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Firefox crashes

  • 23 ŋuɖoɖowo
  • 6 masɔmasɔ sia le wosi
  • 1 view
  • Nuɖoɖo mlɔetɔ bgh10

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I recently updated to version 56.0.1 (64-bit) of FireFox.

Since then, I have had multiple instances of tabs crashing. The most common occurrence is seen when trying to view a YouTube video linked to by a guitar forum.

When the tab crashes, no entry is added to the list shown via "about:crashes". No error code is given.

The specific text is as follows:

           Gah. Your tab just crashed.
           We can help you!
           Choose Restore This Tab or Restore All Crashed Tabs to reload the page content.

This is followed by three buttons:

    (1) Close this tab
    (2) Restore this tab
    (3) Restore all crashed tabs
I recently updated to version 56.0.1 (64-bit) of FireFox. Since then, I have had multiple instances of tabs crashing. The most common occurrence is seen when trying to view a YouTube video linked to by a guitar forum. When the tab crashes, no entry is added to the list shown via "about:crashes". No error code is given. The specific text is as follows: Gah. Your tab just crashed. We can help you! Choose Restore This Tab or Restore All Crashed Tabs to reload the page content. This is followed by three buttons: (1) Close this tab (2) Restore this tab (3) Restore all crashed tabs

All Replies (20)

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Join the club. huge problems with FF crashing on Win7. They don't seem to care. I'm not even sure there is a "they" at Mozilla. Suggest moving to Chrome until they get it fixed, which is probably never.

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The current Firefox is set up so that if there is a problem, the tab, rather than the whole program, crashes.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-crashes-troubleshoot-prevent-and-get-help

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FredMcD said

The current Firefox is set up so that if there is a problem, the tab, rather than the whole program, crashes. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-crashes-troubleshoot-prevent-and-get-help

Sometimes...but I still get the all crash with 56.01 It's basically unusable at this point.

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Do you want to try; Firefox Beta: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#beta


Install Older Version Of Firefox {web link} Be sure to read everything here.

If you still want to downgrade, look under; I still want to downgrade. Click the Directory of other versions and languages link. Look for the directory of the version that you want. But, remember that old versions may have security issues.

You should also check out Firefox; Extended Support Release {web link} ESR Notes System Requirements

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FredMcD said

Do you want to try; Firefox Beta: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#beta

Install Older Version Of Firefox {web link} Be sure to read everything here.

If you still want to downgrade, look under; I still want to downgrade. Click the Directory of other versions and languages link. Look for the directory of the version that you want. But, remember that old versions may have security issues.

You should also check out Firefox; Extended Support Release {web link} ESR Notes System Requirements

I did revert to 52.02, still many crashes. Maybe I will try the ESR.

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Please post any new crash reports, if any.

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FredMcD said

Please post any new crash reports, if any.

The first is 56.01, after I thought I'd give it another try.

bp-ea76f7a5-bba3-4504-969f-0628c1171019 10/19/2017 4:26 PM bp-bd850918-01c6-4f58-a6b5-96ca71171019 10/19/2017 4:03 PM


https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-ea76f7a5-bba3-4504-969f-0628c1171019

The second is just before the "upgrade" and is 53.03

https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-bd850918-01c6-4f58-a6b5-96ca71171019

bgiliberti trɔe

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Hi bgiliberti, could you try:

(1) Make an exception for Firefox or completely disable the Behavior Shield in your Avast settings.

(2) Test Firefox in its "Safe Mode."

In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

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FredMcD said

The current Firefox is set up so that if there is a problem, the tab, rather than the whole program, crashes. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-crashes-troubleshoot-prevent-and-get-help

The current tab indeed crashes. However, any open tabs that are in the foreground also crash. Any tabs in the background are forced to reload.

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bgiliberti said

FredMcD said
The current Firefox is set up so that if there is a problem, the tab, rather than the whole program, crashes. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-crashes-troubleshoot-prevent-and-get-help

Sometimes...but I still get the all crash with 56.01 It's basically unusable at this point.

Same here. I can no longer use Firefox to access YouTube links, The video starts, and then (usually) the tab crashes within a few moments.

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Hi bgh10, if you are getting the Mozilla Crash Reporter form, your Firefox may have logged some data that would help track down the cause of the problem. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Please check the support article "Firefox crashes - asking for support" for steps to get those crash report IDs from the about:crashes page, and then post some of the recent ones here.

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jscher2000 said

Hi bgiliberti, could you try: (1) Make an exception for Firefox or completely disable the Behavior Shield in your Avast settings. (2) Test Firefox in its "Safe Mode." In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem. If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:
  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
and OK the restart. Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh). Any improvement? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

Ok, I'll try disabling the avast behavior shield. But as many users have reported, the tabs crashing and unable to launch happen in safe mode.

