Weird Firefox crash - no crash report available
I've been using Firefox on this computer for years with no problem. All of a sudden, within the last two weeks, it's started having problems.
Sometimes, when opening a new tab and then going immediately to a search bar entry, Firefox totally crashes. That is, the Firefox screen freezes (and sometimes it says "not responding"). The cursor becomes an hourglass within the Firefox window, although it's an arrow when pointed to the "close" X. Nevertheless, it won't close. There is no crash report generated.
If I try to force Firefox to shut down by opening the Task Manger, typing CTRL-ALT-DEL, the entire computer screen goes black. At that point, the only thing I can do to recover is to hit the hardware force-reset button.
What's really weird is that even when Firefox is frozen, other programs like Thunderbird are still working and happy.
This is on a 32-bit Windows 7 computer.
Troubleshooting that I've tried so far without success: - Used my installed Norton anti-virus to do a full scan of the computer (not the online "extreme" anti-virus) - Ran Chkdsk with perfect results - Ran the Extended memory check with perfect results - Removed AdBlockPlus and replaced it with uBlock Origin
I'm a tiny bit suspicious of keeping a Facebook tab open all the time, but haven't investigated that thoroughly.
I have been keeping the computer and Firefox totally up to date. In fact, brand-new updates were installed yesterday and today, so I don't know yet if the problem is solved by the updates
被采纳的解决方案
Tentatively consider it solved. Since rolling back ALL the modifications to the Registry that Norton Utilities applied, the problem has not happened again in 5 days. Years and years ago, I remember trying a "registry cleaner" program and finding that it always caused problems. I might have thought that the algorithms would have improved by now, but apparently not.
I will NEVER run a Registry Cleaner ever again!
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Any luck with disabling multi-process?
When multi-process windows in Firefox is enabled then Firefox will use more memory and may be less responsive. Try to disable multi-process windows in Firefox to see if that has effect.
You can disable multi-process windows in Firefox by setting these prefs to false on the about:config page.
- browser.tabs.remote.autostart = false
- browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 = false
You can open the about:config page: via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
Next time Firefox freezes, STOP ! ! Don't press any keys. Try this instead.
How to crash Firefox (All Systems); Instructions here; https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/How_to_report_a_hung_Firefox
This link has a program that can crash Firefox.
Of all the times for Firefox to crash, it was when I was trying to select the destination file for "crashfirefox.exe"! So I opened (boo, hiss) IE and used it to download the file. Then I ran "crashfirefox.exe" and it opened a CMD window, searched for the firefox task, and stopped dead. Nothing more happened. I finally tried a Restart from the Start menu, but that process hung up on "Logging Out" so I still had to hit the hard-reset button on the big box. After getting rebooted, I did try the "crashfirefox.exe" when Firefox was running, and it did indeed force a crash, so the executable is OK. It just doesn't break into the infinite loop or whatever is making Firefox hang.
So now I've disabled the multi-process windows and we'll see if that helps. However, I'm going to be away from this computer for a few days, so I probably won't know anything until sometime next week.
BTW, the computer is an AMD 6-core processor running at 3.3GHz, and the computer has 8G of physical memory. So I don't know if multi-process should improve or degrade the ability of Firefox to be fast and stable.
由jay46于修改
Well, the problem has not gone away. I took cor-el's recommendation and disabled multi-process. I installed CrashFirefox, but it hung up too. This CMD window stayed unchanged while I took a 20-minute walk. I had to hit the master reset switch on the computer to regain control.
Start your Computer in safe mode. Then start Firefox. Try Safe websites. Is the problem still there?
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode Starting Any Computer In Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia
I've tried starting Firefox in Safe mode; that didn't fix it. I started to suspect my recently-installed Norton Utilities messing around with the Registry. So I used its "restore" feature to roll back changes to the Registry about 6 weeks. This time when Firefox crashed, I was able to get to the Task Manager - but still could not regain control over Firefox; it was flat-out hung. The computer would not reboot from software commands; it required a hard switch reboot. Now I've rolled back ALL the mods that Norton Utilities made to the Registry. It's frustrating that I can't reproduce the error "on demand"; it happens randomly and fairly infrequently. It always has to do with either opening a new tab, closing a tab, or finding a file folder in which to save a downloaded file.
jay46 said
I've tried starting Firefox in Safe mode; that didn't fix it.
FredMcD said
Start your Computer in safe mode. Then start Firefox.
Totally remove Norton from the computer They try Firefox at Safe websites.
If the problem goes away, contact Norton.
Download the current full installers for your Norton programs and save them.
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us Download and run the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall your Norton product
After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner.
Thank you, FredMcD, for sticking with me.
However, I'm sorry, but it's impossible to run the test you describe. The freeze only happens rarely - like 2 to 5 days between events. I don't know of any action I can take that will cause the freeze or even make it more likely. Even though I only visit sites I believe to be safe, I don't want to have my anti-virus protection turned off for days at a time. It's impossible to know how long I would have to operate before being sure the problem was solved.
And I've been running Norton anti-virus (technically, Norton Security) along with Firefox for years and had no problems. It's only after installing the Norton Utilities and letting it "clean up" my registry that I noticed the problem. But that could be a false lead; I installed Utilities 6 months ago and the problem only started within the last 6 weeks. There have also been many updates to both Windows and Firefox in the last 6 to 8 weeks.
(Norton Utilities does not run continuously in the background; it runs on a once a week schedule or whenever the user initiates it. It is oriented to Performance and Privacy - the former looking at the Registry, disk fragmentation, etc; the latter looking at browser history, Windows history, etc. I actually have most of the options turned off now.)
But, sadly, I'm getting the impression that this Thunderbird freeze is not a common problem and I'm really looking at a possibly very unique combination of circumstances.
So far today, after restoring all the registry settings that Utilities had modified, it hasn't frozen yet. Fingers crossed.
选择的解决方案
Tentatively consider it solved. Since rolling back ALL the modifications to the Registry that Norton Utilities applied, the problem has not happened again in 5 days. Years and years ago, I remember trying a "registry cleaner" program and finding that it always caused problems. I might have thought that the algorithms would have improved by now, but apparently not.
I will NEVER run a Registry Cleaner ever again!
That was very good work. Well done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.
If you want, contact Norton and explain the problem.