556032 - Crash on start up after auto-update

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Pete]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6
Build Identifier: 3.6.2pre

Firefox says it is installing updates, then crashes after the updates are installed. Unsure what the problem is, box comes up talking about instability. Unsure what the exact version is, as it is an automatic update, and I can't find where the version number is. The only way I have found to fix it is re-installing 3.6, which then re-updates when I start it up for the second time, and crashes again.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Have an update
2.Start Firefox

Actual Results:  
Crash.

Expected Results:  
Start up correctly

Pink Floyd- Dark Theme
PC is running Zonealarm Extreme Security

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Pete, 

does this happen with newer 3.6 started in safe mode - http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode ?  if it does, please provide stacktrace https://developer.mozilla.org/En/How_to_get_a_stacktrace_for_a_bug_report

Comment 2

[Pete]

Nope, since the last update, firefox has been working superbly again. Thanks!

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thanks. WORKSFORME is used when patch is unknown

Comment 4

[Bengt Grahn]

I had the same problem. There is a fix: Delete the file ~/.mozilla/firefox/PROFILENAME/secmod.db after finishing the session and closing Firefox. That makes it start next time, but it keeps writing the secmod.db file again. This is new to version 3.6.6. I run it under Mint 9. Some comments I have seen have been related to having run Bank-ID from Firefox. What is secmod used for, anyway?

I wrote a two-line script that starts the browser "firefox" and the second line removes the dreaded file. I made the script referred to by the various places where the browser is called from. Apparently, the file is not vital for the browser to start.

Comment 5

[timeless]

bengt: please file your own bug, and *please* follow the steps in https://developer.mozilla.org/En/How_to_get_a_stacktrace_for_a_bug_report

Comment 6

[Bengt Grahn]

Since Mozilla remains invisible, there is very little one can do. The crash thingy doesn't pop up, the extensions and add-ons can not be investigated. There is simply no user interface to work with. Technically, Firefox doesn't crash - it just remains running invisibly in the background. This is indicated by the pop-up, saying "The Firefox binary is already running. Please shut it down or re-start the system." Since there is no user interface present, Firefox can not be shut down, so a reboot appears to be the only way to get rid of the binary. 

However, there is a clear connection to the contents of the file I mentioned, secmod.db. I shall run Firefox without my script again in terminal mode and with the debug flags set. This is the only way I can get some sort of feedback from Firefox. Then I will get back to you. If you still want me to file a bug of my own, I will do so. Let me know, please.

Comment 7

[Bengt Grahn]

I'm back. Here's what I got via the terminal when trying to start Firefox with the file secmod.db intact:

+ moz_libdir=/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6
+ found=0
+ progname=/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox
+ dirname /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox
+ curdir=/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6
+ basename /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox
+ progbase=firefox
+ run_moz=/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/run-mozilla.sh
+ test -x /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/run-mozilla.sh
+ dist_bin=/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6
+ found=1
+ [ 1 = 0 ]
+ script_args=
+ debugging=1
+ MOZILLA_BIN=firefox-bin
+ [  = beos ]
+ pass_arg_count=0
+ [ 0 -gt 0 ]
+ [ 1 = 1 ]
+ echo /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/run-mozilla.sh /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox-bin
/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/run-mozilla.sh /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox-bin
+ /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/run-mozilla.sh /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.6/firefox-bin