapters@mozilla.org
Name: Web Developer Version: 1.1.9 Enabled: true ID: {c45c406e-ab73-11d8-be73-000a95be3b12}
Name: DigitalPersona Extension Version: 5.0.0.5079 Enabled: false ID: otis@digitalpersona.com
Name: Execute JS Version: 0.2.4.1-signed Enabled: false ID: {7067a92c-1db4-4e5e-869c-25f841287f8b}
Name: FiddlerHook Version: 2.4.9.7 Enabled: false ID: fiddlerhook@fiddler2.com
Name: Memory Restart Version: 1.18.1-signed Enabled: false ID: memoryrestart@teamextension.com
Name: MozBar Version: 3.1.18 Enabled: false ID: toolbar@seomoz.org
Name: Stylish Version: 2.0.6 Enabled: false ID: {46551EC9-40F0-4e47-8E18-8E5CF550CFB8}
Name: Test IE Version: 1.7.1-signed Enabled: false ID: jid0-IjImIyAhC6aVwuN2VA4XpGwFbHk@jetpack
Graphics
Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 Adapter Description (GPU #2): AMD Radeon HD 7650M Adapter Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 Adapter Drivers (GPU #2): aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx64 amdxc64 aticfx32 aticfx32 aticfx32 amdxc32 atiumd64 atidxx64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64 Adapter RAM: Unknown Adapter RAM (GPU #2): 2048 Asynchronous Pan/Zoom: none Device ID: 0x0166 Device ID (GPU #2): 0x6841 Direct2D Enabled: true DirectWrite Enabled: true (10.0.10586.0) Driver Date: 8-17-2015 Driver Date (GPU #2): 8-19-2015 Driver Version: 10.18.10.4276 Driver Version (GPU #2): 15.201.1301.0 GPU #2 Active: false GPU Accelerated Windows: 1/1 Direct3D 11 (OMTC) Subsys ID: 17f4103c Subsys ID (GPU #2): 17f4103c Supports Hardware H264 Decoding: Yes Vendor ID: 0x8086 Vendor ID (GPU #2): 0x1002 windowLayerManagerRemote: true AzureCanvasBackend: direct2d 1.1 AzureContentBackend: direct2d 1.1 AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
Important Modified Preferences
accessibility.browsewithcaret_shortcut.enabled: false accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0 browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1 browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported: 1 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 1 browser.download.importedFromSqlite: true browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen: true browser.download.useDownloadDir: false browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20160407164938 browser.startup.homepage: about:blank browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20160407164938 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 45.0.2 browser.tabs.drawInTitlebar: false browser.tabs.warnOnClose: false browser.urlbar.userMadeSearchSuggestionsChoice: true dom.apps.reset-permissions: true dom.disable_open_during_load: false dom.mozApps.used: true dom.w3c_touch_events.expose: false extensions.lastAppVersion: 45.0.2 font.internaluseonly.changed: false gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.appVersion: 45.0.2 gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.deviceID: 0x0166 gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.driverVersion: 10.18.10.4276 gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d2d: true gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d3d11: true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion: 44.0.2 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID: 0x0166 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion: 10.18.10.4276 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle: true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle: true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11: false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp: false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11: true gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d11layers: 2 gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d9video: 2 gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext: 2 gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0 gfx.driver-init.appVersion: 42.0 gfx.driver-init.deviceID: 0x0166 gfx.driver-init.driverVersion: 10.18.10.4276 gfx.driver-init.feature-d2d: true gfx.driver-init.feature-d3d11: true gfx.driver-init.status: 2 media.gmp-eme-adobe.abi: x86-msvc-x64 media.gmp-eme-adobe.lastUpdate: 1453922509 media.gmp-eme-adobe.version: 15 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi: x86-msvc-x64 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1453922510 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.5.3 media.gmp-manager.buildID: 20160407164938 media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1461225321 media.hardware-video-decoding.failed: false media.webrtc.debug.aec_log_dir: C:\Users\Stephen\AppData\Local\Temp/ media.webrtc.debug.log_file: C:\Users\Stephen\AppData\Local\Temp/WebRTC.log media.youtube-ua.override.to: 43 network.auth.allow-subresource-auth: 2 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true network.image.imageBehavior: 0 network.predictor.cleaned-up: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1460769507 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true plugin.state.flash: 1 plugin.state.npdeployjava: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_bgimages: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_colorspace: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_command: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_duplex: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_evenpages: true print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_footercenter: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_footerleft: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_footerright: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_headercenter: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_headerleft: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_headerright: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_in_color: true print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_margin_top: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_oddpages: true print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_orientation: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_data: 9 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_name: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_size_unit: 1 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_paper_width: 8.50 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_plex_name: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_resolution: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_resolution_name: print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_reversed: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_scaling: 1.00 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_shrink_to_fit: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_to_file: false print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Brother_DCP-J140W_Printer_(Copy_1).print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.cpd.cache: false privacy.cpd.cookies: false privacy.cpd.downloads: false privacy.cpd.history: false privacy.cpd.sessions: false privacy.sanitize.migrateClearSavedPwdsOnExit: true privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true privacy.sanitize.timeSpan: 0 security.disable_button.openCertManager: false security.enable_java: true services.sync.declinedEngines: storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1460769504 ui.osk.debug.keyboardDisplayReason: IKPOS: Touch screen not found. webgl.disabled: true
Important Locked Preferences
JavaScript
Incremental GC: true
Accessibility
Activated: false Prevent Accessibility: 0
Library Versions
NSPR Expected minimum version: 4.12 Version in use: 4.12
NSS Expected minimum version: 3.21.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.21.1 Basic ECC
NSSSMIME Expected minimum version: 3.21.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.21.1 Basic ECC
NSSSSL Expected minimum version: 3.21.1 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.21.1 Basic ECC
NSSUTIL Expected minimum version: 3.21.1 Version in use: 3.21.1
Experimental Features
And just to repeat for those looking at troubleshooting and thinking 'ooh, AdBlock plus' - it's not extension related. Removing AdBlock plus was the first thing I tried without any success (followed up by removing all others) - I only use it to block one thing on one website anyway.
