After Upgrade to Firefox 10 on WinXP, it crashed on most of sites (youtube.com but even mozilla's extension's site). The Firefox 11beta has the same problems. Not even crash reports are created! I downgraded to Firefox 9.0.1 and it works.
Firefox 10 and 11beta are crashing instantly while trying to load a majority of sites such as newspapers, youtube.com etc. I could not track it down to a particular pattern, but the presence of videos on the sites was a facilitating factor. It even crashed on the Mozilla Extensions website. I tried all the described steps, starting in safe mode, disabling all plugins and all extensions but it did not work. I re-installed Firefox 9.0.1 and it works. No crash reports were generated. I do not have any of the applications mentioned to interfere with Firefox either. I have a solution for now after the downgrade, so it's not urgent for me - but would like to let you know that this is a real issue.
All Replies (20)
If all XPs crashed on opening video content we would expected to have a mass of reports on the forum,which does not see to be occurring. I am not on an XP at present but I have previously used flash video sometimes on firefox 10 and 11 without crashes.
I your crashes were merley FlashPlayer crashes rather than Firefox crashes you would need to opt in to submitting the crash reports.
Thanks for reporting that there is a problem, but I suspect unless you continue to try with an installation of firefox 10 or 11 there is little anyone can do to help you investigate the problem.
It is actually possible to install multiple versions of firefox and so use one for day to day browsing, and another for testing, but that is considered an advanced topic and the majority of users are not interested in attempting such feats. An option that would be easier would be to install a version of firefox 10 portable as an additonal browser.
Firefox 9 can not be recommended as a solution as it is no longer supported and so is not considered secure. There is no point in upgrading at present to a version you expect to crash but it would be wise to try to sort this out and get a working Firefox 10 installed, even if initially it is only the portable edition.
It's odd that no crash reports were generated, since those would be really helpful. Did you at least see the Mozilla Crash Reporter window? If so, maybe no crash crash report was submitted because the checkbox in the window to "tell Mozilla about this crash" wasn't checked? Try Firefox 10 again and make sure you submit crash reports. See the Mozilla Crash Reporter article for a screenshot.
If you don't see the Mozilla Crash Reporter window at all, what exactly happens when Firefox 'crashes'?
When you restarted in Firefox Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode did you run it a while and did it still crash in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode on certain sites?
The Latest Firefox issues article (for Firefox 10) says, under Firefox crashes on certain websites that there may be some websites that cause a crash in Firefox when hardware acceleration is turned on. To work around this issue, turn hardware acceleration off:
- Go to the Advanced panel - Accessibility, browsing, network, updates, and other advanced settings in Firefox
- Select the General tab
- Uncheck Use hardware acceleration where available.
- Close Firefox then restart Firefox normally.
For more information, see Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL
Okulungisiwe
Hi John99 & Alice,
Thanks a lot for your help! Except upgrading the graphic drivers, I have tried everything you mentioned. I am working as a developer and I really did try out what is suggested, I am familiar with troubleshooting but my time is limited. I tried disabling all the plugins, removed the graphic acceleration and started in safe mode etc. The fact is, there are no crash reports and it does not even attempt to start the Crash Reporter window - otherwise I would have sent you the crash IDs, I am aware this helps a lot. If there is a flag I should enable to force starting the crash reporter, please let me know.
The main reason I posted the reply was to show that I have the problem, since the browser is relatively new, it might show if others have the problem as well, instead of all going back to older versions. BTW: with Flash disabled, I was able to run Youtube videos embedded on other sites using HTML5 instead of Flash, without crashing. But it's not a video play issue - the browser crashes even before finishing loading the entire youtube.com homepage. Same happens on a lot of sites embedding videos, but I am not even sure whether it's really because of the videos.
I don't have a lot of time, I will try out some more things and report here - such as uninstalling Flash or the entire Firefox installation, see what happens, upgrading graphic drivers (if I find any updates).
Okulungisiwe
Are you able to see unsubmitted crash reports if you use about:crashes in the location bar? (If you do find them try submitting them). You will have presumably already read firefox crashes.
One quick and easy troubleshooting option worth a try is to make and use an (additional) clean profile.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager#Creating_a_new_profile
- managing profiles_creating-a-profile
If you are considering installing multiple copies of Firefox also see
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multiple_profiles_-_Firefox and the articles linked from that
Update, /forums/contributors/708122?last=45068&page=2#post-45059 it appears crashes where the crash reporter does not show may be new emerging issue.
Okulungisiwe
You said, The fact is, there are no crash reports and it does not even attempt to start the Crash Reporter window - otherwise I would have sent you the crash IDs, I am aware this helps a lot.
But what exactly happens? Does Firefox simply close unexpectedly with no error message? Do you see an error dialog from Windows? After these crashes occur, do you see an Error related to the crash in the Windows XP Event Viewer Application logs?
