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Thunderbird is frozen & keep getting unresponsive script warnings

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by 2wartz

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Thunderbird appears to be frozen. No response when a key is pushed to open an email, open “tools” etc. Constant error messages like

“A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete.

Script: chrome://global/content/customElements.js:316 The message is the same but relates to different items such as Tabmail, elements tree, etc etc.


If you stop script, the page fades to grey & the heading shows “(Not Responding).

I have closed Thunderbird, powered down my PC then rebooted. Opened Thunderbird in safe mode with no difference. Disabling Add ons disabled does not change the symptoms. Powered PC off again and rebooted Windows 10 in safe mode with networking. Opened Thunderbird in safe mode- again no change. Power down reboot in Win safe mode & opened T’bird in normal state & still the same problem. Many Google suggestions looked at- cant do a restart via T’bird menu as it is unresponsive. Cant look at any settings as tools etc are unresponsive as well. The only thing I have not done is to reinstall T’bird again over existing installation. I want to preserve my emails etc so I don’t want to uninstall T’bird and lose them. Any suggestions???

Thunderbird appears to be frozen. No response when a key is pushed to open an email, open “tools” etc. Constant error messages like “A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete. Script: chrome://global/content/customElements.js:316 The message is the same but relates to different items such as Tabmail, elements tree, etc etc. If you stop script, the page fades to grey & the heading shows “(Not Responding). I have closed Thunderbird, powered down my PC then rebooted. Opened Thunderbird in safe mode with no difference. Disabling Add ons disabled does not change the symptoms. Powered PC off again and rebooted Windows 10 in safe mode with networking. Opened Thunderbird in safe mode- again no change. Power down reboot in Win safe mode & opened T’bird in normal state & still the same problem. Many Google suggestions looked at- cant do a restart via T’bird menu as it is unresponsive. Cant look at any settings as tools etc are unresponsive as well. The only thing I have not done is to reinstall T’bird again over existing installation. I want to preserve my emails etc so I don’t want to uninstall T’bird and lose them. Any suggestions???
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

yes I mean the menu in Thunderbird. Just keep clicking continue on scripts until it struggles to life.

(have you checked your hard disk for errors?)

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All Replies (6)

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script errors (Thunderbird is a collection of scripts under the hood so when you stop them, you stop the program) usually mean you have an anti virus product that is crippling Thunderbird, or a bad addon. Often also sourced from the anti virus product as an anti spam or scam tool.

Try the following:

  • Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.
  • Restart the operating system in safe mode with Networking. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX
If safe mode for the operating system fixes the issue, there's other software in your computer that's causing problems. Possibilities include but not limited to: AV scanning, virus/malware, background downloads such as program updates.
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Hi Matt. I have restarted T'bird in safe mode with add ons disabled. I have also powered down & restarted Win 10 in safe mode with networking. Neither of these actions fixed T'bird locking up.

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Please go to the Troubleshooting information on the help menu and copy it to the clipboard (without account names)

Go to a reply here on the forum and paste the troubleshooting information into the reply. (if it exceeds the 10,000 line limit, paste it into Windows notepad and then copy the part before the heading "Media" and paste that into your reply. There is unlikely to be anything after that of relevance here.

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Matt do you mean the help menu in Thunderbird? If so I can't as it is frozen and will not respond to any mouse clicks. I do not see any help menus on this page or site.

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Chosen Solution

yes I mean the menu in Thunderbird. Just keep clicking continue on scripts until it struggles to life.

(have you checked your hard disk for errors?)

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Matt I have not been able to get Tbird to operate at all. Unresponsive script warnings continuously. Could only get the program to kick on 4 times before freezing again. Could not get to click on any part of the program (Menu, File, Tools etc). No troubleshooting data! Also the only way I can close it down is via Task Manager. I have checked the hard drive & carried out 2 virus scans. I have Windows defender and Windows firewall in action as well.