Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox can't start (Version 34)

  • 20 cavab
  • 5 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Niely

more options

Hello

Yesterday I updated my Firefox version to 34. And from then, it didn't worked anymore.

When I try to open it, it crashes immediately. After that I've also tried Beta versions, Version 33, Developer versions,... But all didn't worked.

Did some research and other people had the same problem, the suggestions were to update the graphical drivers from Intel. So, I've updated my drivers but still not working.

I'm using Linux Mint 17 Qiana if that makes a difference.

Thanks for reading, Niely

Hello Yesterday I updated my Firefox version to 34. And from then, it didn't worked anymore. When I try to open it, it crashes immediately. After that I've also tried Beta versions, Version 33, Developer versions,... But all didn't worked. Did some research and other people had the same problem, the suggestions were to update the graphical drivers from Intel. So, I've updated my drivers but still not working. I'm using Linux Mint 17 Qiana if that makes a difference. Thanks for reading, Niely

Chosen solution

jayelbe said

Hi, This is such a strange issue! Unfortunately, it's really difficult to pinpoint what's causing this - and you've exhausted our reportoire of troubleshooting steps! It's even more odd that it's only occuring in Firefox 34. Quite rare for beta and alpha quality software to be more stable than the full release. Would you be happy to try using Firefox beta (35) for a while? If the issue keeps coming up in beta, let us know. Sorry we can't be more help!

The problem is on all Firefox versions... Except Firefox 1, but of course as programmer and pen-tester I can't really use that one anymore. ;)

I already tried 35 Beta, also 33 again, but it ain't working. Right now I'm using Chrome (but I don't like it at all).

And thanks. ;) Normally I changed nothing on the colours, I'm making my own theme though. But it isn't ready at all yet.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (20)

more options

Hello Niely,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

  • On Linux: Open a Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
    (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

more options

Hi. Firefox safe mode kind of works, but as soon as I want to enter my settings it again crashes.

more options

That's very odd, Niely.

I think it might investigating the issue a bit more by creating a separate profile in FIrefox.

This will almost be like starting Firefox afresh - but all of your addons, history, bookmarks, passwords, etc, will be safe in your old profile so we can switch back at any time.

To create a new, blank profile:

  1. Open a terminal and run killall firefox (just to make sure Firefox isn't running in the background)
  2. Run firefox -ProfileManager
  3. In the window that appears, click Create Profile
  4. Click Next
  5. You could rename the profile if you wish - something like "Temporary Blank" might help you remember why you created this profile
  6. Click Finish
  7. Make sure the profile you just created is highlighted and then click Start Firefox

Could you try Firefox out with your new profile and let us know how it works?

If Firefox works okay with a blank profile, then your usual profile might be corrupted in some way - we'll have to look into what we can do to recover it.

Thanks,


Jayelbe

more options

Nope, also closes as soon as I enter settings. This comes up in terminal when clicking the settings button: [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] embedded mode is on. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] windowless mode is off. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] linux windowless mode is off. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] force SetWindow is off. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] window class hook is off. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] strict draw ordering is off. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] replaced API function TrackPopupMenuEx. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] replaced API function TrackPopupMenu. [PIPELIGHT:WIN:unity3d] init successful! Busfout

more options

Okay, it sounds like Pipelight is causing the issue. Pipelight's a Firefox plugin that allows you to run what would normally be Windows-only plugins in Linux. In this case, perhaps your Windows Unity3D plugin is crashing Pipelight, which is crashing Firefox.

Could you please try disabling Unity3d in Pipelight, using the command below?

sudo pipelight-plugin –disable unity3d

And then try launching Firefox again?

Let us know if this works.

Jayelbe

more options

I had to run this: sudo pipelight-plugin --disable x64-unity3d

But also that, doesn't work. Can I try to remove Pipelight for a while?

more options

Yes, of course! Post back here to let us know whether you have any luck.

more options

Still doesn't work after running: sudo apt-get remove pipelight

Still get it's error though.

Edit: Ran: pipelight-plugin --disable-all Unity is disabled, but Firefox still crashes (without error in terminal).

more options

This is also what shows up after running the Firefox command in terminal: (process:12313): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed

(firefox:12313): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::sm-connect after class was initialised

(firefox:12313): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::show-crash-dialog after class was initialised

(firefox:12313): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::display after class was initialised

(firefox:12313): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::default-icon after class was initialised Busfout

more options

Okay.

You said earlier you were able to get Firefox running in safe mode, and it didn't crash until you tried to open your settings. Is that correct?

If so, it might be possible to get your crash logs and troubleshooting data from Firefox before it crashes - and that could help us figure out what's going on.

Could you please follow both sets of instructions below? Thanks!

Crashlogs:

  1. Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A Submitted Crash Reports list will appear, similar to the one shown below.
  2. Copy the 5 most recent Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste that into the "Post a Reply" box. (Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the ID's. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like)
aboutcrashesFx29

Thank you for your help!

More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

Troubleshooting info:

    • Type about:support into the Firefox address bar and press the enter key.
  1. At the top of the Troubleshooting Information page that comes up, you should see a button that says "Copy text to clipboard". Click it.
  2. Now, go back to your forum post, right-click in the reply box and select Paste from the context menu (or else click inside the reply box and press the Ctrl+V keys) to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.

If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues.

Thanks in advance for your help!

more options

bp-13e138bf-2686-4c75-87bc-1d2ce2141214 14-12-14 21:08 bp-c8763af3-7411-44f0-879c-451212141214 14-12-14 19:38 bp-b64b08ec-196c-4d12-8fe1-15d582141214 14-12-14 19:37

more options

Someone able to help? Provided the errors.

more options

Sorry - it looks like Firefox crashed so abruptly that the crashlogs haven't captured much useful information.

I've heard that this sort of crash can be caused by a fault with Firefox's hardware acceleration. But your graphics drivers are up-to-date and the crash is still happening in safe mode (hardware acceleration is switched off in safe mode) so that explanation doesn't make sense.

I've asked some more experienced contributors to take a look.

In the mean time, the only thing I can suggest is to take another look at your drivers. Are you using Intel's proprietary/closed source drivers? It might be worth reverting to open source drivers, if you can.

I've not used Linux Mint, but under Ubuntu (which Mint is based on) the command below will give you a graphical user interface for managing your drivers:

sudo apt-get install jockey-gtk

sudo jockey-gtk

Modified by jayelbe

more options

Hi again Niely,

Thanks for your patience.

We think the crash might somehow be triggered by Firefox trying to check whether it's the default browser. Firefox will automatically check whether it's the default browser on startup and when you open the settings window.

Could you please follow the steps below to prevent Firefox from checking whether it's the default?

  1. Launch Firefox in safe mode
  2. In the address bar, type about:config and press enter
  3. Press I'll be careful, I promise
  4. In the search bar at the top of the page, search for checkdefault
  5. The first result should be browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser. In the Value column, it should say true
  6. Double click to change the Value to false
  7. Restart Firefox

Could you give it a try and let us know the outcome?

Cheers,


Jayelbe

more options

That value already was set to 'false', so changed it to 'true' but again same crash.

Made a small hidden video to show what happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ41GLxXxcA&feature=youtu.be

more options

Hi,

This is such a strange issue! Unfortunately, it's really difficult to pinpoint what's causing this - and you've exhausted our reportoire of troubleshooting steps!

It's even more odd that it's only occuring in Firefox 34. Quite rare for beta and alpha quality software to be more stable than the full release.

Would you be happy to try using Firefox beta (35) for a while?

If the issue keeps coming up in beta, let us know.

Sorry we can't be more help!

more options

PS - Really loving your icon set and GTK theme, by the way. Are the icons gnome-colors?

more options

Did you try to Profile Manager to create a new profile?

What Firefox version are you using?

Are you using the official (32-bit or 64 bit) version from the Mozilla server or a Firefox version from the repositories?

You could try the 32-bit and 64 bit versions from the Mozilla server with a new profile. You can find the full version of the current Firefox 34.0 release in all languages and for all Operating Systems here:

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

jayelbe said

Hi, This is such a strange issue! Unfortunately, it's really difficult to pinpoint what's causing this - and you've exhausted our reportoire of troubleshooting steps! It's even more odd that it's only occuring in Firefox 34. Quite rare for beta and alpha quality software to be more stable than the full release. Would you be happy to try using Firefox beta (35) for a while? If the issue keeps coming up in beta, let us know. Sorry we can't be more help!

The problem is on all Firefox versions... Except Firefox 1, but of course as programmer and pen-tester I can't really use that one anymore. ;)

I already tried 35 Beta, also 33 again, but it ain't working. Right now I'm using Chrome (but I don't like it at all).

And thanks. ;) Normally I changed nothing on the colours, I'm making my own theme though. But it isn't ready at all yet.

more options

cor-el said

Did you try to Profile Manager to create a new profile? What Firefox version are you using? Are you using the official (32-bit or 64 bit) version from the Mozilla server or a Firefox version from the repositories? You could try the 32-bit and 64 bit versions from the Mozilla server with a new profile. You can find the full version of the current Firefox 34.0 release in all languages and for all Operating Systems here:

Whooow. Using the 32-bit version actually works!

Thanks a lot mate, now I can drop that Chrome crap! :D

Thanks for all the help! Using 32-bit version works. Still weird, because I'm using a 64-bit and all my other applications are 64-bit.

Will see if the next versions work on my system in 64-bit! :)

Thanks a lot all!