https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/711010?last=63848#post-63674

Tyler Downer said

Hey all, just an FYI that there is a small bug in the installer for Firefox 35 on Windows XP, which causes it to crash towards the end of the install. It is caused by turning the Firewall service off, and then running the Firefox installer (not the built in updater). It's being tracked in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1120673 and already has a patch. If we do a Firefox 35.0.1 then we will probably include this patch. Since the affected group is so small (Users doing a new install or pave over of Firefox 35 on Windows XP with disabled Firewall) this probably won't be very common on the forums, but the solution at least is easy.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-installer-crashes-windows-xp

That bug was reportedly only in the separate installer program, NOT the built-in updater; that bug was also originally reported for 35.0.

I updated to 35.0.1 using the built-in updater. I also previously updated to, and was successfully running, the prior 35.0 without that problem.

I am also currently running the more secure (bi-directional) ZoneAlarm Firewall, the Windows Security Center also displays "Firewall: ON".

Back to my original question - until Mozilla gets their chit together on these flaky 35.x versions, how can I revert to a more stable 34.something version, without loosing my Session data?

We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it.

I realize that a report may not have been submitted, but please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash - just in case one report did make it to the Crash Report servers.

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 LaserGuy445, Sorry you are having problems, but I am sure not everyone is finding Fx35 flaky. (I must admit my Windows XP only rarely gets used, and I have not dusted it off and tried it with Fx35.)

Is it wise to rely on open tabs ?
Let's start this off with a personal observation. It may often be unwise to place over-reliance on open sessions. I would make sure any open and vital tabs were bookmarked. You are only a couple of crashes away from losing sessionstore data, but Firefox will try to keep quite a few bookmarks backups, and they often survive crashes.

Downgrading Basically you should not downgrade, old versions are not supported and not secure. Security fixes once made are publicised and so open to exploit.

There may be compatibility issues with downgrading. The session store files and methods were changed not long ago, but you should be able to get away with downgrading from Fx35 to Fx34 if you insist on taking the risk. Just install the old version over the top of the current one but do NOT delete the profile files and folders, and do not go back further than Fx34

• Install an older version of Firefox

If I had your issues I may consider a better solution may be to install and use Firefox Portable ESR, but that is a third party build and a version not for use by individuals; so not a Mozilla recommendation. It may however be a useful additional stable & secure browser and it should be possible to copy over sessionstore files, but possibly only by using Sync.

• http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr (Currently ESR fx31.4)

Backups Whatever you do or consider I suggest you back up your Firefox profile as that contains the sessionstore data. As a belts and braces method you may also wish to consider backing up the sessionstore files from within the profile.

• Use Firefox sync {If so my personal recommendation is to also keep manual backups of bookmarks - I my be paranoid but sync is known to corrupt bookmarks ^{(1, 2)} )
  • How do I set up Sync on my computer?
  • Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer_manual-backup
• Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles
  • Files involved in session restore see 3, 4
    • sessionstore.js - The state of the browser during the last shut down.
    • sessionstore-backups/recovery.js - Contains the state of Firefox 15 seconds before shutdown or crash.
    • sessionstore-backups/recovery.bak - Contains the state of Firefox 30 seconds before shutdown or crash.
    • sessionstore-backups/previous.js - Session Restore data before the second to last shut down.
    • sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-[build id] - Session Restore data after the latest upgrade.

Crashes Please let us have 2 or 3 Crash IDs for recently submitted Crash reports from a supported version of Firefox. They begin with bp-. (Note they are converted to links by forum software but only links AFTER posting). Try the troubleshooting tips.

• Firefox crashes - asking for support
• Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly)

@the-edmeister -

Thanks for your reply. There is no "submitted" subdirectory under "Crash Reports"! Browsers and other Internet apps don't have a problem with it, but I don't think the Crash Reporter is smart enough to figure-out how to connect to the Internet from my laptop (which has 2 network connections, one working and one not).

There is, however, a "pending" subdir, which contains crash report files for each of the recent crashes, including immediately after I updated to 35.0.1! (There are also "InstallTime..." files in "Crash Reports", which seem to correspond to each time I have updated Firefox, the last one was dated yesterday at 4:04:57 PM when I updated to 35.0.1, the first of the recent crash report files is dated about 30 seconds later, when Firefox was being re-started after the update!)

In the crash report "pending" files, I noticed each crash has 2 files - a .extra file with some basic text info, and a .dmp file. From what I've been able to gather, these files are uploaded to a Mozilla server via a HTTP POST so that the minidump can be examined and the cause determined, but even after signing-up for an account with the "Mozilla Crash Reports", I have been unable to find the page to let you upload these files manually for when your Firefox app is FUBAR'd.

How do you upload a previously stored crash report to Mozilla?

@john99 - reply forthcoming...

@John99 -

Thanks for your reply. First off, with regards to this -

> "You are only a couple of crashes away from losing sessionstore > data..."

Actually, I'm not. I should point-out that I am using the wonderful SessionManager Add-On, which automatically makes and stores any desired # of back-ups for both crashed and prior sessions, as well as allows you to store "named" sessions (each of which can contain either the current or a # of windows, each with multiple tabs), and even allows you to organize named sessions into groups!

