Firefox crashes at any random page
Since about two weeks Firefox keeps crashing on my after about 30 minutes to an hour browsing. There isn't a specific website where it crashes. It can crash on a page load, while scrolling or even when I'm just reading the page without user input.
To find the cause I've been desperately looking for the problem. So far I've done the following things to keep Firefox from crashing (also reading up on the forums):
- Reinstalled Windows 7 for a fresh start
- Did a memory hardware scan to see if it was faulty
- Did a harddrive scan
- Disabled all extensions and plugins
- Disabled firefox sync
- Firefox is the only running program
On some crashes I still had some addons or sync enabled, but on my last crash I've disabled everything. I can't seem to find a specific action or cause to the crashes.
My system:
- Asus P6X58D-E motherboard
- Kingston HyperX Triple Channel 6 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 9, Non-ECC, Kit Of 3
- Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, S-ATA II/300
- Intel Core i7 950 / 3.06 GHz processor
- 2x Sapphire RADEON HD 6870 (sli)
- Windows 7 (64-bit)
Before the crashes happened, Firefox never crashed on me. I hope you can help me because I love Firefox, but for now I'm forced to use Chrome.
Modified by PanoramixBF
Chosen solution
\o/, thank you tibler for pointing me in the right direction. The problem seems to be the latest ATI drivers with 2 graphic cards. CCC 12.8.
I uninstalled those drivers and installed the previous version 12.6: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/previous/12/Pages/radeon.aspx?os=Windows%20Vista%20-%2064-Bit%20Edition&rev=12.6
I've reinstalled all addons, enabled sync and enabled hardware acceleration. It's been over an hour now and Firefox is still completely stable!
Thanks for the help
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hello, thanks for reporting with your detailed system information - unfortunately the submitted crash reports are all empty & don't contain a hint on what triggered the crashes.
another thing you could try is to disable hardware acceleration in firefox > options > advanced > general - i'm not sure how it's working on a system with two graphic cards.
Hello,
I've been having the exact same problem for about two weeks now. Random crashes on random pages, closing firefox and prompting for an empty crash report to be sent.
Usually the symptoms of a crash are visible : first an image on a page not loading, a "this image has error and can't be displayed" page, a new tab halfway opened and firefox not responding, a page not loading, etc. If a symptom first appears, every action I do (if firefox responds to clicks) ends up failing the same way (no page or image will load, etc). Sometimes i have to spam actions when the firsts symptoms occurs to get firefox to crash and restart normally.
Now it SEEMS that disabling hardware acceleration fixed the issue. I'e been playing with firefox for the past 10 minutes opening random stuff everywhere and had no crash yet (it used to crash every 5 minutes...). I do have 2 graphic cards installed, but i've had them for a year without any problem. Anything changed on the way the acceleration is handled in the last versions ?
Anyway, thanks for the tip ! Tibler
Tibler describes my exact problem! I also have the issue that when a crash is inbound the images dont show or corrupt on page load. Shortly after that it crashes.
I have my current system for 1.5 years now and had no problems at all. It started happening about 2 weeks ago. I can't remember, but I might have updated my ATI drivers by that time.
Current video drivers: ATI Radeon Graphics: the catalyst control center Version: 2012.08.06.1213.19931
Tibler, what kind of video drivers are you using? Also the drivers from ATI?
I'll try disabling hardware acceleration.
On another note, ive been browsing for an hour now in firefox safemode, and it doesn't seem to crash either. Still have the hardware acceleration still enabled. I'll report if safe mode crashes or not.
I have two ATI Radeon HD 5800 series, and my driver's version is... well... too many of them in the Catalyst Control Center ><...
The package's version is 8.982-120727a-144945C-ATI The 2D one is 8.01.01.1253 The Direct3D one is 9.14.10.0924
And I have the same catalyst control center version as you
Modified by Tibler
Chosen Solution
\o/, thank you tibler for pointing me in the right direction. The problem seems to be the latest ATI drivers with 2 graphic cards. CCC 12.8.
I uninstalled those drivers and installed the previous version 12.6: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/previous/12/Pages/radeon.aspx?os=Windows%20Vista%20-%2064-Bit%20Edition&rev=12.6
I've reinstalled all addons, enabled sync and enabled hardware acceleration. It's been over an hour now and Firefox is still completely stable!
Thanks for the help
Good to know !
I'll stick with the latest version of the driver with the unchecked acceleration for firefox though. I'll try to reenable the option once in awhile after ff or driver updates...
And I thought I would have to switch to Chrome, after so many years of good services... The idea of loosing Tree Style Tab made me sick :(
Thanks for detailing the driver's version stuff ! Regards
Glad you figured out the problem.
Please note one of the functions of safe mode is disabling hardware acceleration.
(And just a thought, but that is no longer going to be as clear to users with the change in the checkboxes, once the changes options are replaced with the reset option)