Firefox

[Christina]

I have Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and everything is up to date. However, Firefox has started crashing the last couple days but says it is still running...... ad block also quit working on it, says it can't find the file or something to modify if I try to get a different one...... am having trouble getting the computer to restart as well. When it first boots it tells me there is a pkg with zero elements, it also says it found errors when it gets past that..... help

 

[KDEandGnomeFan]

Try and deleting the hidden folder '.mozilla' in your home directory, this will remove the configuration files. Then try 'sudo apt purge firefox; sudo apt install firefox'.

 

[Darren Hale]

I'm afraid there are many reports of Firefox 46 crashing if you look it up on Google and some extensions aren't working with it anymore however I am surprised adblock isn't.

If any Firefox developer is reading this - your product is a mess, won't be using it till you fix it.

Christina - try an ESR version namely 38.8.

 

[Bethlehem]

Sounds like you got more going on than just a Firefox issue.
And if I recall correctly, a big part of FF46 crashing was due to a gtk3 error, which is why the issue is only with some Linux distros and the FreeBSD guys who compiled against gtk3 (and sometimes pulse audio).

 

[bonewits]

I had similar probs with FF & 14.04. And I mean several diff versions of FF/Adblocker/Ubuntu. The only cure that I've found is KDEandGnomeFan's cure. Totally obliterate it!
Mine starts as SLOW FF (it even affects Tbird) and escalates to crash.
I did notice that tweaking about:config a bit helped for awhile, but; did not cure the prob.
Try this;
in the address bar type about:config
then in the filter type
network.dns.disableIPv6; user set false boolean > change to true
And these too
network.http.pipelining > Make it True
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests > Make it 8 or 10
network.http.proxy.pipelining > Make it True
These changes helped for a month or so.
Now, I'm use to the game and just do the obliterate, reboot, re-install and tweaks.
Usually hold for 3-4 months now.
Good luck

 

[Darren Hale]

GTK3 Yuck big part of the trouble but I suppose we have to move on from gtk2.