If Firefox opens (whether or not it displays any web pages) but stops responding to input when loading many or most websites, this is a 'hang'. The following bug has a good description of a 'hang' when starting Firefox 10 on Windows XP (in case it helps clarify the problem) and includes some suggestions:
It could also help if you could copy the contents of the Firefox Help -> Troubleshooting Information page (see the linked article) and paste it here.
Also tell us what Security software you use, in case it's related. Anything else you can tell us might help figure out what is happening.
Okulungisiwe
I have the same problem under WinXP. Switching off hardware aceleration prolonged the time till firefox hung up.
Forcing firefox to end I then was able to generate a report. I repeated this several times.
I will try to downgrade to firefox 9 (the portable edition).
Another application runs fine with the flash plugin (Zattoo - stand alone). (with and without Hardware acceleration). Even the hardware acceleration is no problem here.
The processor load is low while firefox is blocked. The system in general is not hung up.
On WinXP I reverted to Flash 10.3r183 within a few days of Flash 11.1r102 being released due to crashes caused by Flash. Never had a problem before Flash 11 and haven't since getting rid of it.
If you want to try Flash 10.3 you can download the "Flash Player 10.3 for other browsers" installer from Adobe's page at http://forums.adobe.com/thread/889580
You'll need to first remove the "Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin" via Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Programs, before running the installer. Note that that there are two separate Flash players, one for Internet Explorer and one for other browsers such as Firefox. Details in http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash
Downgrading flash did not help.
My workaround so far: I downgraded to firefox 3.6.26 - this works without any problem with the flash plugin 11.1.102.55
This seems to be a temporary fix until the current firefox 10 will work with flash without freezing.
Some readers of this thread may not be aware that there is a known issue with Flash Player hanging if the Ask Toolbar is used on none English versions. { see discussion & note bug557738 filed<-- wrong bug )
Okulungisiwe
The hang with Flash Player when Ask Toolbar is installed affects non-English versions of Firefox (it was first reported in French and Italian Firefox versions). The related bug (719561) should be fixed soon. If you have Ask Toolbar installed and want to remove it, see Ask.com's removal instructions and http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_toolbars#Uninstalling_via_Windows_Control_Panel
Okulungisiwe
Hi John99 & AliceWyman
I finally had some time to try out what you suggested. I would like to mention that the original problem I reported is a Firefox crash, it's not the hanging issue mentioned by other posters or anything like that. If I go on youtube.com or other sites containing embedded videos, Firefox 10 just crashes unexpectedly *without* leaving a crash report. I don't even have to try to start a video, before fully loading the page the window just closes and the entire process is gone. No entry in the system log, no crash report, nothing.
In addition to starting in safe mode, I also tried the following: - I created a clean profile - same behaviour - I de-installed the Flas Plug-in completely, without installing a new one - it still crashes, so it has nothing to do with Flash.
I could post the "troublshooting info" but only if somebody can start something with it, otherwise it's kind of long for a post. I am trying to run Firefox 10.0.0.1 on XP:
Version 10.0.1
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:10.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/10.0.1
Thanks!
Okulungisiwe
Please post the Troubleshooting Information page contents. Oh, and what security software you use (I asked that before).
The only other suggestions would be to
- Do a clean reinstall: Delete the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox folder, then use another browser to download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/firefox and install it. If it still crashes:
- Try running Firefox in WINDOWS Safe Mode ("Safe Mode with Networking" startup option), to see if a running program, device driver, or possibly malware that starts in Windows normal mode is causing the problem. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_crashes#Other_installed_software and Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware
Okulungisiwe
Why are you still using XP; upgrade your OS. Or move to Opera like suggested. Mozilla will soon stop XP support.
Windows XP is approaching EOL so reduced support is to be expected.
Reading the article you linked to http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2012/01/end_of_firefox_win2k.html I think it is saying that Windows XP SP1 support is ending soon, NOT all XP support. Many XP users will have taken advantage of MS free upgrades to SP2 and SP3. I do not think the article is saying support for updated XP is ending.
This is a separate subject from the title of this thread, and so it is possibly better discussed elsewhere maybe in one of the contributors forums e.g. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors
Here are the full troubeshooting infos. I really don't know what else to try out and it's really sad that this is happening. On this PC I have IE; Chrome and FF 9 running perfectly, while FF 10 crashes on every site with embedded video or advertising. This is definetly something with FF10 and I noticed that amount of crash-related troubles increased significantly in the forums, as people keep on upgrading. And BTW: on my work PC with Win 7, I cannot use HTTPS anymore after upgrading to FF10.0.1. With FF 9.0.1 worked without any problems, so it seems to be broken in more than one place. I really don't get it how this good product can be now behaving like ALPHA software, maybe it's time to re-think the strategy, guys!