You can also selectively load all or part of a stored session, specifying which windows, and even which specific tabs in each you want to load or not, and can even ALT-click to selectively load an individual tab from any stored backup or named session and add it to your current window!

This blows the doors off of simple "bookmarks", for both convenience and safety, and is really a feature that should be built-in to Firefox.

I'm not keen to downgrade, for the very reasons you stated, and would consider it a temporary solution until Mozilla can fix the problem with 35. But even 34.x is better than NO working Firefox - which is what my laptop has now!

In the contributors thread & bug in 35.0 that james mentioned above -

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/711010?last=63848#post-63674 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1120673

There seemed to be some indication that the fix for that bug in 35.0 (which is now listed as "Status: VERIFIED FIXED") was to be included in 35.0.1? If it was, given that this code was specific to XP, I'm wondering if this "fix" may be the cause of this problem?

But the 35.0.1 update crashing so badly, that it prevents me from even starting Firefox in safe mode so that I can try to diagnose & correct the problem, is (short of erasing my HD) about as "Severe" an error as it gets!

And as already reported by others -

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1043128 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1042778

35.0 was also subject to frequent crashing, even when the browser was just sitting there idle on a page, and was a major downgrade in stability compared to prior versions.

So 34.x would be preferable to either of those dogs, at least until Mozilla can come up with a fix.

Do you recall what the last/most stable version of 34 was?

On backups, I will probably save a copy of the entire Application Data\Mozilla, as well as the Program Files\Mozilla Firefox, to an external hard drive, and perhaps an extra copy of the stored sessions data, just to be paranoid. On the Registry Data, I'm not sure what or if I would need to back-up that? My understanding is that when I re-install Firefox, it will spot the existing data/Add-Ons/etc., and incorporate that into the new install?

When researching this problem, I also came across someone with a similar problem a while back, where it was suggested that he revert to an older version until the problem could be solved -

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1018222

They recommended that he rename the Firefox (Program) directory, (presumably to prevent any "bad" newer program files from polluting the older version install), and I guess the re-install would still see the data files and profile and integrate that in, does that sound like the best approach to do a revert?

I am likewise paranoid about using Sync (or storing stuff on US-based cloud servers), but due instead to recent revelations over the past few years about what some folks have been up to lately. But given Firefox won't even start in safe mode, I don't think it would be even possible to activate sync at this point?

That Firefox Portable ESR sounds interesting! Is that one of those apps that is completely self-contained? (i.e. - no install required?) What do you mean by "not for use by individuals"? Not sure if I would be able to copy my Session Manager stored sessions over to that or not?

On Crash ID's & Reports, see my prior reply to the-edmeister.

I would like to try to submit these pending crash report files, as the .dmp files in particular likely contain some solid info on what is causing this problem with the 35.0.1 update, and could make it much easier for Mozilla pgmrs to identify and quickly fix this serious bug!

That is the best solution, because then I could simply D/L 35.0.2 to fix this! :)

Thanks again for the help!

Quick reply I am on a phone.

Note it is possible to set up your own local sync server. Portable is fairly standard Fx but has own profile & will I install & run from media. Ear is I tended ESR is intended for corporate use, Mozilla does not provide support your I T department must. It is often useful for troubleshooting & comparisons.

Not sure which sessions files esr uses, but it may not matter to you.

Ensure you try Fx with a clean additional test profile, temporarily rename profiles.ini

(edit typos - also now see follow on post)

Additional info

Clean installs where the programs folder is renamed, are sometimes required especially if startup crashes are occurring. I will append the standard explanation of that.

I note you are also crashing in SafeMode it is probably worth trying Firefox with a clean profile, and one method of creating a clean profile for test purposes is to temporarily rename profiles.ini When no profiles.ini is available Firefox recreates the file and a fresh additional profile.

• see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_default_profile

Another step you can try in order to get Firefox to run without crashing is to test it in Windows XP's safe mode.

• Use key F8 whilst booting
• See http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/boot_failsafe.mspx
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode

I am not familiar with the add-on SessionManager, (/firefox/addon/session-manager/) but I do note it has a support site and a support forum. I note on the support forum mention of backing-up the data and it would seem you are able to make exernal backups to your chosen location.

Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu and click the close button ).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
   • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
   • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

Please report back to say if this helped you!

Thank you.

While Firefox on my laptop is still DEAD, I have a couple pieces of good news...

First, I had been hesitant to re-start Firefox on the other PC which I am using to post this, as it "auto-updated" without asking when I went to check the version #, and was poised to re-start with 35.0.1. Given that it is also running XP SP2 and similar s/w as the crashed laptop, I was concerned that after I re-started, I could loose access to Firefox on that one as well!

But the flaky Firefox 35.0 was "thrashing" the hard drive so badly, that eventually I had no choice but to re-start. The other PC completed the update successfully...and it worked! :)

Given that PC is also running XP SP2, and the same third-party firewall, AV and security s/w as the crashed laptop, this eliminates a WHOLE SLEW of possible causes for this problem!

