Firefox old version (68.3) won't open on Mac M1
Hi,
For work reason, I need to use specifically Firefox version 68.3. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it on my Mac M1 (Ventura 13) as it always crashes and refuses to open.. Please anyone can help me with this? Thank you!
Note: I found no submitted folder under /Users/{myuser}/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Crash Reports/ But found this in events: crash.main.2 1684076474 E1EE4CAA-87EA-4FE4-96CE-65FB39AF025C AdapterDeviceID=0x6810 AdapterVendorID=0x1002 Add-ons=formautofill%40mozilla.org:1.0,fxmonitor%40mozilla.org:3.0,screenshots%40mozilla.org:39.0.0,webcompat%40mozilla.org:6.3.0,default-theme%40mozilla.org:1.0 BuildID=20191126000427 ContentSandboxCapable=1 ContentSandboxLevel=3 DOMIPCEnabled=1 EMCheckCompatibility=true FramePoisonBase=9223372036600930304 FramePoisonSize=4096 InstallTime=1684076446 Notes=FP(D00-L1000-W00000000-T000) WR? WR- OMTP? OMTP+4 ProductID={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384} ProductName=Firefox ReleaseChannel=esr SafeMode=0 ServerURL=https://crash-reports.mozilla.com/submit?id={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}&version=68.3.0&buildid=20191126000427 StartupCrash=0 StartupTime=1684076473 TelemetryEnvironment={"build":{"applicationId":"{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}","applicationName":"Firefox","architecture":"x86-64","buildId":"20191126000427","version":"68.3.0","vendor":"Mozilla","displayVersion":"68.3.0esr","platformVersion":"68.3.0","xpcomAbi":"x86_64-gcc3","updaterAvailable":true},"partner":{"distributionId":null,"distributionVersion":null,"partnerId":null,"distributor":null,"distributorChannel":null,"partnerNames":[]},"system":{"memoryMB":16384,"virtualMaxMB":null,"cpu":{"count":8,"cores":8,"vendor":null,"family":6,"model":null,"stepping":null,"l2cacheKB":4096,"l3cacheKB":null,"speedMHz":2400,"extensions":["hasMMX","hasSSE","hasSSE2","hasSSE3","hasSSSE3","hasSSE4_1","hasSSE4_2","hasAES"]},"os":{"name":"Darwin","version":"22.4.0","locale":"en-VN"},"hdd":{"profile":{"model":null,"revision":null,"type":null},"binary":{"model":null,"revision":null,"type":null},"system":{"model":null,"revision":null,"type":null}},"gfx":{"D2DEnabled":null,"DWriteEnabled":null,"ContentBackend":"Skia","Headless":false,"adapters":[{"description":null,"vendorID":"0x1002","deviceID":"0x6810","subsysID":null,"RAM":null,"driver":null,"driverVendor":null,"driverVersion":null,"driverDate":null,"GPUActive":true}],"monitors":[{"screenWidth":1920,"screenHeight":1080,"scale":2}],"features":{"compositor":"none","gpuProcess":{"status":"unused"},"wrQualified":{"status":"blacklisted"},"webrender":{"status":"opt-in"}}},"appleModelId":"iMac21,1"},"settings":{"blocklistEnabled":true,"e10sEnabled":true,"e10sMultiProcesses":8,"telemetryEnabled":false,"locale":"en-US","intl":{},"update":{"channel":"esr","enabled":true},"userPrefs":{"browser.search.widget.inNavBar":false},"sandbox":{"effectiveContentProcessLevel":3},"addonCompatibilityCheckEnabled":true,"isDefaultBrowser":null},"profile":{}} Vendor=Mozilla Version=68.3.0 useragent_locale=en-US TelemetrySessionId=f6a42e17-4777-3f47-acee-bfc42b0e1d44 CrashTime=1684076474 UptimeTS=.972 SecondsSinceLastCrash=27 EventLoopNestingLevel=1 ThreadIdNameMapping=7:"Gecko_IOThread",8:"JS Watchdog",9:"JS Helper",10:"JS Helper",11:"JS Helper",12:"JS Helper",13:"JS Helper",14:"JS Helper",15:"JS Helper",16:"JS Helper",17:"Timer",18:"Socket Thread",20:"Cache2 I/O",21:"Cookie",22:"StreamTrans #1",23:"DOM Worker",23:"IPDL Background",25:"StreamTrans #2",26:"GMPThread",27:"Worker Launcher",28:"Compositor",29:"ImgDecoder #1",30:"ImageIO",32:"mozStorage #1",33:"StreamTrans #3",34:"StreamTrans #4",36:"mozStorage #2",38:"StyleThread#1",37:"StyleThread#0",39:"StyleThread#2",40:"StyleThread#3",41:"StyleThread#4",42:"StyleThread#5",43:"StreamTrans #5",44:"StreamTrans #6",45:"StreamTrans #7", MinidumpSha256Hash=de2efcf4aaef011d2997537341fa32b5862c9aab82bb87c3c5d2b5abeb953cdf StackTraces={"crash_info":{"type":null},"modules":[],"status":"ERROR_NO_THREAD_LIST","threads":[]}
All Replies (9)
It is quite likely that Firefox 68 isn't compatible with a M! processor. Did you try to open Firefox in compatibility mode for older applications (Rosetta 2)?
