Firefox Freezes, disallows Quit or Force Quit, disallows Mac Shutdown
Hi, Thanks for allowing me to join the Mozilla Support Forum. Reference is made to archived messages contained in, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1024266
Problem started about 2 weeks ago, unknown what event may have triggered it. -- Firefox 39.0.3 seemed to randomly freeze, upon commanding Firefox to Quit, at which point quit and force quit fails to happen. -- My mac is a Mac Pro 6 core, 16 GB (Late 2013) -- Firefox Privacy is set to "Remember History." -- When condition occurs, Mac requires power off cold shutdown -- All of the various ways to invoke Mac Force Quit fail, (even the command line command fails.) -- Attempts to fix .....
-- Reset VRAM, PRAM
-- Performed all diagnostic functions available in Onyx
-- Rebooted to another drive to perform diagnostics in Apple Disk Utility
-- Restarted Firefox in the Firefox-Safe-Mode --- problem persists
-- Reinstalled Firefox (and downgraded it from the newest Beta ver.)
The "freeze and disallow quit/force quit" condition is intermittant, but I can always trigger it if I do this:
1. Launch Firefox 2. Launch Parallels 3. Launch Windows 7 X4 within Parallels 4. Attempt to quit Firefox --- the condition occurs.
I can also trigger the condition if I 1. Launch Firefox 2. Launch Parallels with Windows 7 X4 3. Quit Windows 7 X4 and quit Parallels 4. Attempt to quit Firefox ---- the condition occurs
The condition does not occur if I do the above with TorBrowser
If I don't launch Firefox then launch and use Parallels with Windows 7 X4 then quit Windows 7 X4 and quit Parallels Then, launch Firefox, then Firefox behaves normally.
I realize that this may not be just parallels running in tandem with Firefox, there may be other conditions unrelated to Parallels, that randomly trigger this. I'm picking on Parallels, as the condition is always triggered in this case.
My interim solution is to avoid launching Firefox at any time that Parallels & Windows 7 X4 are active and to use TorBrowser during this time, if needed.
Many thanks, in advance, and I hope i've provided enough information that a better course of action can be brought to light.
All Replies (9)
Addendum
Parallels is not to blame.
After posting this, and with Parallels not running during this session, Firefox froze, disallowed quit, disallowed force quit, and i had to do a power off reboot.
So, at this point , i'm lost, as to what to do.
Does your problem happen after waking the computer from sleep?
The only time I have seen that happen with a Mac is with certain screensavers after waking the computer up when the screensaver timed out and put the computer to sleep. If I did not wait long enough for the computer to become fully active after that, it would freeze completely if I tried browsing.
Hi Finitarry, Thanks much for your fast reply.
Upon waking up from sleep (Apple Screensaver being invoked) --- most of the time.
and, additionally,
In tandem with the use of Parallels --- All of the time
In Tandem with the use of Mail Mate --- Most of the time
This next condition makes no sense, but here it is anyway:
Upon Cmd-Tab, Tabbing back to Firefox and then typing Command-Q to quit, it happens almost all the time.
Upon quitting Firefox from the Quit Firefox menu choice (using the mouse), it happens randomly, and less often.
Modified by Adonsa
Hi guys,
Using Safari is really making me homesick for Firefox. So, perhaps it's time for me to be thinking outside the box, for other possibilities that might cause Firefox to interrupt quit/force quit/shutdown.
Ever since the beginning of System 10, Apple Computer has touted "Protected Memory," and we all know about that.
And so I have to go through the process of looking for a 3rd party startup application that might be breeching protected memory and interfering with Firefox itself. To do this I have to start with safe mode, then unsafe mode adding back each startup one by one, hoping to ID what might be construed as a suspicious startup application.
From my list of startup applications, I would like to ask if there are any known incompatibilities between any of these and Firefox.
Here's what I use upon bootup: Autodistract, Caffine, WashingMachineHelper, Deskovery, Overflow, iconXprit.service, Alarm Clock Pro, Dropbox, Smart Scroll, Screen Sharing, TotalFinder, Keyboard Maestro Engine, HazelHelper, CMA, Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX, finderpop-daemon, WindowMizer, SwitchRexX Daemon, 1Password StartStop, QRecall, Paste, and Paste Helper.
It could be that the problem may be resolved upon upgrading from System Yosemite 10.10.3 to System 10.10.4, but that's pure speculation on my part. And, yes, i'm planning to do the upgrade after ascertaining if there's a "compatibility crisis," inherent in this Apple upgrade.
I absolutely love and adore Firefox, so getting thru this situation is my highest priority. Any advice of any kind will be most appreciated.
Hi guys,
Fortunately, for other Mac users, this situation seems to be isolated.
Upgrading from System 10.10.4 to System 10.10.5 failed to remedy the situation. Prior to discovering this latest condition, I drank 3 cups of coffee, and ran every diagnostic and maintenance utility provided by Tinker Tool and Onyx. Running Disk Warrior didn't identify anything remarkable.
