It could be the work of one of your add-ons. Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>)<Shift> A)

In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Disable a few add-ons, then Restart Firefox.

Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All of them.

If the problem continues, disable some more (restarting FF). Continue until the problem is gone. After, you know what group is causing the issue. Re-enable the last group ONE AT A TIME (restarting FF) until the problem returns.

Once you think you found the problem, disable that and re-enable all the others, then restart again. Let us know who the suspect is, detective.

I supppose it is good that safemode is helping you to get Firefox to work again, but the Firefox safe mode is only intended for troubleshooting not long term and continuous use.

• Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode

Note that safemode disables the addon extensions, but not the addon plugins. The plugins need to be disabled separately.

• Disable or remove Add-ons

What exactly is the Audible Download Manager that you are using ?

• Website address & full name and version of the software

There is a possibility the software may not now be compatible with Firefox

John99 said

I supppose it is good that safemode is helping you to get Firefox to work again, but the Firefox safe mode is only intended for troubleshooting not long term and continuous use.

• Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode

Note that safemode disables the addon extensions, but not the addon plugins. The plugins need to be disabled separately.

• Disable or remove Add-ons

What exactly is the Audible Download Manager that you are using ?

• Website address & full name and version of the software

There is a possibility the software may not now be compatible with Firefox

FredMcD said

It could be the work of one of your add-ons. Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>)<Shift> A) In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Disable a few add-ons, then Restart Firefox. Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All of them. If the problem continues, disable some more (restarting FF). Continue until the problem is gone. After, you know what group is causing the issue. Re-enable the last group ONE AT A TIME (restarting FF) until the problem returns. Once you think you found the problem, disable that and re-enable all the others, then restart again. Let us know who the suspect is, detective.

Thank you for pointing that out. I've already been fighting with this for four days, and I was just hoping that someone would know if one of the items in the list I supplied is known to be a problem.

John99 said

I supppose it is good that safemode is helping you to get Firefox to work again, but the Firefox safe mode is only intended for troubleshooting not long term and continuous use.

• Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode

Note that safemode disables the addon extensions, but not the addon plugins. The plugins need to be disabled separately.

• Disable or remove Add-ons

What exactly is the Audible Download Manager that you are using ?

• Website address & full name and version of the software

There is a possibility the software may not now be compatible with Firefox

Just to clarify here, the issue with Audible is the reason I don't want to continue running in safe mode. In regular mode, I cannot get far enough to see if there is a problem with the current version because Firefox goes non-responsive right after the screen is displayed. But to answer your question -- the version of the Audible Download Manager Helper (ADMHelper.exe) is 6.6.0.19. I can try uninstalling and re-installing, but since it is not one of the Add-Ons, I don't suspect it is faulty. It also seems unlikely that it would cause Firefox to "lock up" before I can even attempt to do something. If you are not familiar with it, the way it works is that, on your Audible library webpage, each book you have purchased has a download button. When you click on that button, a file gets created in (System Drive):\Users\(UserName)\AppData\Local\Temp\ and named something like admhelper-11.adh. The file extension .adh is set to use AudibleDownloadHelper.exe as its associated program. So, safe mode is saving the .adh file but is not opening it to start the download manager. (That makes sense to me since I am, after all, in safe mode.) The file seems to contain several parameters that would be meaningful to the download manager to accomplish the download. I can accomplish the download by locating the file and opening it myself, but that is very cumbersome.

My way, above, may take some time, but you will get results.

I have found from a web search

• https://audible.custhelp.com/app/browse
  • https://audible.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4848

However that seems to give help relating to Windows 10 not Windows 7 or 8.1 which you appear to be using (8.1 per title, 7 per system details).

You mention you are using

  Audible Download Manager Helper (ADMHelper.exe) is 6.6.0.19.

The fact that is a .exe file would suggest that it is a Windows Executable program, and as far as Firefox is concerned it is likely to be a plugin.

The fact that it does not show up in your System Details (see forum right edge) probably indicates it has not installed. It could well be worth trying installing and reinstalling it again. That may get it associated properly with Firefox. Please also note that Firefox safe mode does not disable plugins so it would be expected to work in safemode.

