Random crashes with Firefox!

For some bizarre reason Firefox has started to randomly crash with various errors. This can happen when I'm surfing and even if there's no activity at all. Nothing has been added, taken away or updated (well since 1.04). It was working fine up until about a week back, then wham! These errors started.

It throws up errors on various files, heres a list of the most common.

Firefox has caused an error in:-

dlbeng.dll
Crypt32.dll
JS3250.dll
xpcom.dll
Firefox.exe
msvcrt.dll

Does anybody know of a cure to this irritating problem?

 

Try to uninstall the program, then reinstall it. And, use whichever profile you have been using all along. Just one word of caution. If you have added some new extention or theme, they should be considered suspect, and they may have been the cause of the crashes. The extention are not part of the program, and they may or may not be compatible.

 

I've already uninstalled and reinstalled it many times! I've even tried a totally clean install with no extensions whatsoever and yet it still keeps randomly crashing. I've also tried creating a new profile and using that, but that didn't have any effect either.

The thing is, it was working just fine with the extensions I have installed. Then, without adding anything else it started with this bizarre crashing.

 

FYI, I just had a problem with Firefox, and I was able to correct it. I do not recall having a crash, and it was working fine. But, after closing it a reopening, it was even tell me what page was supposed to be opened, but, was going nowhere. It was totally locked up. This is the third time that this has happened , in about five weeks. Uninstalling and reinstalling did nothing, but creating a new profile may access to FF possible.
I recall that this happened on trying to open the program, but a note, from the systray area came up, telling me about new versions of Extentions. I let the program do its thing, and was the end. With the newly created profile, I add only a few extentions, and it has worked ok.
Next, I went back to the earlier profile, and deleted all the files and folder related to Extentions, in the profile. Then, I opened Firefox, and showed no extentions, but it was working. So, if you allowed the program to update extention, you can be in trouble.
It seems that you have done everything which I would do. If you have done the same way as I did, things should change. What do you see after creating a new profile?

 

Hi Azagoth,

You haven't said which build of Firefox you're running (other than that it's version 1.0.4), but that could mean anything from the official release build of 1.0.4 to the nightly releases, available in both installer builds (.exe) and zipped builds (.zip).

From your description, though, it sounds as though you're using an installer build. I'd suggest the following:

1. If you don't already have it, download RegSeeker. It doesn't require installation, as it runs from wherever you unzip it.

2. Uninstall all of your Firefox extensions, then uninstall Firefox.

3. Open RegSeeker, click on "Find in registry ... ", type in firefox and click on the "Search!" button. When the search is complete, click on "Select all" at the bottom of the page, then right-click anywhere in the window, select "Delete all selected items" and click on "OK" inthe box that opens. This is all reversible, so don't worry about harming anything.

4. Reinstall Firefox. Personally, I prefer to use the nightly zipped Aviary builds (do NOT use a Trunk build unless you're willing to be a guinea pig for the development team). The zipped builds do not require installation, and can be located anywhere you wish, as long as the profile.ini file at C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini points to the location of your profile.

NOTE: The nightly release page shows the Aviary builds as "aviary1.0.1 ", but they're really 1.0.4.​

Hopefully, this will take care of your problems. If you continue to have crashes before reinstalling any extensions, the problem lies somewhere else. In any event, please post back and let us know how you make out.

 

Cheers! I'll give that try a bit later on tonight when I have time. Actually, I've just had another error message. Firefox crashed, then when I attempted to restart I got this:-

XPCOM.dll is linked to missing MSVCRT.dll

The weird thing is, I clicked through the error boxes, attemted to fire FF up again and it worked!

By the way, it is the official 1.04 release that I'm using

 

Hi Azagoth,

Actually, I don't know that the procedure I outlined will help you, but it's worth a try, and it's good to have for future reference. Although you might not think so, even the zipped builds of Firefox create registry entries when the program is opened, and sometimes they need to be cleaned out.

I notice that most of the errors you're getting are DLL related, and it may be necessary for you to replace some. You could run the System File Checker (sfc /scannow), in which case you might need your XP installation CD, but the DLLs are also available online at DLL-files.com.

HTH.

 

Azagoth,

If the Registry cleanup doesn't do the trick, then a new Profile is in order.

Ramona