Once a day at random is hard to diagnose. I don't suppose it happens at a consistent time, perhaps triggered by something Firefox may be doing in the background on a schedule?
Sometimes when Firefox is inexplicably "broken" the problem is that an update corrupted the program files. To rule that out we suggest:
Clean Reinstall
We use this name, but it's not about removing your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. Do NOT uninstall Firefox, that's not needed.
(A) Download a fresh installer for Firefox 45.0.2 from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to a convenient location. (Scroll down to your preferred language.) For maximum plugin compatibility, choose the 32-bit version.
(B) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).
(C) Rename the program folder as follows:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
to
C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox
(D) Run the installer you downloaded in step (A). It should automatically connect to your existing settings.
Note: Some plugins may exist only in that OldFirefox folder. If something essential is missing, look in these folders:
- \OldFirefox\Plugins
- \OldFirefox\browser\plugins
No idea whether that will help, but you already tried most other things.
Thanks for the reply - trying that now - will see what happens. It's definitely a tricky one; not time specific though. It's generally just while I'm browsing around normally, open a tab or two to a new site. Most of the the time it works fine; sometimes a few seconds after the page starts loading it freezes. Then it's just a case of waiting a couple of minutes before I can start working again..
The weirdest part is how Firefox starts running perfectly again behind the dialog.. I just can't close the dialog without it refreezing.
Just had a crash, so no luck there. Watched a YouTube video, went to another one, crash.
Any other suggestions?
Actual crashes sometimes are easier to diagnose than slow scripts... Did you get the Mozilla Crash Reporter form? Your Firefox may have logged some data that would help track down the cause of the problem. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. 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.
On your system, is YouTube using the HTML5 video player or Flash? Usually you can tell from the right-click context menu for the video, Flash mentions itself on the bottom line of its short menu.
I already posted a crash report above. I don't always get the crash report dialog; it depends how I end up force quitting. And it's HTML5; I have flash disabled.
(It's not that a script is 'slow' - or it would resolve over time, or resolve if I stopped the script; but that scripts occasionally cause unresolvable hangs.)
Modified by TripleM
The earlier crash was a shutdown crash, meaning Firefox terminated itself prematurely because shutdown file maintenance was taking too long. On YouTube, what did you get -- a crash or a hang (unresponsive/frozen browser) or an unresponsive script warning? If it was unresponsive script, did it again refer to a component of Firefox (or an extension) with a chrome:// address or something in the page?
The symptoms are the ones described earlier - it's always the same. Everything freezes, an unresponsive script eventually pops up, I click an option eg Stop script, and it freezes again. If I leave it long enough I'll eventually get another unresponsive script dialog where the same thing happens. Eventually I force close the window / go into task manager and try to end the process there and wait 3 minutes before it disappears and I can reopen firefox again.
Usually "Stop Script" works when the identified script is in the page, but when it's part of Firefox, the page can trigger the incompatibility (or whatever it is) again, so Stop Script isn't ending the issue in this case. The problem is it's difficult to know what the page is asking Firefox to do, especially with Google sites because their code is so complex. There might be some debugging tools I do not know about that would let you tease that apart.
I'm out of ideas at the moment.
Ugh. All this time I had been working on the misconception that the error message was referring to the line in the source code of the website I was currently on. I've just realised it's not, which means when I see:
chrome://browser/content/browser.js:7983
I can actually enter
chrome://browser/content/browser.js
into Firefox, and see what's on line 7983. That's a function which appears very simple and related to toolbars. Despite the fact I'm positive I tested things without all add-ons enabled, I am using one toolbar-related add-on, so I'm going to try disabling that one specifically and see how I go.
Hi TripleM, to me the puzzle is how a script in the page could be triggering that function, which seems to involve the window focus, which makes me think of popup windows, which doesn't sound characteristic of YouTube. ??
It's always a few seconds after a new tab starts loading, so it makes sense that can apply to YouTube or any other site. Here's hoping..
Hm, nope, still the same thing with that add-on disabled. Need to dig more into what that function is doing..
Chosen Solution
Dear people from the future.. ( https://xkcd.com/979/ )
I had a breakthrough by checking Windows Event Viewer. It had logs of a critical error of a "HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor" crashing, proving this was indeed Windows upgrade related and not Firefox.
Despite scans saying I had no driver updates available, going into Device Manager and searching for updates found a much newer version available. No crashes in the last couple of days - hopefully all fixed (even if not, at least I now know where to look).
Modified by TripleM