You did not give the address of the website. I do however not you have an iTunes related plugin.

iTunes Detector Plug-in 

I also found this

• http://www.winsite.com/audible/audible+download+helper/

But I am not sure any of the software listed matches what you are using. You did not mention which website you obtained the software from.

It seems rather odd that the program is using (System Drive) that's often not even visible in some Windows installs.

FredMcD said

It could be the work of one of your add-ons. Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open your Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>)<Shift> A) In the Add-ons Manager, on the left, select Extensions. Disable a few add-ons, then Restart Firefox. Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All of them. If the problem continues, disable some more (restarting FF). Continue until the problem is gone. After, you know what group is causing the issue. Re-enable the last group ONE AT A TIME (restarting FF) until the problem returns. Once you think you found the problem, disable that and re-enable all the others, then restart again. Let us know who the suspect is, detective.

In safe mode, I disabled everything on the addons tab. Then I restarted Firefox in regular mode and it seizes up within seconds of opening the Firefox window.

Thank you John99, but I really believe this has nothing to do with Audible. Here are the reasons I say that:

1) It began happening immediately after installing the new version (updated from 47.0.1); 2) I had already been trying to figure out the problem for 4 days before I attempted an Audible download. 3) Before sending my initial request for help, I had uninstalled 49.0.2, and reinstalled it, and the problem still occurs. 4) I had also uninstalled 49.0.2, and installed older (known working) versions (47.0.1, 45.0.1, and 41.0.2), and now those versions (again, known to have worked just fine before) are doing the same thing (ergo, locking up within a few seconds of displaying the Firefox window.

Finally, just to edify my level of expertise -- before retiring, I spent 45 years in software development and software quality assurance working on everything from operating systems to applications, mostly in Silicon Valley working for some very innovative and fairly well-known companies. Unfortunately for me, right now, none of them were Microsoft or Mozilla, so I turned to your community for help.

Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select General. Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration.

Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open the Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> A)

On the left side of the page, select Appearance. Then select Default.

Now restart Firefox.

FredMcD said

Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar. Under Advanced, Select General. Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration. Type about:addons<enter> in the address bar to open the Add-ons Manager. Hot key; <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> A) On the left side of the page, select Appearance. Then select Default. Now restart Firefox.

Once again, thank you for your time and effort on this issue. As fate (or luck, or someone) would have it, my system did a Windows update this morning, and that seems to have made the problem go away -- at least for now. That update must have contained a newer version of a Windows component that was causing the problem. I was coming to that conclusion myself, but did not know how I would be able to isolate the offending component so I could replace it with the current version.

I suppose "all's well that ends well", but if you should get this report from someone in the future, you might want to suggest a Windows update.

John99 said

I have found from a web search

• https://audible.custhelp.com/app/browse
  • https://audible.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4848

However that seems to give help relating to Windows 10 not Windows 7 or 8.1 which you appear to be using (8.1 per title, 7 per system details). You mention you are using Audible Download Manager Helper (ADMHelper.exe) is 6.6.0.19. The fact that is a .exe file would suggest that it is a Windows Executable program, and as far as Firefox is concerned it is likely to be a plugin. The fact that it does not show up in your System Details (see forum right edge) probably indicates it has not installed. It could well be worth trying installing and reinstalling it again. That may get it associated properly with Firefox. Please also note that Firefox safe mode does not disable plugins so it would be expected to work in safemode. You did not give the address of the website. I do however not you have an iTunes related plugin. iTunes Detector Plug-in I also found this

• http://www.winsite.com/audible/audible+download+helper/

But I am not sure any of the software listed matches what you are using. You did not mention which website you obtained the software from. It seems rather odd that the program is using (System Drive) that's often not even visible in some Windows installs.

Sorry, you are right. I got the software from Audible (which is now a subsidiary of Amazon). It has worked fine on older versions of Firefox but has quit working on 49.0.2. Even though I now seem to have Firefox working again (after the Windows update info provided to Fred above), the Audible downloads are still not working correctly, so I will go out and get the latest authorized version and re-install it to see if that resolves that issue.

