By the way, here's another crash report...this one just happened in the last five minutes:

bp-3953a9f2-a28c-4997-902c-469202160707

Al those crashes appear to have been from Windows use. You have a variety of crash Signatures. You could try basic troubleshooting steps and and try in Firefox's safe mode and with all plugins disabled. (At least one of the reports is FlashPlayer related) That may reduce the crash frequency &/or produce more useful reports.

Please reply with two or three Crash reports from crashes whilst in safe mode and with plugins disabled. Do you get Firefox crash reports in Ubuntu ? (I can't remember if Ubuntu's Canonical Release Builds submit crash Reports ) I do note you mention testing with hardware acceleration off and addons disabaled, presumably it still crashed.

It may be worth installing the default 32bit Mozilla Firefox as an additional browser on the problem Desktops Windows and Ubuntu. The 64 bit WIndows Firefox is fairly new and may not be as reliable as the 32bit version. (The Mozilla build 64 or 32 bit version of Firefox will submit crash reports when used on Ubuntu)

• Install Firefox on Linux
• How to install Firefox on Windows

I suppose if this is a hardware issue a hardware fault is more likely than a hardware incomparability. I have had memory issues cause crashes even though memtest overnight runs come up clear.

You can check for issues caused by plugins.

• set plugins to "Ask to Activate" on the about:addons page ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Plugins)
• plugins are not affected by Firefox Safe Mode

You can check for problems with current Shockwave Flash plugin versions and hardware acceleration in Firefox and try this:

• make sure you have the latest Flash version:
  http://www.adobe.com/special/products/flashplayer/fp_distribution3.html
• check for updates for your graphics drive drivers
  https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration
• disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Windows Vista and later)
  https://support.mozilla.org/kb/adobe-flash-protected-mode-firefox
• disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
  https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html
• disable hardware acceleration in Firefox
  https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash#Troubleshooting

John99 said

Al those crashes appear to have been from Windows use. You have a variety of crash Signatures. You could try basic troubleshooting steps and and try in Firefox's safe mode and with all plugins disabled. (At least one of the reports is FlashPlayer related) That may reduce the crash frequency &/or produce more useful reports. Please reply with two or three Crash reports from crashes whilst in safe mode and with plugins disabled. Do you get Firefox crash reports in Ubuntu ? (I can't remember if Ubuntu's Canonical Release Builds submit crash Reports ) I do note you mention testing with hardware acceleration off and addons disabaled, presumably it still crashed. It may be worth installing the default 32bit Mozilla Firefox as an additional browser on the problem Desktops Windows and Ubuntu. The 64 bit WIndows Firefox is fairly new and may not be as reliable as the 32bit version. (The Mozilla build 64 or 32 bit version of Firefox will submit crash reports when used on Ubuntu)

• Install Firefox on Linux
• How to install Firefox on Windows

I suppose if this is a hardware issue a hardware fault is more likely than a hardware incomparability. I have had memory issues cause crashes even though memtest overnight runs come up clear.

Thank you for your answer! To answer your questions:

1) I did get Firefox crash reports in Ubuntu as well. Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a way to access them at this point, since I've reformatted the hard drive. I know that they're stored on Mozilla's server; is there a way to get to them?

2) You are correct; Firefox still crashes even with hardware acceleration disabled, and all add-on's disabled.

Following your request, I've been running Firefox in Safe Mode for the last day and have two crashes so far:

bp-a26f8d54-61bb-45e8-9623-a06d42160714 (I think I was in Safe Mode for this one, but I'm not 100% certain) bp-3efe599b-aaed-46f6-a16b-7884b2160714 (I was definitely in Safe Mode for this one)

This is my first foray into Safe Mode, but I noticed that Firefox was much slower and less responsive, and tended to freeze for a minute or two every 5 to 10 minutes for basically the entire time it was running. Is this normal, or is this another symptom?

