Deadlock between "Save as" dialog box and another popup window in Firefox
I have only seen this problem with recent versions of Firefox on Mac OS X, and I have run into it several times in the last few months (I am using Firefox 9), where Firefox seems to get into a dead-lock, and I can't find anyway round this except killing and restarting Firefox.
The dead-lock happens when I am in the "Save as" dialog box -- i.e. the popup when I try to save something. If I get a pop-up window warning me that the script on some webpage is unresponsive, this leads to a dead-lock. The reason is this popup expects a response from me -- to stop or let the script continue, but it is unable to accept my response, I assume because the "Save As" dialog box has the focus, but I am unable to continue with the "Save As" dialog (I simply get a beep if I press the save or cancel buttons), presumably because of the "unresponsive" popup is expecting my response.
I don't know if the "unresponsive script" popup happens because I am taking too long with the "Save As" dialog, or if it is prompted by the script from another page (I have many tabs opened)
Is there anyway to get around this without killing the Firefox process? Also, can this problem be fixed so that the dead-lock does not occur?
All Replies (5)
- Warning Unresponsive script - What it means and how to fix it
- Firefox hangs or is not responding - How to fix
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Thanks for your reply. I have increased the max_script_run_time, but I don't think this solves the problem, although it may make it less likely to occur.
The fundamental problem is that the unresponsive script popup can happen while you are in the "Save As" dialog box, and once this happens, you seem to get into a deadlock, as you can't interact with the "Unresponsive script" popup, as the "Save As" has focus (i.e. you can only interact with that window), but pressing the buttons there are also ignored (although you do get the button press animation) with a beep.
It seems that to solve this problem, you either have to
1) prevent the popup from occurring when another Firefox window has exclusive focus, or 2) take away the exclusive focus on the "Save As" dialog box, or 3) accept the "Save As" actions, before those of the popup are dealt with.
I am not certain, but I suspect the popup happens because I am taking a while in the "Save As" dialog box -- I think this problem have only occur when I need to spend time to decide the name of the file to use for the "Save As" dialog. If this is the case, then the "Unresponsive script" is counting the time waiting for a user response as part of the script running time, which does not seem correct to me.
Try to perform the suggestions mentioned in the following articles:
- Firefox hangs or is not responding - How to fix
- What to do if you can't download or save files
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_save_or_download_files
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As I said, the problem is not because Firefox is hanging, or because I cannot save my files. It is happening because the "unrespnsive script" popup is allowed to occur while I am in the "Save As" dialog -- i.e. I have chosen to save something, e.g. a web page, and this prompt the "Save As" dialog, i.e. where I specify the file name and where to save to -- this is working fine.
However, when you are in the "Save As" dialog, the "Save As" window is the only window of Firefox that you can interact with. However, if the "unresponsive script" popup window happens to pop-up when you are inside the "Save As" dialog (which does not occur very often, and I have not encounter it except on recent versions of Firefox o the Mac; I have used Firefox on Windows and Linux for many years), then you get into this dead-lock, because you cannot answer the "unresponsive script" pop-up (i.e to continue or terminate the script), as you cannot interact with the new pop-up window, but at the same time, you cannot continue with the "Save As" dialog -- you can interact with the "Save As" window (i.e. press buttons etc.), but the actions are ignored.
To be clear, what I suspect I am seeing is a bug in the User interface code for the Mac version of Firefox.
I have noticed yesterday that I got an "unresponsive script" pop-up on the Windows version of Firefox immediately after I have finished my "Save As" dialog. I have no way of being certain (unless I look at the code), but my guess is that the "unresponsive script" pop-up was delayed until after I finished the "Save As" dialog on the Windows version, i.e. option 3 in my previous post, but this does not seem to happen on the Mac version.
Perform the suggestions mentioned in the following articles:
- Clear Cookies & Cache
- Clear the Network Cache
- Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems
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