Application Basics
Name Firefox
Version 10.0.1
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:10.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/10.0.1
Profile Directory
Open Containing Folder
Enabled Plugins
about:plugins
Build Configuration
about:buildconfig
Crash Reports
about:crashes
Memory Use
about:memory
Extensions
Name
Version
Enabled
ID
CSS Usage 0.2.8 true [email protected]
Firebug 1.9.1 true [email protected]
Live HTTP headers 0.17 true {8f8fe09b-0bd3-4470-bc1b-8cad42b8203a}
Locale Switcher 3 true {338e0b96-2285-4424-b4c8-e25560750fa3}
Web Developer 1.1.9 true {c45c406e-ab73-11d8-be73-000a95be3b12}
Java Quick Starter 1.0 false [email protected]
Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 0.0.0 false {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}
PC Sync 2 Synchronisation Extension 1.0.0.713 false [email protected]
Modified Preferences
Name
Value
accessibility.browsewithcaret true
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar 0
browser.history_expire_days.mirror 180
browser.places.importBookmarksHTML false
browser.places.importDefaults false
browser.places.leftPaneFolderId -1
browser.places.migratePostDataAnnotations false
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion 2
browser.places.updateRecentTagsUri false
browser.startup.homepage http://en-US.start2.mozilla.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID 20120208060813
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone rv:10.0.1
browser.tabs.warnOnClose false
extensions.lastAppVersion 10.0.1
general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)
gfx.blacklist.direct2d 2
gfx.blacklist.layers.direct3d10 2
gfx.blacklist.layers.direct3d10-1 2
gfx.blacklist.layers.opengl 4
gfx.blacklist.webgl.opengl 4
network.cookie.prefsMigrated true
network.image.imageBehavior 0
places.database.lastMaintenance 1329220658
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages 26791
places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size 42865130
places.last_vacuum 1295198033
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled true
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs true
security.warn_viewing_mixed false
Graphics
Adapter Description Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
Vendor ID 8086
Device ID 2572
Adapter RAM Unknown
Adapter Drivers ialmrnt5
Driver Version 6.14.10.4396
Driver Date 9-20-2005
Adapter RAM (GPU #2) Unknown
Adapter Drivers (GPU #2) Unknown
WebGL Renderer false
GPU Accelerated Windows 0/1
Nothing much pops out at me from that list, except that hardware acceleration is already disabled in Firefox due to a nonsupported graphics device driver.
News is that Firefox 10.0.2 is coming out tomorrow to address security issues so try my two suggestions given earlier, when 10.0.2 comes out:
- Do a clean reinstall: Delete the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox folder, then use another browser to download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/firefox and install it. If it still crashes:
- Try running Firefox in WINDOWS Safe Mode ("Safe Mode with Networking" startup option), to see if a running program, device driver, or possibly malware that starts in Windows normal mode is causing the problem. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_crashes#Other_installed_software and Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware
Something else I noticed from the "more system details" entry: you have two Windows Media Player plugins installed: the standard npdsplay.dll plugin (normally located in the Program Files\Windows Media Player folder on Windows XP) and the new Firefox plugin np-mswmp.dll which is normally installed in the Mozilla Firefox program "plugins" folder. A clean Firefox reinstall will get rid of the Mozilla Firefox\plugins\np-mswmp.dll file which is a good thing, because the two plugins might conflict. You should disable the old WMP npdsplay.dll plugin in the Add-ons -> Plugins list after the clean reinstall, then re-install the new WMP plugin. Ref:
- Fix common audio and video issues (under "Disable a conflicting plugin")
- Play Windows Media files in Firefox with the Windows Media plugin
Do you still get crashes if there isn't a Flash plugin installed (and enabled)?
I see that you do have the Firebug extension installed.
That extension can sometimes cause problems.
Did you try a new profile with no extensions installed and enabled (some may have been added globally)?
Did you do a malware check?
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
Also please answer which security software (firewall) you have as you also experience problems with a secure connection.
I did notice you had Firebug and other installed extensions enabled but I thought that those should have been disabled in Firefox Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode which you said you tried. Cor-el is right, though, you should also try creating a new Firefox profile to eliminate other problems that may exist in your current profile and then see if Firefox 10 runs without crashing. Ref:
P.S. I reviewed the thread and a week ago you said,
I tried disabling all the plugins, removed the graphic acceleration and started in safe mode
... and 5 days ago you said,
In addition to starting in safe mode, I also tried the following: - I created a clean profile - same behaviour - I de-installed the Flas Plug-in completely, without installing a new one - it still crashes, so it has nothing to do with Flash.
To be thorough, you should open Firefox 9 (or an earlier version which doesn't crash), go to the Add-ons Manager and disable all listed Plugins and all listed Extensions, and then try running Firefox 10 again. If that doesn't help you could try the other Troubleshoot and diagnose Firefox problems steps, which include a clean reinstall and creating a new Firefox profile (again), to see if Firefox 10 works with a new profile and all plugins disabled.
.... and tell us what Security software you use!
Okulungisiwe