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Crashing tabs

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Ian

Ian
Ian
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Recently, crashing tabs have become so much of a problem that Firefox has become almost unusable. It's always an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION_READ that causes the error. The WIndows error log says 'Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Firefox\xul.dll'

I've tried safe mode and disabling hardware acceleration, and this problem even recurrs on a fresh install of both Firefox and Windows (although I did copy my profile across).

It may be relevant that Thunderbird has also become chronically unstable, although every other appication on my system is running fine. Windows error log for that says 'Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Thunderbird\mozglue.dll'

Recently, crashing tabs have become so much of a problem that Firefox has become almost unusable. It's always an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION_READ that causes the error. The WIndows error log says 'Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Firefox\xul.dll' I've tried safe mode and disabling hardware acceleration, and this problem even recurrs on a fresh install of both Firefox and Windows (although I did copy my profile across). It may be relevant that Thunderbird has also become chronically unstable, although every other appication on my system is running fine. Windows error log for that says 'Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Thunderbird\mozglue.dll'

All Replies (4)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Did Firefox submit any crash reports for these crashes recently? This article describes how to check the about:crashes page for pending reports (which you can submit now) and submitted reports (which you can share with forum volunteers by providing the report ID):

Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly)

To test without the influence of your current profile, if you haven't already:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test sites that cause this issue.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like March2018, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new.

Do problem sites work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.

Ian
Ian Question owner
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Thanks for your response jscher

There are lots of crash reports, both submitted and unsubmitted, listed in the about:crashes page. Examples of submitted reports include: bp-278cbf7a-bc8e-47db-8ade-86a7e0180315 15/03/2018 16:49 bp-8784530a-d294-4342-ab9d-a56970180315 15/03/2018 16:49 bp-f01498ad-a159-4f04-86e4-299f90180315 15/03/2018 16:37 bp-89ee7953-271d-4cf2-b78f-e57bd0180315 15/03/2018 16:36 bp-9dbc49d0-9a4f-48ae-b5e9-39e5e1180315 15/03/2018 15:53 bp-c66486dd-b2b6-4dcb-94f7-5bcba1180315 15/03/2018 15:44 bp-c8ba8225-0678-4dfc-91b6-834f11180315 15/03/2018 15:34 bp-787da925-50b9-495b-9649-4aa3b0180315 15/03/2018 09:29 bp-40d8c617-c1c6-44ae-8267-f32e11180315 15/03/2018 09:29 bp-ee224c58-246a-4e2c-94ac-29cc10180315 15/03/2018 09:29

I've tried running Firefox with a new, blank profile and it still appears to exhibit exactly the same problem.

Regards, Ian.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Hi Ian, thank you for the 10 crash report IDs.

Eight have this signature: [@ alloc::boxed::{{impl}}::eq<T> ]

  • the last call on the crashing thread was: alloc::boxed::{{impl}}::eq<style::values::specified::calc::CalcLengthOrPercentage>
  • most of the 16 reports on file from the last month are for Firefox 59.0, but there are two for 58.0.2 and one for 58.0.1

Two have this signature: [@ style_traits::values::SequenceWriter<T>::item<T> ]

  • the last call on the crashing thread was: style_traits::values::SequenceWriter<nsstring::nsAString>::item<nsstring::nsAString, alloc::boxed::Box<style::values::specified::calc::CalcLengthOrPercentage>>
  • most of the reports on file from the last month are for Firefox 58.0.2, so this doesn't seem particular to Firefox 59.0

Since they both refer to calculating the size of an element, presumably during layout of a particular page or add-on panel, it would be helpful to know whether you noticed any pattern related to the problem content, for example, particular sites or kinds of sites.

Also, does it make any difference to test in a private window (Ctrl+Shift+p) with Tracking Protection enabled to selectively block some third party content?

Ian
Ian Question owner
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The problem began with earlier Firefox releases - I always keep it updated - and continues into 59.0. It probably started with 58.x but I can't be sure of that. I might see if I can download 57.x and see if that's any different.

The problems seem to occur pretty randomly. I usually notice it when I open a link in a new tab and it crashes instead of loading, but it can crash the current tab if I click on a link. All sorts of sites seem to be affected - YouTube, magazine and media sites and so on. Never Facebook, as far as I can tell.

Autocar.co.uk is a good example of a problematic site - I couldn't open https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/dallara/stradale/first-drives/dallara-stradale-2018-review at first, but it finally got there after many tries. It sometimes loads but mostly crashes.

In Private Browsing mode it's just the same.