It locks up and deletes the Swagbucks toolbar
Periodically, Firefox 19.0.2 will completely lock up. All I can do is use Windows task manager to kill it. then Firefox will not launch again (but firefox.exe shows in task manager) until I reboot the computer.
After rebooting, the Swagbucks toolbar is gone from Firefox. It's not anywhere in the plugins or addons or anywhere to re-enable, IT'S GONE.
So I have to reinstall the toolbar, and it works until Firefox locks up and deletes it again.
P.S. Fix the scrolling to support ALL devices just like every other web browser and application. This has been broken since Firefox 4.0. I have a 4-way scroll button on my laptop (with vista Ultimate) that works with everything except Firefox. Simple fix? Use the same HID API everyone else does. Microsoft provides that so programmers (such as those who code Firefox) don't have to write their own support for everything - that's the major point of an OS like Windows.
All Replies (6)
We're sorry to hear that Firefox is crashing. In order to assist you better, please follow the steps below to provide us crash ID's to help us learn more about your crash.
- Enter about:crashes in the address bar (that's where you enter your website URL) and press Enter. You should now see a list of submitted crash reports.
- Copy the 5 most recent crash ID's that you see in the crash report window and paste them into your response here.
You may also try some quickfixes here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-hangs-or-not-responding
Thank you for your cooperation!
More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.
Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.
- Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Which security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?
Try to boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.
A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
3e22fca6-69f8-40e7-ac1c-bda3873f09b9 2/22/2013 11:31 PM bp-6d97c4b5-74f9-4beb-8655-2aa8e2130222 2/21/2013 6:50 PM 966c6ef2-1ba6-47e1-9427-82bd8ba5179b 5/10/2012 2:08 PM ac18050f-66d9-4326-be4b-dffb4be4b9aa 5/10/2012 2:08 PM f7bfe69f-7124-4711-ac3a-64dcd9da76c6 4/11/2012 6:51 PM
Modified by cor-el
There are a couple of things that you could try. Did you by chance try to open a PDF-document at the time of any of these crashes?
1. Try downloading Firefox 20.0. This might solve your problem right away.
2. Try to disable Firefox's built in PDF-Veiwer. Many users get the same error message that you got when opening a PDF-document online. To disable the build-in version type in "about:config" in the URL line. Search for "pdfjs.disabled", double click it to turn it from False to True.
3. Keep the build in PDF Veiwer but disable the PDF-plugin instead. Do this by going to Tools > Addons > Extentions, hit the disable button next to the "Adobe PDF Plug-in".
Get back to us if you still experience crashes after this.
Took a bit to find where to download the Firefox 20 beta. A link woud've been nice. It didn't fix the problem.
I already had Firefox's built in, not ready for prime time, PDF viewer disabled and Adobe's viewer enabled. With all the PDF features the built in viewer doesn't support, it should not have been pushed out the door.
I've found what action immediately precedes Firefox locking up. Lots of scrolling. About 30 minutes after installing and updating Firefox 20 and reinstalling the Swagbucks toolbar, I was scrolling through a long article on the Gizmag site with my Microsoft Trackball Optical 1.0 when the browser slammed to a halt.
Once again I had to use Task Manager to kill Firefox and reboot before the browser would fully launch again. And once again it's killed off the Swagbucks toolbar for Firefox.
Since I was paying close attention, waiting for Firefox to have a seizure, now I recall that the same action, a long period of scrolling down a page, at least a couple of times browsing lists of videos on YouTube, is when this crash happens.
I've also noticed the lockup prevents Firefox from saving a crash report due to how instantly it hangs. I'm having DOS flashbacks...
My solution would be to excise the builtin and dysfunctional scrolling code and use the Windows provided Human Interface Device API Microsoft has so thoughtfully provided but Mozilla for some reason has decided since 4.0 not to use. Scrolling has been broken ever since. In the initial release of 4.0 it didn't work at all, not even for standard mouse wheels.
Every other program for Windows has scrolling that WORKS, mouse wheels, scroll zones on touchpads, 4-way scroll rockers, every device invented to enable the user to scroll a window without having to click and drag - but not Firefox.
Please, do a "Sorry, my bad." and gently tell the employees who lovingly crafted this awful scrolling code that their baby has to be tossed out because after 16+ revisions to the browser it still ain't working.
But it looks like there's little chance Mozilla will face up to the fact they've fouled this up and just do scrolling support the proper way.
Some polish folks have a saying for this. "Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy." "Not my circus, not my monkey." It's Mozilla's scrolling monkey that's making a mess.
BTW, I've 30+ years of using and fixing PCs and other computers, and having to put up with dumb but simple to correct (ie, stop doing X that way, do it the way that you know works) software problems that programmers are too stubborn to fix because they "know" they're "right".
Scrolling support in Firefox since 4.0 is exactly that sort of issue.