Regarding the 64-bit version being less stable, why would it work properly on one computer and not on a different one? Not disputing; just trying to understand. :-)

Also, I should note that I've been running this hardware configuration for about 5 years, and it's been behaving until April or so, when the crashes began. I replaced the video card, but as a troubleshooting step following a failed Video RAM test. The age plus the fact that everything was behaving until April is why I'm suspecting a hardware failure.

I confirmed that I have Flash Player 22,0,0,209 installed; per Adobe's site, this is the latest version.

I hope that this information helps; please let me know if there's anything else I can provide, or what the next troubleshooting step would be. Should I go ahead and try the 32-bit version now, or is there anything else we should try first?

Thank you again!

Thanks for the reply

1. The crash data, if it is processed at all is indexed with the Crash ID so if you do not have that we wil not be able to find the information.
   • Does your reply indicate Firefox is no longer crashing in Ubuntu.
2. You say you get crashes still with addons disabled and hardware acceleration disabled, what about when you use Safemode, and all the plugins disabled ?

Both those crashes were in safe mode (look at the metadata tab).

Firefox may get slower in safemode as it turns of hardware acceleration. I know I had cause to try SafeMode recently and was surprised it really slowed down badly. I did not investigate properly, but my guess was that it was with using Firefox on potentially dodgy or advert ridden sites with no adblocker in use that could have been the main reason for the slowdown.

If you suspect memory issues one troubleshooting step would be to run with only one memory card in place and try each card in turn does only one of them (or one slot if the MotherBoard allows you to choose which slot is used for single cards) result in crashes. I did have a case not long ago where overnight memtest s passed but one of the cards was clearly faulty and problems went away when it was replaced.

As for the 64 bit version working on the other computer I guess different hardware and different drivers could cause an isuse on on machine but not the other. The 32 bit version may be installed as an additional browser and need not interfere with the 64bit Firefox. I am afraid my suggestions here are not very focussed, I am rather clutching at straws and do not see an obvious problem and solution.

We do know some of the crashes are Flash Player related so did you try following cor-el's suggestions ?

Just to follow-up...

I got a BSOD today that led me to re-check my RAM. Even though the system had passed a Memtest before, it failed today (see attached image)...in three passes, I got 34 errors. I'm moving into hardware testing at this point, but wanted to thank you both for your help!

John99 said

1. • Does your reply indicate Firefox is no longer crashing in Ubuntu.

I am rather clutching at straws and do not see an obvious problem and solution.

THANK YOU for saying this! It may seem counter-intuitive, but that's actually the single biggest help. I was worried that I might have been overlooking an obvious and easily resolvable issue. So, if an expert is looking at the data and not seeing anything obvious on the software side, coupled with the newfound memory issue (which is an entirely new can of worms; I need to figure out what's frying the RAM), this gives me a direction to go in in troubleshooting the system as a whole.

Thank you again! Given that, barring anything else coming up, it's looking like my core problem is hardware-related and not related to Firefox, is there any interest in further updates? I have no problem updating as I go along if anyone's interested, but given that this is heading into an off-topic discussion, I don't want to bore anyone. :-)

Thanks, glad to have been of help, even if I could not directly solve this issue.

Sounds likely to be a RAM (or Motherboard etc) issue. Any error on memtest is a cause for concern. Three passes 34 errors is pretty conclusive evidence of a problem.

The nitty gritty details will be off topic, but it would be interesting to know what the final solution is. It is useful to have solved questions where it is a hardware issue, it reminds those seeking answers that not all problems are software issues.

Problems may be with the OS or other third party software. Where the problem is with hardware other crashes may be expected, but I suppose most people now use computers almost entirely on the Internet. Years ago users may have seem crashes while offline and realised it as not a Firefox specific problem.

The following is quite a useful troubleshooting guide from the respected Mozillazine site but even that does not really mention hardware issues

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox
  • Although this one does mention RAM http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_crashes#Hardware_problems

Good look with the hardware investigation. John