I did find that Firefox has the helper file (.adh) set to use the download helper executable, but it doesn't seem to want to run the executable file.

Will let you know what happens after I reinstall the Audible Manager.

That's good to hear. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.

FredMcD said

That's good to hear. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.

I think I spoke too soon. I have since gotten another of the hangs (at last count, I have 21 AppHang files since I updated on 11/4/2016. Also, I have spent two hours or so online with Audible regarding the problem with my downloads, and they say everything is set up correctly. To prove that it used to work, I have uninstalled 49.0.2, and installed 47.0.1, and tested the Audible download. It worked perfectly.

So ... Firefox is definitely NOT handling Audible downloads correctly. And it appears that it also is having a problem hanging. That last hang was the first one that gave me a chance to send crash data, so I did. But I also have the other crash files that I could send if needed. I just need to know how to send them.

One further piece of information -- while working with Audible to see if they could help with a solution, we encountered yet another issue when they had me install GoToAssist so they could connect to my system. It appears to have installed, but it could not be accessed from the Firefox browser. We ended up having to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to get the Audible rep connected.

Firefox does have built in tools for troubleshooting, also It may help to be aware that it is easy to install multiple versions of Firefox and run multiple instances (simultaneously if you wish). Here are some tips

• Use many profiles to one version of Firefox do not normally try one profile to multiple versions of Fx - There can be incompatibility issues
• Dont use -no-remote on the fx browser version & profile used as the default
• about:profiles is still WIP it may not work properly
• Developer Edition by default
  • installs as an additional browser with its own profile
  • has more and newer Dev tools enabled
  • will update frequently probably daily, but I doubt you will have bandwidth or data limits
• Take care with renames or deletions, sub-folders or nested profiles will delete with the parent. On changing profile names the Profile Manger renames the profiles.ini entry but does not the rename the profile folder to match.

See

• https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Tools (Note some tools mentioned as being in Developer Only may now be in Releases but may need enabling)
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Multiple_profiles

I am not familiar with GoToAssist. Speculation but possibly it is running in to security issues like trying to access local files from what is effectively a webpage, or maybe it tries to install an unsigned add-on. I suggest you start a separate question about that issue. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to suggest to the Audible people that they open a Firefox bug on the issue if it affect other Firefox installs and not just yourself.

SQAGuru said

....
Sorry, you are right. I got the software from Audible (which is now a subsidiary of Amazon). It has worked fine on older versions of Firefox but has quit working on 49.0.2.
.... Will let you know what happens after I reinstall the Audible Manager.

If you consider the issue is a regression in Firefox as appears to be the case if Fx did work and does not now but earlier versions do, note there is a semi automated interactive testing utility mozregression. It bisects ranges of builds installs allows you to test and installs another until you discover the particular regression point. That allows Developers to identify the changelog and bugs involved with the issue.

• https://github.com/mozilla/mozregression

John99 said

If you consider the issue is a regression in Firefox as appears to be the case if Fx did work and does not now but earlier versions do, note there is a semi automated interactive testing utility mozregression. It bisects ranges of builds installs allows you to test and installs another until you discover the particular regression point. That allows Developers to identify the changelog and bugs involved with the issue.

• https://github.com/mozilla/mozregression

Yes ... you are correct ... it is a regression error. It worked fine in 14.0.1 (yes, that is how long I have been a Firefox user), 41.0.2, 45.0.1, and 47.0.1. It does not work in 49.0.2. Because of the problem the Audible rep and I had with GoToAssist, it looks like there is some sort of problem when Firefox needs to launch an external executable.

I would love nothing better than to jump in and help isolate this further, but I just don't have the tools or facilities to protect the integrity of my system during the testing. I would be willing to help someone on Mozilla's side. I can provide the installation file for the software I am using, and could give temporary access to my Audible account so that the problem could (hopefully) replicated. Or perhaps you have another idea of how we could protect my system but work together to find out when, how, and why the error was introduced into the code.