Second, one of the problems with trying to diagnose this, was that an apparent separate bug in the Mozilla Crash Reporter was preventing submission of the crash reports, which both you and the-edmeister had requested to find out more about the cause of these crashes. As I indicated in my prior reply to the-edmeister, from what I could gather, it seemed technically possible to manually submit these crash reports to Mozilla, but even after signing-up for an account with the Mozilla Crash Reports, I was unable to find a way to do so. My question posted here as to how to manually submit pending crash reports under these circumstances (when Firefox won't start), likewise remained unanswered.

Well, I am happy to report that I managed to figure-out a way to accomplish this, which not only let me submit the relevant crash reports as requested, but should also be of benefit to others who find themselves facing this same dilemna! :)

From what I've been able to determine about how the Mozilla Crash Reporter subsystem works, when a crash occurs, Google's Breakpad is used to create a minidump, which is written to a .dmp file, then metadata about the PC, Firefox, add-ons, memory usage, etc., is written to an .extra file, then these files are copied to the pending directory, and then the Mozilla Crash Reporter window pops-up, and asks you if you want to submit the crash report. See for example -

http://gecko.readthedocs.org/en/latest/toolkit/crashreporter/crashreporter/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Crash_Data_Analysis

The main point being that, by the time the crash report files are sitting in pending, all the relevant data about NOT just the crash, but also about the specific PC & Firefox install that crash happened ON, has ALREADY been gathered-up and stashed inside those .dmp & .extra files.

So it occurred to me, that it thus might be possible to submit pending crash reports, NOT just from the PC that crashed (which was impossible, because Firefox won't start), but from any PC running a compatible version of Firefox! ;)

So I grabbed the recent crash report files I wanted to upload, from -

Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\pending\

and copied them to the pending directory on the working PC. I then fired-up Firefox on that machine, went to about:crashes, and BINGO! - the crash reports from the laptop showed-up on the desktop PC, and I was able to successfully submit them from that other PC to Mozilla! :)

Following are seven of them, starting with the crash that occurred immediately after upgrading to 35.0.1 -

bp-dd14dc38-cdcd-4fb3-b7fb-670942150128 bp-dc00d1d5-3aeb-4fc0-bf8f-5a8572150128 bp-602048db-75cc-4e8b-94d4-6e3ac2150128 bp-3819184d-3200-4361-b2c8-261792150128 bp-af58daf0-2400-4f77-aaa4-4ca972150128 bp-0b5a1b6a-4539-41c6-9b1e-038042150128 bp-6cdb2834-5d55-4b51-8997-2a7b32150128

When I was originally unable to upload the requested crash reports, I felt a bit like a mechanic who was foolishly trying to fix a car by blindly replacing random parts, and hoping they got "lucky". Now that the requested crash reports are available, rather than wasting more time attempting random generic fixes and trying to get "lucky", hopefully this detailed crash data will provide us a better idea as to the actual cause of these crashes, so that the CORRECT fix can then be determined?

Anxious to hear what y'all have to say about a possible cause, now that you actually have some detailed crash reports to look at - Thanks!

Quick response. I have never tried submitting from another machine. I will have to remember that tip.

Firefox does initiate an update If you view version from help -> about Firefox Obtain info instead from troubleshooting page. There is also a procedure to prevent the updates as long as you do not restart.

I will post links later.

To prevent updates see

• Outdated article Updates reported when running newest version_delete-update-configuration-files
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Software_Update#Software_Update_Failed._The_update_could_not_be_installed

  .... reset the Software Update feature by ending all Firefox processes and then removing "active-update.xml", "updates.xml" and the "updates" folder from the appropriate folder locations ....

I do not understand the crashing thread, but had hoped someone else would; however on enquiring of someone more familiar with crashes the advice remained as my previous suggestion: ^upthread

• Please try in a new (additional) default profile.
• Additionally I would suggest it is worth then also trying Windows Safe Mode.

You could file a bug for the current Firefox 35 crashes, but the chances are the initial advice will be as above. Windows Safe mode &/or a new profile may result in a different and more useful Crash Signature.

For for forum cross referencing purposes Reports for your CrashIDs

• Firefox Safe Mode { bp-6cdb2834-5d55-4b51-8997-2a7b32150128
  bp-3819184d-3200-4361-b2c8-261792150128
• Multiple extensions { bp-dd14dc38-cdcd-4fb3-b7fb-670942150128
• All above { Crash Signature mozilla::dom::IDBOpenDBRequestBinding::GetConstructorObjectHandle(JSContext*, JS::Handle<JSObject*>, bool)
  • N.B. Mercurial: An error occurred while processing your request
    obj-firefox/dom/bindings/IDBOpenDBRequestBinding.cpp@5ea9473a99ff: not found in manifest

John99 said

... I have never tried submitting from another machine. I will have to remember that tip. ...

Ditto here!

Very interesting! Very quick thinking - investigating an alternative method of submitting crash reports!

FWIW, no problem here on WinXP SP3 with the Firefox 35.0.1 update.

Did you already do a malware check?

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox