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Firefox 23 Beta has crashed 5 times in the last hour since updating, twice with a BSOD failure of the video driver. I can't figure out another way to post this.

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FF was running fast and stable until the Beta update tonight. Afterward it crashed repeatedly, sometimes with a total system lockup, other times with an unresponsive system, occasionally with a Video Driver failure leading to a BSOD.

I had to DL 22 release and roll back. I'm now on the release channel, not the beta channel.

System config: Dell Latitude 6410, Win 7 x64, 128 GB SSD, 4GB RAM, Intel video hardware. Everything is up to date.

Trying to get this out before it crashes again then switching to 22.

Java plugin is usually disabled. Toolbars are ABP, download status bar and Disconnect.

FF was running fast and stable until the Beta update tonight. Afterward it crashed repeatedly, sometimes with a total system lockup, other times with an unresponsive system, occasionally with a Video Driver failure leading to a BSOD. I had to DL 22 release and roll back. I'm now on the release channel, not the beta channel. System config: Dell Latitude 6410, Win 7 x64, 128 GB SSD, 4GB RAM, Intel video hardware. Everything is up to date. Trying to get this out before it crashes again then switching to 22. Java plugin is usually disabled. Toolbars are ABP, download status bar and Disconnect.

Modified by FireFaux2891

Chosen solution

Update:

Have been able to run > 4 hours stable on 22 Release without hardware acceleration and performance so far as expected. I identified that my Crucial M4 SSD needed a firmware update due to an issue that causes BSOD after 5000 hours of use. Since the firmware update has been applied I have been stable.

Firefox may have been a catalyst, not a culprit. I wonder if my BSOD troubles started because FF or a module in FF, like Flash, was trying to get to disk space that had been made problematic by my bad SSD firmware.

Will post again in 24hr running normally on 22 then attempt 23 upgrade to see if this is resolved.

Thank you all for input. Hope my feedback is somehow helpful.

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All Replies (10)

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We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it. Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.

  1. Press the following shortcut to get a Run window: [Windows] + [R]. This should bring up a window that contains a text field.
  2. In that text field, enter %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.

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Hi Tyler,

I'm afraid I can't send you a crash report (unless they're left over as part of personal data after a reinstall.)

I continued to have this behavior even after installing 22 release over the 23 beta. I was able to fix the problem by completely uninstalling FF (retaining personal data) then reinstalling FF 22 release from scratch.

If I can still locate the file you need I'm happy to post it but in the state I was last night FF became unusable because of the crashing. I had no choice but to get rid of 23 beta because I was locking up after 5-10 minutes.

Hope this helps you track down the bug! Please let me know if I can still find that file after the reinstall.

Modified by FireFaux2891

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Well I'm glad it's working for you at least!

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Actually, scratch that, it turns out I'm still getting these crashes except that my uptime is about 2-3 hours now.

I'm doing an experiment right now to see if its related to Private window browsing. I suspect it might be because my them doesn't display properly on the tab elements of a private window but seems to be fine on a regular window. I'll post back an update to see how this runs, because this is such an unusual behavior. Really, the only thing that changed before all this started was the upgrade to Beta 23. I even ran a virus scan and did the whole HijcackThis / MalwareBytes routine and checked for an updated video driver.

Is there a more appropriate forum to have posted this in? I've never used the FF developer sites and want to make sure the right people are seeing my bug report.

I checked my submitted folder and have only a crash dump from May. In my pending folder I have a bunch of these, some from today. Apparently they haven't been getting submitted. Is there a way to manually send these to Mozilla?

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Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

You can use one of these to start Firefox in Safe Mode:

  • On Windows, hold down the Shift key while starting Firefox with a double-click on the Firefox desktop shortcut
  • On Mac, hold down the Options key while starting Firefox
  • Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
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Here's the one bug report that managed to get submitted.

bp-5ea99a4e-0893-495c-b295-468342130718

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Hi FireFaux2891

That is a problem with the Flash plugin (NPSWF32_11_8_800_94.dll).

You can check for problems with current Flash plugin versions and try these:

  • disable a possible RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin extension for Firefox and update the RealPlayer if installed
  • disable protected mode in the Flash plugin (Flash 11.3+ on Windows Vista and later)
  • disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
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I noticed this too and tried running with Flash disabled. Experienced two subsequent crashes. One occurred on YouTube when I was watching video in, I assume, HTML5 mode. The second time it happened while idling with these forum windows opened. with all plugins disabled except ABP and Disconnect.

bp-eb068ead-4656-4110-808f-1c5702130718

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If you are still getting blue screen crashes, make sure you've disabled Firefox's use of hardware graphics acceleration. With that feature off, it would be rare that Firefox would touch any privileged parts of Windows.


You might test in Firefox's Safe Mode. That's a standard diagnostic tool to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings). More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Any difference?


Oddly, that last crash report shows the Flash plugin still loading, even though you disabled it.

This is some standard guidance that addresses the most common issues with the Flash player. I'm sure you've seen some of it before, but just in case:

(1) Make sure all recorders/downloaders that interact with Flash media are as up-to-date as possible, or disable them.

(2) Disable hardware graphics acceleration in Firefox and in Flash

(A) As described above... In Firefox, un-check the box here and restart:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > General > "Use hardware acceleration when available"

(B) In Flash, see this support article from Adobe: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues

(3) Disable protected mode (Windows Vista/7/8)

See this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

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Seçilmiş Həll

Update:

Have been able to run > 4 hours stable on 22 Release without hardware acceleration and performance so far as expected. I identified that my Crucial M4 SSD needed a firmware update due to an issue that causes BSOD after 5000 hours of use. Since the firmware update has been applied I have been stable.

Firefox may have been a catalyst, not a culprit. I wonder if my BSOD troubles started because FF or a module in FF, like Flash, was trying to get to disk space that had been made problematic by my bad SSD firmware.

Will post again in 24hr running normally on 22 then attempt 23 upgrade to see if this is resolved.

Thank you all for input. Hope my feedback is somehow helpful.

Modified by FireFaux2891