The list of startup processes is a lot longer than the above list of startup applications. I can disable them in groups (like conflict catcher used to do) and invoke likely triggers that cause the Firefox misbehavior* that I identified to you.
All I know to do, in order to identify the cause, is to clone my drive and experiment on the clone until I can tell which startup process might be causing Firefox to misbehave.
The difficulty, in this troubleshooting effort, will be finding time to do it, so I hope to get it done by the time System El Capitan is released.
At this point, it is my speculation that something (external to Firefox) is causing Firefox to breech protected memory and interfere with the system, and this shouldn't happen.
So the question becomes, is there any kind of safeguard that can interrupt a "Firefox" attempt to breech protected memory?
Thanks for indulging all this.
* "Misbehavior" - that Firefox won't quit, wont allow force quit, won't allow the Mac to shut down.
Update Firefox ver. 41.0, System Yosemite 10.10.4 Problem persists, and occurs every time, not just at random. I tried killall -9 firefox. Firefox window vanished (as it should) but, Firefox left behind a selectable firefox icon in Command-Tab and would not quit then. Tried killall -9 firefox again, and the terminal could not find Firefox, although Firefox was still active and would not quit or allow force quit and would not allow Mac shutdown. At this point, I tried to launch the activity monitor, and it would flash and not open; ditto for the terminal. Only remedy is a cold power-off reboot, followed by reset vram/pram and diagnostics (Disk Warrior and Onyx).
At this point, you guys are far smarter than I am; all I can do is speculate that Firefox is writing something into Ram that interrupts many things, especially quit and force quit.
A horrible solution was posted to the Apple website - to use Safari. Yucko! Any enlightenment will be most graciously appreciated. Thanks
For those things that you listed that start on bootup, maybe try taking some of them out of the login list? Except for the scanner selector, none of them seem to be needed for Mac OS, and maybe one of those is interfering with Firefox. You can remove things from startup by going to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items for an account.
Hi Finitarry,
I narrowed the problem down with roughly 75% confidence. Rebooting with all startup items disabled made no difference. The problem always occurs when FF runs in tandem with Parallels, and it sometimes occurs when Parallels is not used during a bootup session.
To test for the problem, I launched Parallels 10.10.2 since I could always invoke the problem that way.
Experimenting further under System Yosemite:
Launched Firefox, called up a website. Launched a few random applications, Firefox behaved normally. Command Tab and Command Q did, quit FF normally. (this doesn't always work normally)
Launched FF, called up a website. Launched Parallels 10.10.2 Command Tab to FF, Command Q, Firefox quit, but the icon, under Command Tab remained Quit Parallels, the (Command-Tab) icon disappeared and things returned to normal.
Launched FF, called up a website. Launched Parallels 10.10.2 Launched Ubuntu Command Tabbed to Firefox, Command Q Firefox quit, but the icon, under Command Tab remained Quit Ubuntu, The FF icon, in Command Tab, would not disappear. Quit Parallels, the FF icon (in Command Tab) disappeared and things returned to normal.
Launched FF, called up a website. Launched Parallels 10.10.2 Launched Windows 7 and activated USB devices under Parallels USB controller menu. Command Tabbed to Firefox, Command Q Firefox quit, but the icon, under Command Tab remained Quit Windows 7 The FF icon, in Command Tab, persisted Quit Parallels, the FF icon (in Command Tab) disappeared and things returned to normal. or about 75% of the time: The FF icon (in command Tab) remains and prevents quit/shutdown/force quit and prevents killall -9 firefox from working.
Interim conclusion (or speculation): Firefox and Parallels 10.10.2 don't play nice with each other, The problem occasionally occurs when parallels isn't used.
At this point, I mustn't speculate any further. If I am to return to parallels I must remember to quit FF and avoid using FF anytime Parallels is running, Even so, I'm at some risk of the problem recurring anyway.
I appreciate all your hard work, and any advice will be most appreciated. I can reiterate this situation on the Parallels forum if you believe it to be a good idea.
Thanks much
Now using System 10.10.5 I thought i might have found the problem. I thought wrong.
This time, Parallels was not involved. Problem recurred (Firefox disallowed Force quit) so I launched the Activity monitor and quit Windowserver (a no-no) and logoff was was immediate and successful.
Later on, after leaving my Mac alone for about 2 hours, upon return Firefox problem recurred, however when I tried to launch Activity Monitor (presumably to quit Windowserver), the Activity monitor flashed and wouldn't launch.
Only thing left to do was power off.
My guess is that Firefox is leaving behind, or inserting, a zombie process.
There are supposed to be ways to release a zombie process, which i don't know how to do yet. You guys are 1000 times smarter than I am, so any enlightenment will be most graciously appreciated.