Hi cor-el, Thank you for your response, unfortunately I found no option to open Firefox with Rosetta 2. I tried to manually install Rosetta 2 by terminal and ran Firefox again but still same result :(
If you're experiencing difficulties opening an older version of Firefox (68.3) on a Mac M1, it's possible that the older version of Firefox is not compatible with the M1 architecture. The M1 chip uses a different architecture (ARM) than previous Mac processors (Intel), and software needs to be specifically compiled to run on M1-based Macs.
Here are a few options you can try:
Use Rosetta 2: Rosetta 2 is a translation layer provided by Apple that allows Intel-based applications to run on M1 Macs. You can try running the older version of Firefox under Rosetta 2 emulation. To do this, locate the Firefox application in Finder, right-click on it, and select "Get Info." In the information window, check the box that says "Open using Rosetta." Then, try launching Firefox again.
Check for an M1-Compatible Version: Visit the official Mozilla Firefox website and check if there is an updated version of Firefox available that is specifically built for M1-based Macs. Download and install the latest version compatible with the M1 architecture and see if it resolves the issue.
Try this, may help.
techguy150 said
If you're experiencing difficulties opening an older version of Firefox (68.3) on a Mac M1, it's possible that the older version of Firefox is not compatible with the M1 architecture. The M1 chip uses a different architecture (ARM) than previous Mac processors (Intel), and software needs to be specifically compiled to run on M1-based Macs. Here are a few options you can try: Use Rosetta 2: Rosetta 2 is a translation layer provided by Apple that allows Intel-based applications to run on M1 Macs. You can try running the older version of Firefox under Rosetta 2 emulation. To do this, locate the Firefox application in Finder, right-click on it, and select "Get Info." In the information window, check the box that says "Open using Rosetta." Then, try launching Firefox again. Check for an M1-Compatible Version: Visit the official Mozilla Firefox website and check if there is an updated version of Firefox available that is specifically built for M1-based Macs. Download and install the latest version compatible with the M1 architecture and see if it resolves the issue. Try this, may help.
Hi techguy150, Thank you for your time. As you can see in my previous comment, "Get Info" has no box option for "Open using Rosetta". New version of Firefox works well, but as I mentioned in the original question, the webpage I need to use requires exactly that old version T_T else why would I want to use out-of-date version T_T
It shows "Application (Intel)" and that likely means that Rosetta 2 is used automatically. Only with universal binaries that have both the older Intel and the newer Apple silicon version, you have the choice which to use where the latter is likely the default for performance reasons.
cor-el said
It shows "Application (Intel)" and that likely means that Rosetta 2 is used automatically. Only with universal binaries that have both the older Intel and the newer Apple silicon version, you have the choice which to use where the latter is likely the default for performance reasons.
And seems that Rosetta 2 is not enough to be able to run older Firefox in mac M1 :( the same settings works in my old Intel mac. Seems I bought new imac just to watch movies... Thank you cor-el, if someday you have new method please return to this thread XD
I see and respect "work reason" but wonder if the necessary functions might be found in a newer, web-safer, version, perhaps in a different place or with a different name? I'm a duffer here, and painfully aware that app developers sometimes discard tools some of us rely upon (ohell, um, hello, Adobe, Microshaft, et al). Over 3-plus decades since Netscape 1.1 (predecessor to Firefox), I've found these to be better about not losing useful capabilities.
Is there indeed a compelling reason not to just free download a current version of Firefox? Our older Intel Mac could not upgrade to OS above 10.5 or so, and thus could not handle updates to Firefox 98 or so. Wife got hacked. That Mac is physically perfect, good for off-line stuff but dangerous on the web and unable to feed HDMI to the recent flat TV.
We had to junk a less-ancient Intel Mac OS 10.9 or so (battery destroying its guts), but Abt Electronics saved the data. We got an M2. Some oldish OS10 apps run well after automatically invoking Rosetta, but some fail to start, misbehave badly, or crash and burn. They have to be replaced with upgrades. All I have that specify M-chip capable run very well in OS13.6. Firefox Mac is now updating to ver 119.0.1.
Buying new hardware when the old is still physically perfect is a pain in the wallet and the part of the anatomy at which it sits. Getting dirty under the hood of code is miserable. Set-up and learning curve for new versions of software can cause yet another level of exasperation, but that's hi-tek reality, alas. Good luck.
It is possible that this isn't about running Firefox via Rosette, but is a problem with missing older versions of libraries that are linked to those older versions. You can try to run them via an emulator or in a virtual machine, possibly the Windows version.
You can try to start Firefox via a terminal window to check for possible error messages.