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jscher2000 said

Hi bgh10, if you are getting the Mozilla Crash Reporter form, your Firefox may have logged some data that would help track down the cause of the problem. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Please check the support article "Firefox crashes - asking for support" for steps to get those crash report IDs from the about:crashes page, and then post some of the recent ones here.

Want to hear something funny? My Firefox tab crashed while I was trying to read your response!

I have been to that article. Unfortunately, no crash reports are produced.

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Hi bgh10, at the risk of tab crashes taking down the whole browser, could you take a look at this:

Multiprocess. Firefox 49+ has been migrating more users to a "multiprocess" architecture where the user interface and the web content are in separate processes to improve stability. Firefox assesses whether your current configuration is compatible during the first run -- first run after installation or first run after a Refresh -- and if it is, enables it going forward for future runs. Could you investigate:

Are you using Multiprocess (e10s)?

Multiprocess creates a second firefox.exe or plugin-container.exe process to isolate the web content from the browser UI. You can check whether you have this feature turned on as follows. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the first table on the page, check the row for "Multiprocess Windows" and see whether the number on the left side of the fraction is greater than zero. If so, you are using e10s.

If you are using e10s:

To help evaluate whether that feature is causing problems, you could turn it off as follows:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste autos and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 preference to switch the value from true to false

Note: the exact name of the preference may vary, but it will start with browser.tabs.remote.autostart

At your next Firefox startup, it should run in the traditional way. Any difference?

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jscher2000 said

Hi bgh10, at the risk of tab crashes taking down the whole browser, could you take a look at this:

Multiprocess. Firefox 49+ has been migrating more users to a "multiprocess" architecture where the user interface and the web content are in separate processes to improve stability. Firefox assesses whether your current configuration is compatible during the first run -- first run after installation or first run after a Refresh -- and if it is, enables it going forward for future runs. Could you investigate:

Are you using Multiprocess (e10s)?

Multiprocess creates a second firefox.exe or plugin-container.exe process to isolate the web content from the browser UI. You can check whether you have this feature turned on as follows. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the first table on the page, check the row for "Multiprocess Windows" and see whether the number on the left side of the fraction is greater than zero. If so, you are using e10s.

If you are using e10s:

To help evaluate whether that feature is causing problems, you could turn it off as follows:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste autos and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 preference to switch the value from true to false

Note: the exact name of the preference may vary, but it will start with browser.tabs.remote.autostart

At your next Firefox startup, it should run in the traditional way. Any difference?

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I followed the instructions you gave. The "multiprocess windows" value was 3, not 0. I made the change you identified and tried again.

The difference now is all of my Firefox windows now crash. Not just the current tab. The first time it crashed, it did prompt me to allow it to "report home". I did so.

The second time, I did not get that option.

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bgh10 said

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I followed the instructions you gave. The "multiprocess windows" value was 3, not 0. I made the change you identified and tried again. The difference now is all of my Firefox windows now crash. Not just the current tab. The first time it crashed, it did prompt me to allow it to "report home". I did so. The second time, I did not get that option.

It made no difference in my case -- still lots of crashes either way toggled

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I wonder if this could be related to some sort of overlay (present in the Firefox upgrade I installed)?

One thing I have noticed is sometimes it will not actually crash. but, everything goes nuts as far as the text and such that is displayed.

For example, the text on the "Restart Firefox" button will be replaced with undefined, and odd characters.

It looks like either an overlay, or, an incorrect use of a translate table somewhere.

I know Mozilla does not support the regression of maintenance. But, Firefox is so unstable after the upgrade it has become extremely difficult to use.

I am very frustrated. The browser itself is excellent. I like it quite a bit. I am stuck here because of whatever changed after the upgrade.

And, for context, the errors started immediately after I upgraded - based on a prompt from FireFox itself.

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I haven't seen that particular behavior, just crashes. Reverting to 54.03 has helped somewhat, but I still get crashes. I might try a version with no multiprocess whatsoever. What's odd is that 56.01 works fine on my other win7 laptop.

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I reverted to 55.03. Let's see how that works.

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bgh10 said

The difference now is all of my Firefox windows now crash. Not just the current tab. The first time it crashed, it did prompt me to allow it to "report home". I did so.

Well, that's one of the reasons for multiprocess. Can you provide the crash report ID? You might need to get it from disk. This article has more info on that: Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly).

bgh10 said

I reverted to 55.03. Let's see how that works.

Hopefully that will help. You may want to re-enable multiprocess by reversing the earlier changes.

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