@john99 -

From the Troubleshooting Page...

Application Basics

Name: Firefox Version: 29.0 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:29.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/29.0

Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days

All Crash Reports

Extensions

Name: deskCut Version: 0.6.0.3 Enabled: true ID: {9125C9CB-BE2B-4389-A0C7-46A4BDD46AEA}

Name: HTTPS-Everywhere Version: 3.5.1 Enabled: true ID: https-everywhere@eff.org

Name: Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant Version: 0.0.0 Enabled: true ID: {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}

Name: Norton Toolbar Version: 2014.7.1.1 Enabled: true ID: {2D3F3651-74B9-4795-BDEC-6DA2F431CB62}

Name: Norton Vulnerability Protection Version: 12.2.0.5 - 1 Enabled: true ID: {BBDA0591-3099-440a-AA10-41764D9DB4DB}

Name: YouTube High Definition Version: 8.1 Enabled: true ID: {7b1bf0b6-a1b9-42b0-b75d-252036438bdc}

Important Modified Preferences

browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 6 browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20140421221237 browser.startup.homepage: http://ibm.com/ browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20140421221237 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 29.0 browser.tabs.warnOnClose: false browser.urlbar.default.behavior: 1 dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 29.0 font.internaluseonly.changed: true network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1399044563 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 87178 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true plugin.state.java: 2 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_bgimages: false print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_colorspace: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_command: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_duplex: 128892288 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_evenpages: true print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_footercenter: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_footerleft: &PT print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_footerright: &D print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_headercenter: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_headerleft: &T print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_headerright: &U print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_in_color: true print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_margin_bottom: 0.5 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_oddpages: true print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_orientation: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_data: 1 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_name: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_size_unit: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_paper_width: 8.50 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_plex_name: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_resolution: 131085 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_resolution_name: print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_reversed: false print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_scaling: 1.00 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_shrink_to_fit: true print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_to_file: false print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_CutePDF_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_bgimages: false print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_colorspace: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_command: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_duplex: 128892288 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_evenpages: true print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_footercenter: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_footerleft: &PT print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_footerright: &D print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_headercenter: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_headerleft: &T print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_headerright: &U print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_in_color: true print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_margin_bottom: 0.5 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_oddpages: true print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_orientation: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_data: 1 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_name: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_size_unit: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_paper_width: 8.50 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_plex_name: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_resolution: 131085 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_resolution_name: print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_reversed: false print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_scaling: 1.00 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_shrink_to_fit: true print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_to_file: false print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Lexmark_1200_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies: false privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata: false privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps: true privacy.clearOnShutdown.passwords: true privacy.clearOnShutdown.sessions: false privacy.clearOnShutdown.siteSettings: true privacy.cpd.cookies: false privacy.cpd.offlineApps: true privacy.cpd.siteSettings: true privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown: true privacy.sanitize.timeSpan: 0 storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1398692040

Graphics

Adapter Description: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS Adapter Drivers: nv4_disp Adapter RAM: Unknown Device ID: 0x01df DirectWrite Enabled: false (0.0.0.0) Driver Date: 1-31-2013 Driver Version: 6.14.13.783 GPU #2 Active: false GPU Accelerated Windows: 1/1 Direct3D 9 Vendor ID: 0x10de WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS Direct3D9 vs_3_0 ps_3_0) windowLayerManagerRemote: false AzureCanvasBackend: skia AzureContentBackend: cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

JavaScript

Incremental GC: true

Accessibility

Activated: false Prevent Accessibility: 0

Library Versions

NSPR Expected minimum version: 4.10.3 Version in use: 4.10.3

NSS Expected minimum version: 3.16 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16 Basic ECC

NSSSMIME Expected minimum version: 3.16 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16 Basic ECC

NSSSSL Expected minimum version: 3.16 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.16 Basic ECC

NSSUTIL Expected minimum version: 3.16 Version in use: 3.16

As you can see...

When it works, it works...

I just have to kill the Firefox process and restart the browser to be back in business. So, if I just minimize the browser, I'm OK. However, that is not always practical, so every 3-4 times that I try to restart it, I'm back to square one, as above, killing the process and restarting FF 29.

Cheers and thanks! :)

Hi Compumind! Do you have experienced this issue related to the FF 29 with new clean profile and without any addon?

@John99--

That is a crock!

    A clean install of Firefox (Install Firefox into an empty folder)--Did that.  It is not the engine.
   Using a newly created profile--Did that when I did the "reset Firefox" (and destroy your browser)...not a solution.
   With all plugins disabled---three plugins, all up-to-date,--Adobe Reader, Shockwave Flash, Shockwave for Director, Windows Activation Technology--one Extension: Firebug, Latest Version.  Why would anyone want a browser that can't do that? 
   Using Firefox Safe Mode--why would anyone want to do that!  A browser should work, not only operate in "crippled" mode.
   It may even be necessary to try using the OS safe mode.---Yeah, who would want to do that?  Run your whole system in "crippled" mode.

These "things" you need make your browser useless and you call that "making the problem disappear!"

"The vast majority of users do not see this issue..." More people are seeing this issue than you realize, but you are correct, not everyone IS experiencing this issue. But if you read the post above where I say "I should add here, to second Compumind's motion, that my wife, who has a account on Etsy selling stuff, told me this morning that their forums were full of people complaining about the terrible experiences they were having with FF 29." Just not everyone is going to the trouble to post here.

As for Yeinu, that is because FF allows you more customization than any other browser. That is part of it's beauty. Though I have reverted to 28, I can limit the number of backup bookmarks, run my browser without accepting cookies except as exceptions, build my own "lightweight theme", etc. Throwing that away is the same as throwing Firefox away.

Compumind, Win 7 machines won't help. I am on Windows 7. I have shut off email notifications because I have been going around in circles with "support" for 48 solid hours, but have bookmarked these threads so I can see what "develops." As far as Firefox being free, yes it is, and so is every other browser I have ever used. I will stick with FF...28 is still awesome compared with the others...and apparently compared to 29.

john99--

If there were a way I could have two installations of Firefox on one operating system where I could have FF 29 work independent of FF 28, I would give that a whirl. I'll check back here and see if that is do-able, but I rather doubt it???

Kind Regards though I sound (and am) angry. I respect all of you support people even if I (angrily) disagree.

Axis

Hi Axis, you post will be above mine so I will answer some of those comment without repeating the text.

Lets start by saying I do not doubt this is a real issue affecting probably thousands of users. Just that hundreds of Millions will not be affected and we need your help in troubleshooting and identifying the problem before it can be addressed and hopefully fixed.

• Clean profile / Reset
  The Reset is intended as a last resort but simple to use method. It certainly does not Destroy the browser. (Reset retains a copy of the old profile and places it on the Desktop)
  The clean profile is a method for the more advanced users.
• Disabled Plugins / safe mode / OS safemode
  These are all intended only as troubleshooting steps. Firefox is highly customisable some changes or advanced features may cause problems sometimes.
• Fx 28 Feel free to use an unsupported insecure browser. Security loopholes are fixed and the fixes announced. Those not updating face a prospect of having known exploits.
  • Potential mitigation methods
    Run only within a secure intranet. Use a virtual Machine,
    Have well rehearsed baremetal backup and restore strategy.
    Only use it whilst feeling lucky
  • Read this and use official link if you are going to downgrade.
    Install an older version of Firefox

john99--

If there were a way I could have two installations of Firefox on one operating system where I could have FF 29 work independent of FF 28, I would give that a whirl. I'll check back here and see if that is do-able, but I rather doubt it??? 

Kind Regards though I sound (and am) angry. I respect all of you support people even if I (angrily) disagree. 

Yes on Windows the portable build mentioned up thread is the easiest way. Otherwise a custom install along the lines already mentioned by I think it was Moses upthread, (almost essential to use separate profiles). I believe you have your own thread I will read that and post there later.

We are nearly all volunteers and Firefox users. Most of us can empathise with anger and frustration when Firefox has problems.

Hi Compumind,

Thanks for the additional details. Two things I notice that could be implicated and were already mentioned in my post above.

Norton Software
IIRC this has been implicated in all sorts of issues including hangs. I believe that Norton try to time up dates to match the Firefox updates so you will likely have to upgrade their software or at least some of the associated software on each Firefox upgrade. Given the nature of the software it may not be easy to disable all of it without fully uninstalling it. Well worth investigating. I suggest checking their forum and ensuring the Norton related software is all fully updated. I note for example this post a few days ago

• https://community.norton.com/t5/Product-Update-Announcements/Firefox-29-Support-for-Norton-Toolbar/ba-p/1127628

Clearing History etc on closedown
( true privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown: )

Clearing history &cookies on shutdown has been known to cause problems in the past

• e.g. Bug 633427 - Clearing cookies launches instance of plugin-container for each plugin installed
• And a current and unconfirmed bug Bug 1004476 - Firefox 29: problem after installing any addon that requires browser restart (browser hangs)

The fix is to disable automatic history cleaning. 'privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown' is the culprit I guess.

These sort of things can depend on the plugins installed and the preferences set or the additional software installed. That explains why they are hard to reproduce, and why we ask for all the trouble shooting information and the troubleshooting steps.

john99-- I apologize for my venting earlier.

O.K, I am here with a new Portable FF 29. I want to tell you what I have done and the settings and files I added, etc. in an attempt to debug this whole problem.

Besides what got migrated "by itself" when I installed PortableFirefox on my zip drive, where it seems "self contained", after a little clean-up, the first thing I did was go into options and set 29 not to accept cookies (though it had imported the ones I had). I moved two files: permissions.sqlite and cookies.sqlite into the Data/Profile folder. I also added a simple self made theme found here; [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire.../deep_blue_bordered/] .

I set 29 to a cache of 50MG and set it to Custom settings for History; remember my browsing and download history, clear history when FF closes, set only for browsing and download history and offline website data. I also imported my bookmarks.

That was enough to run the test. Same as I mentioned somewhere in this or another thread, I sent my self an email in Thunderbird containing a list of links. About the 4th link came the error pop-up that Firefox was already running...this whole problem.

You mentioned deleting cookies and history on closing could be problematic. Well I am not deleting cookies, but I am deleting history. Every other browser can do this...but I have the feeling this is the snag with 29. I could be wrong, however, if that is the snag then it is very weird because read through the whole debate at [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=643254] where Marco Bonardo steadfastly holds to his position that "it is all a fake sense of security", while I find the comment by al_9x discussing the issue with him; "You have removed functionality that people use and like, that's been in Fx from its inception. It is you who need to justify its removal. And your justification of "nobody really wants to expire history" is a lie, people do and I explained why."

Then Marco Bonardo writes a plugin to do just that! [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire.../expire-history-by-days/]

In my case, running the plugin with the huge history I had, crashed my browser, deleted my cache and many bookmarks. At that time I just had to delete places.sqlite and set history as it is above--delete on exit.

So if this is a bug, or "buggy behavior" as a euphemism, then it is a real double bind situation. They took away that history option and I read above: "Clearing history & cookies on shutdown has been known to cause problems in the past."

Right now, it sure explains a lot...if this "issue" is affecting people who are deleting history then 29 needs a little work in that area before it is ready for prime time.

I hope this information will help, and I will check back and see if you see something different.

If this has to do with history, then it is a bug because any other browser can do this without a problem and so can FF 28.

If you see something else...I'll be watching with interest.

Kind Regards,

Axis

Hi everyone,

1) Norton Internet Security cleanly uninstalled. Same problem. Reinstalled and updated Norton NIS, no change in frequency.

2) Other (problematic) clean system running XP does not use Norton or additional FF plugins byond a standard clean install.

I ask everyone affected by this problem to go through the procedures and confirm/deny that they work. It would be great at this point to have a concise list of steps that need to be followed (in order) to logically troubleshoot this, even if if that means doing a remote connection with a support person from Mozilla.

Unfortunately, my systems mentioned above are "secure" in the sense that Remote Connection would be in violation of company policy.

Since there appear that there are potentially many users having this issue on both XP and 7, it would be great if they helped to diagnose, instead of just blindly clicking on "I have this problem too", IMO."

There are many so many variables here! :)

@Axis and everyone else experiencing this problem -

Could you please post your Troubleshooting Page data?

Instructions above.

This would be of help.

TIA :)

Hi Axis,

john99-- I apologize for my venting earlier. 

Thanks, No problem apology accepted.

I will copy your above reply into the other thread.

• Firefox 29 fails to exit properly and remains running in task manager.
  /questions/997670

The thread are already crosslinked so people may follow both of them, but I like Moses find it a lot easier to keep the majority of information relating to any single user in a single thread. It is less confusing that way.

I have other work to do at present but 'I will try to get back to this issue later. I do not have the time right now to follow upon the articles/bugs you linked to. Meanwhile be assured we are noticing this is a problem so it will be addressed, but that may need some of you with the problem to try to give us a hand.

Hi.

BTW - here is what the popup looks like in XP (7 is similar) -

FWIW

Shutting down FF29 does not help. Only way to re-open is to reboot computer when it will work OK but only for first use on second use same problem. Removed from computer and gone back to Ff28 when there is no problem.

hello, a wild guess: could you try entering "about:config" into the address bar, searching for the preference "network.seer.enabled" and setting it to "false" for testing purposes? thank you...

@philipp -

OK, I gave that a try. Result negative.

Set it back to default.

Sorry!

it might take a restart of the browser first to take effect...

A simple test to prove prefs are involved may be to reset all prefs temporarily to default by renaming any pref related files in the profile. That is prefs'js etc and user.js. Obviously you know how to find the profile and files but this article helps anyone else trying this.

• Reset Firefox preferences to troubleshoot and fix problems_solution-2-delete-firefox-preference-files

A far as reproducible STR are concerned It is probably best to wok from default prefs and change a pref or two than it is to work from current prefs and change them.

I am still not able to reproduce this yet, I am wondering whether other programs or plugins are also involved in the issue.

_{Per policy: EXEs/BAT files are not allowed on SUMO.}

Hi all,

Is anyone at Mozilla following up and working on this thread?

This problem is getting very annoying.

FWIW,

Compumind :(

One potential cause is a change in Firefox 29. phillip's post upthread /questions/997448?page=2#answer-567712 mentions this. If that is the cause then toggling network.seer.enabled to false will help as a workaround.

It appears you have a problem with a different cause.

That setting will be changed (if all goes to plan) in the point Release that will be made in the next few days. Otherwise I think we are waiting for someone to be able to reproduce this problem.

Maybe someone already has. Others will be spending more time on this than I do. As for Mozilla developers we need those magic STR in order to give them something to work with.

It may be worth following the other thread from this point /questions/997918?page=2#answer-569548 that has a suggested STR but I have not yet tried that.

Hi john99,

If so many people have this problem, why are they not pasting data here? The reason, IMO, is that nobody is leading the way in *what* to post.

I'm willing to help.

Just tell me what to post beyond what I have done above.

Thanks and cheers! :)