795757 - Hanging with constant crash reports for throttling since 24/9/12

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, defect)

Description

[tricia]

Attachment: Submitted Crash Reports.docx

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; WOW64; rv:15.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/15.0.1
Build ID: 20120905151427

Steps to reproduce:

For the last week, everytime I open FF, Windows7 asks "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer" (note I haven't changed the Windows security settings from default) - I respond 'Yes'. Then whenever Firefox tries to display a web page it hangs for several minutes with message "transferring data from ,,," or "waiting for ,,,,"; FF is working fine on my other computer, both are using same wireless internet access with excellent signal strength.


Actual results:

Troubleshooting FF 'about crashes' shows contant throttling since 24/9/12 (see attached) which is about when the problem started. Most of the reports show hang/WaitForMultipleObjectsEx.



Expected results:

There was Windows security update KB2744842 installed on 23/9/12 - I've uninstalled this but problem still persists after reboot. I've also tried disabling all add-ons, speed did improve initially with Java (TM) Platform SE7 U7 10.7.2.11 disabled, but still showed a few different crash reports -see after 16:21 today. I then closed & restarted Firefox with Java still disabled, and it started hanging again - see reports after 16:40 today. McAfee Security Center is running, but pausing the scan doesn't make any difference.

Comment 1

[tricia]

I've also tried 'Reset Firefox' - to initial state, and re-starting FF in Safe Mode. Neither made any difference - still hangs for several minutes on every page display/re-display.

Comment 2

[Scoobidiver (away)]

It's likely caused by Trusteer Rapport. Please update to the latest version and report back.
If it's confirmed, for you safety reinstall the latest MS hotfix.

Note that the crash throttling is a normal behavior, only one crash out of ten are sent to Mozilla's server in order not to saturate it.

Comment 3

[tricia]

Thanks for your response. Windows has automatically restarted & reinstalled the security update KB2744842 earlier today. So I'm using IE browser for now.

I checked that Trusteer Rapport is up to date & interestingly the last version 3.5.1205.11 was installed on 23/9/12 which was the same date as that Windows security update! However I also noticed that the Security Policy showed there was 1 edit change from the default settings. I restored the defaults & saw it was 'Block Keylogging' that had previously been changed to 'Never' (not by me!) which is rather worrying.

I was also advised to check my Java version is up to date. Running cmd 'java -version' displayed 1.6.0 -27. Running 'Test Java' in IE confirmed that the recommended version installed was 'v7 update7' & detected 2 older versions which should be removed for security, so I uninstalled v6.0.270 & v6.0.330. But then the same cmd 'java -version' displayed "'java' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file", even after restarting Windows. Running 'Verify Java' in IE again confirmed 'v7 update7' is as recommended - so hopefully that is still ok.

I've also now installed Spybot & run a scan - No immediate threats found.

Opening FF after all this is still prompting "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer" & also still hanging & creating crash/throttling reports. 

I think the only option left is for me to back up my FF user profile, uninstall FF, remove my user profile & clean re-install - unless you have any other suggestions before I do that tomorrow night (UK time).

Comment 4

[Scoobidiver (away)]

(In reply to tricia from comment #3)
> I checked that Trusteer Rapport is up to date & interestingly the last
> version 3.5.1205.11 was installed on 23/9/12 which was the same date as that
> Windows security update!
The latest version is 3.5.1206.53 based on crash stats and your version is the crashiest one. I think it's the culprit.

> I think the only option left is for me to back up my FF user profile, uninstall
> FF, remove my user profile & clean re-install - unless you have any other 
> suggestions before I do that tomorrow night (UK time).
Just try with a new profile to confirm it's caused by third-party software (see https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles).

Comment 5

[tricia]

In reply to Scoobidiver from comment #4
>The latest version is 3.5.1206.53
Where can I download this version from, and is it for Windows? 
The trusteer.com website downloaded v3.5.1205.11 again. NatWest & HSBC sites downloaded v3.5.1205.12; so I didn't install any of them as the are not 1206. Trying to update from the Rapport console says I have got the latest version.
So I have closed Rapport down at the moment - but that still doesn't stop FF crashing. Should I uninstall it?

>Just try with a new profile
I created a new profile, that is still just as bad.

Comment 6

[Scoobidiver (away)]

I think you should contact the Trusteer Rapport support.

Comment 7

[Scoobidiver (away)]

To be sure Firefox is definitively not the culprit, download Firefox and install it above your current installation. It won't delete your profiles.

Comment 8

[tricia]

Trusteer Rapport support suggested I stop Rapport running temporarily to see if it resolves the problem. I've tried that again and it makes no difference - FF still hangs - I can't even tab between static pages.

I'll try downloading FF & installing it tomorrow.

Comment 9

[tricia]

I downloaded a new version of FF15.1 & installed it. The good news is that the message "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer" no longer appears when I open FF.
The bad news is that it's still hanging after loading the first page of a web site & creating crash reports all the time. 
There's still a delayed response of several minutes when trying to navigate between FF tabs too.
I've tried temporarily turning off McAfee Firewall and also disabling the virus scan in FF preferences (browser download mgr ScanWhenDone) - still hangs.
I can't select option to turn off Windows Firewall - says it's controlled by McAfee,
Any other suggestions?

Comment 10

[Scoobidiver (away)]

Can you provide recent crash IDs (bp-...)?
Check your RAM for errors: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-crashes-troubleshoot-prevent-and-get-help#w_check-your-hardware

Comment 11

[tricia]

Attachment: Firefox crash reports today

As requested, these are todays crash report ids since I first opened FF. All other applications were closed. Rapport was stopped & Rapport Management Service was Paused. McAfee was running.
FF opens quickly on Google page, then I can search for 'BBC', display a list, select a link & display the BBC Home page all as normal. But then it hangs & I can't select a tab within the BBC site or a new FF tab. Navigating to display & copy the Crash list took 7 minutes. 
Note the IE browser is working normally - so it shouldn't be an internet connectivity problem.

I've also downloaded & booted Memtest86+ and it reported "Pass complete - No errors"

I didn't mention yesterday that when I installed FF15.1 over the previous version, it reports 'Profiles in use' for both my previous profiles so I had to create a new 3rd one & use that. I still csn't use the old ones today after closing FF & rebooting Windows. All 3 profiles appear in the profiles list, but I can't locate the original 2 via the Search box on the Start menu to see if there is a parent.lock file to delete - Explorer only displays the 3rd new profile. There was a parent.lock file on my Profile backup copy, possibly 'cos I have to end FF via the Task Mgr when it's not responding. I can't see how to show hidden files on Windows7.

Comment 12

[tricia]

I also wanted to say thanks to Scoobidiver for all your interest in trying to solve this problem. It's great to get such prompt responses & support.

Comment 13

[Scoobidiver (away)]

Those crashes have nothing to do with a bug in the Firefox code. Please ask your question in the support forum putting a link to this bug to show what has been done.

Comment 14

[tricia]

Windows installed 18 updates last night & now FF is working as normal again - no more crashes. I've also restarted Rapport v1205.11 & FF is still working ok so far.