Repeated crash on quit
iMac macOS 11.5 Firefox 90.0.2
Firefox pretty much crashed every time I quit. Doesn't matter if I'm looking at a web page or close all windows before quitting.
Restarting in Trouble Shoot mode doesn't help either.
The cause seems to be synchronisation - if I sign out of my account and no longer synchronise, the problem goes away and I can quit without Firefox crashing.
Chosen solution
OK - still no solutions.
So, I uninstalled Firefox completely (AppCleaner) - as I'm synchronising, that wasn't too drastic a step.
And crash-on-quit problem has gone.
Also no sign of a large webappsstore.sqlite file.
I've been using Firefox for years - I guess somewhere on a recent upgrade, something got broken …?
Still, all now working.
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We're sorry to hear that Firefox is crashing. In order to assist you better, please follow the steps below to provide us crash IDs to help us learn more about your crash.
The crash report is several pages of data. We need the report numbers to see the whole report.
- Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A list of Submitted/Unsubmitted Crash Reports will appear, similar to the one shown below.
- Copy the 5 most recent Submitted Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste those IDs into the "Post a Reply" box.
Note: If a recent Report ID does not start with bp- click on it to submit the report.
(Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the IDs. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like.)
Thank you for your help!
More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.
bp-38bbbd20-8f44-4d1d-bc4e-fefde0210724 24/07/2021, 11:51
bp-5a9da001-e32a-4757-8e34-0c9b40210724 24/07/2021, 10:14
bp-224df24e-44e1-4a77-bbc9-980e10210723 23/07/2021, 16:46
bp-c562d14c-14d6-4dd6-9e00-234190210723 23/07/2021, 15:36
bp-6315b0ee-d22d-4dee-b1ed-5bdfb0210723 23/07/2021, 14:53
bp-38bbbd20-8f44-4d1d-bc4e-fefde0210724 bp-5a9da001-e32a-4757-8e34-0c9b40210724 bp-224df24e-44e1-4a77-bbc9-980e10210723
Signature: AsyncShutdownTimeout | Places Clients shutdown | sanitize.js: Sanitize on shutdown
MOZ_CRASH Reason (Sanitized) : MOZ_CRASH()
Crash Reason EXC_BAD_ACCESS / KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS
This is for Sumo's Related Bugs 1578273 NEW --- Firefox process staying alive after exit
1524200 RESOLVED FIXED Crash in AsyncShutdownTimeout | Places Clients shutdown | sanitize.js: Sanitize on shutdown
1507171 RESOLVED FIXED Crash in AsyncShutdownTimeout | Places Clients shutdown | sanitize.js: Sanitize on shutdown
1426941 REOPENED --- Crash in AsyncShutdownTimeout | Places Clients shutdown | sanitize.js: Sanitize on shutdown
1404105 RESOLVED FIXED Crash in AsyncShutdownTimeout | Places Clients shutdown | sanitize.js: Sanitize,sanitize.js: Sanitize on shutdown
Start Firefox using Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode {web link}
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
Done that that - problem still there.
The only thing that clears the problem is signing out of my account and stopping synchronisation …
I called for more help.
I've also noticed that if I clear the startup cache that seems to clear the crash on quit problem even if I'm signed in and synchronising but only for a short time, perhaps a day or so.
So, I'm wondering if it's a page I visit once a day or so which is dumping something in the startup cache …?
This is quite popular crash. Somehow the history database doesn't close properly, especially when you clear your data on exit.
Try to go to about:config and switch everything starting on privacy.clearOnShutdown. to false.
Thanks.
Well, it solves the problem but I'm not sure it's a good solution. I think I'd prefer some of thoses caches to be cleared on shutdown :-)
Except …
Something is turning a few back to true …
You can check if you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file will only be present if you or other software has created this file and normally won't be present.
You can check its content with a text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.
You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.
No user.js file but I notice there are x3 profile folders, which doesn't seem right …?
And the most recent is over 12 GB is size, which also doesn't seem right …? The largest file (11.5 GB) is webappsstore.sqlite which doesn't seem right either …
The privacy.clearOnShutdown preferences are all set to false and now seem to be staying that way …
But I'm still getting crash on quit, whether I'm signed in to sync or not.
Wondering whether I should Refresh Firefox ?
Before you refresh, see what others have to say.
Chosen Solution
OK - still no solutions.
So, I uninstalled Firefox completely (AppCleaner) - as I'm synchronising, that wasn't too drastic a step.
And crash-on-quit problem has gone.
Also no sign of a large webappsstore.sqlite file.
I've been using Firefox for years - I guess somewhere on a recent upgrade, something got broken …?
Still, all now working.
That was very good work. Well Done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem as this can help others with similar problems.
It might have been a corrupt file that was removed.
I guess it is key that I was synchronising so preferences, bookmarks, passwords, etc were stored elsewhere which meant that uninstalling and re-installing from scratch was quick and easy.
Note that the crash reports indicate a problem with formhistory.sqlite.
Try to rename/remove formhistory.sqlite in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed.
You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
Solved by completely uninstalling Firefox, removing profiles, etc.
Then re-installed and as I'm synchronising to a smart phone, all the booksmarks, passwords, etc were restored.
That was very good work. Well Done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem as this can help others with similar problems. Go to that post and click the 'Solved' button to its right.
I've already done so against my 8/2/21 post when I reported having solved the problem