545847 - Since 02/10/10 Windows update Firefox crashes Win7 64bit to blue screen

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Kirk Bales]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

I had no problems with Firefox up until last night (02/09/10) when a mess of Windows updates came out. I dutifully installed them on both my laptops, and now every time I launch Firefox on the one with Win7 Home Premium 64 bit it crashes to a blue screen and restarts the machine (an Acer laptop). My other laptop (Dell) runs W7HP 32bit does nearly the same thing. I can get into Firefox, but then as soon as I try to go anywhere it crashes too. The bluescreen isn't up long enough on either to do a printscreen or write down the errors, the machine just restarts. Very weird. I've just gone back to IE8 until it's resolved (which the conspiracy theorist in me is saying is just what Microsoft wants me to do!) 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Windows updates applied 02/09/10
2.Launched Firefox 3.6
3.Windows crashes to blue screen of death and reboots



I have an Acer laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, and a Dell laptop running the same, but 32 bit. Acer came with Win7, Dell was upgraded. Both were running Comcast McAfee Security Suite. I uninstalled it on 64 bit box, uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, same results. I've now uninstalled Firefox from both, have uninstalled McAfee from both and am now running Comcast Norton Security, if that matters to you. Microsoft forums have been no help, and I'm not sure if problem is isolated. Just weird that it hit both my machines after Windows update.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Which firewall do you use? try disabling that, and then going to your manufacturer's website and downloading all the latest drivers for your computer. Firefox can't cause blue screens, so something else have to be triggering it.

Comment 2

[Kirk Bales]

I totally uninstalled McAfee and did clean Firefox install. Same result. Checked Acer site and there are no new drivers for my laptop. I can vouch for the fact that Firefox can "trigger" blue screens, as I've tried every other app on the PC and nothing but Firefox does this. I'm not saying it's your problem to fix. Just wanting to report it. I have issue up in Windows forum, but of course they swear nothing they did could be causing this. If it was just on the Acer I would figure it was my problem to solve, but the fact that this started on both it and my Dell on the same day points to something Microsoft Update did. Just want you guys in the loop in case others start experiencing it.

Comment 3

[u88484]

A recent windows update is causing the BSOD for XP users.

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/02/11/restart-issues-after-installing-ms10-015.aspx

From MS: "I am writing to let you know that we are aware that after installing the February security updates a limited number of users are experiencing issues restarting their computers. Our initial analysis suggests that the issue occurs after installing MS10-015 (KB977165). However, we have not confirmed that the issue is specific to MS10-015 or if it is an interoperability problem with another component or third-party software. Our teams are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. We also stopped offering this update through Windows Update as soon as we discovered the restart issues. However, those using enterprise deployment systems such as SMS or WSUS will still see and be able to deploy these packages. "

Comment 4

[u88484]

Actually it was initially thought to be XP but the MS article doesn't mention a specific OS.

Comment 5

[Kirk Bales]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the research. I knew it was them and not you. I will wait for them to patch the patch, and then reinstall Firefox and ditch IE8, as I don't like it at all compared to my Firefox. And you guys have done more in two hours to help me to confirm my suspicions than the Microsoft forum has in 3 days. I'm going to post those links to Microsoft so their smarmy moderator can see that I'm not some idiot newbie that doesn't know how to turn on a PC.

Comment 6

[Kirk Bales]

I'm escalating this issue with Microsoft, but I want to reiterate that I've seen the BSOD on both an Acer laptop running X64 Windows 7 Home Premium, AND on a Dell laptop that was upgraded from Vista HomePrem x32 to Win 7 HomePrem x32. I'm convinced the problem is in something to do with the windows updates. The XP BSOD issue mentioned above is a lot bigger deal for them right now, as it is making bricks out of netbooks, and other laptops that don't ship with any media, which is making repair of them a nightmare. I can't imagine being in a BSOD loop with no media, and no optical drive if I did have it.

Comment 7

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

A Blue Screen is always the fault of the OS or a driver /that includes firewall or AV drivers). Firefox can only trigger a bug in such kernel mode components.
Firefox is a full usermode application and such applications can not crash a modern OS. That is the difference between dos/windows95/98 and NT based OS like NT/2k/XP/vista/7

You can disable the automatic reboot in the windows system control/system/advanced and there should be entrys in the system log about the BSOD.
You could uninstall the updates one by one to find the one that is causing BSOD on your systems.

Marking invalid because this can't be a Firefox bug. Bugzilla is a tool for our developers to manage their work on Firefox and not for support issues. We have support.mozilla.com but I don't think that the support can help in this case.