P.S. GoToAssist provides a mechanism for person one to connect their computer to person two's computer. Then both persons can interact with person two's computer while maintaining a wall in front of person one's computer. I had never used it before, but was familiar with what it does. It's a little like VPN for the person who initiates the connection except that it uses the initiator's operating system instead of the receiver's OS.

You have just been letting Audible staff use GoToAssist on your System I would have thought that could potentially raise security concerns if you are worried about System Integrity.

Hangs

As regards your hangs and not responding issues I was suggesting you may have wished to try out Fx's built in tools to investigate further.

And what happens with the

... I start Firefox from the start menu, it goes to a blank "about" page instead of my previously set up home page, and then goes into a catatonic state ....

• What page URL is actually showing ?
• How does that compare with what is set up as your home page settings.
  • Are those still shown correctly or has that actually been changed ?
  • Are you still using your standard profile ? { Key in about:profiles that may not work fully - but should display the profile location correctly)

Audible & Fx regression

As for the Audible problem I was suggesting you use mozregression. I don't see how that is seen as any threat. You could do it all in a separate Windows account or in a VM if you wish to isolate it.

If any of the Integrity you worry about relates to Firefox content such as logins and bookmarks as long as you are not using the ordinary day to day profile they are at almost nil risk because they are not involved in any of the testing.

Of course if it is a Fx regression the Audible people themselves should have no problem in determining that. Audible should not work in their own test installs with Fx 49.02. Did you ask them can they get their own software to run from Firefox 49.0.2 on their own test systems ?

GoToAssist

If that has stopped working on Fx then presumably whoever developed that software will already be investigating and fixing problems & Audible will have complained about it. Fx may not be the most prominent browser, but probably has enough of a market share for their Developers to wish to retain compatibility.

Multi Process Firefox

One potential change that could be impacting you is a possible switch of your Firefox install to Multi process Firefox. Your System details do not show the full information that you could have provided. For instance no Extensions are listed. If in fact you have no extensions you could be using Multi Process Firefox (E10s). There is then a possibility some of your problems may be related to use of Multi process Fx. To determine if you are on E10s key into the addressbar about:support press enter and look down the list for Multiprocess Windows look at the value reported. If it starts with a Zero e.g. 0/1 (Disabled by add-ons) you are NOT on E10s

• see also https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis

John99 said

Multi Process Firefox

One potential change that could be impacting you is a possible switch of your Firefox install to Multi process Firefox. Your System details do not show the full information that you could have provided. For instance no Extensions are listed. If in fact you have no extensions you could be using Multi Process Firefox (E10s). There is then a possibility some of your problems may be related to use of Multi process Fx. To determine if you are on E10s key into the addressbar about:support press enter and look down the list for Multiprocess Windows look at the value reported. If it starts with a Zero e.g. 0/1 (Disabled by add-ons) you are NOT on E10s

• see also https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis

I am currently back on version 47.0.1 because it works and I was very tired of the problems. It shows "0/2 (Disabled by add-ons)". Would the installation of 49.0.2 have changed that?

I have two Extensions -- Chatzilla and Norton Security Toolbar. I know that Chatzilla was not running, but I am not sure about the Norton toolbar -- I am guessing that it would have been running.

If you have none built in extensions then at the moment I do not think Fx49 will put you on E10s.

If you worry about System Integrity and security obviously using non supported Fx47 does open you up to potential security risks. Possibly you could consider using the current Release most of the time and using Fx47 only when you need to use Audible.

You could install Fx47 as a separate additional browser as a custom install with its own profile. As a developer you should find that simple enough to do.

For others reading this thread note a simple method of using a none secure Firefox version for occasional use without worrying about custom installs and additional profiles use the third party Firefox Portable build. That is easy to download and install as an additional browser.

• http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
  • Mozilla will not recommend private individuals use the ESR version( Fx 45) but that does at least have all critical security fixes back ported http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr
• (Do not) Install an older version of Firefox
  • It opens you up to exploits see listing https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox/