Offline Mode

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sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

Somewhere along the way (I think with one of the last couple updates), Offline Mode has stopped working. I'm now unable to find any site that will cache and show itself in offline mode. (wikipedia.org is a site that always worked before, but it too is apparently dead in the cache)

I've tried restarting in Troubleshoot Mode, and no go (so I guess it wouldn't be an extension causing this)
I tried clearing the cache... Still no go.

The odd thing, Firefox tells me my cache is using (XX.X) number of MB (right now it says 32.1MB), so something's seemingly sitting there in the cache, but it will not display any single page offline anymore.

I always get the following error:
"Firefox is currently in offline mode and can’t browse the Web.
Press "Try Again" to switch to online mode and reload the page."


Anyone know how to get this to work again?

Win 7 x86, FF99.



.
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Grumpus
Posts: 13236
Joined: October 19th, 2007, 4:23 am
Location: ... Da' Swamp

Re: Offline Mode

Post by Grumpus »

Usually you need to save the page in order for Firefox to open it in offline mode.
You might also, in your options/general page scroll down and see how HTML is handled under applications.
Could be ask or Firefox or possibly something else.
Doesn't matter what you say, it's wrong for a toaster to walk around the house and talk to you
sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Re: Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

I've never needed to save pages before... The pages were always stored automatically in the cache.
Something else seemingly related, it's reloading pages from the server (rather than from the cache) each time I click the Back or Forward buttons.

This is something that I think started sometime between FF versions 91 and 96... I upped again to 99 hoping maybe it was a bug that got resolved, but no such luck.

Under Settings > General > Applications, I do not see an entry for HTML listed.


Any more ideas?
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Grumpus
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Joined: October 19th, 2007, 4:23 am
Location: ... Da' Swamp

Re: Offline Mode

Post by Grumpus »

It may go back further than that, Saving a web page complete seems the best option for me.
Maybe it has something to do with your cache, whether ram or disc and the cache management setting.
Doesn't matter what you say, it's wrong for a toaster to walk around the house and talk to you
sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Re: Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

I've not changed any of those settings (for years I've always set to limit the disk cache to 500MB). Offline Mode I know for sure was working on Firefox 91... Do I have to go back to FF 91 to have it working again?

Can anyone else with FF 96 or later (preferably on a 32-bit Windows OS) confirm whether their Offline Mode works properly?
(for example, if your click on a few pages on www.wikipedia.org, then switch to Offline Mode, do the pages still reload when you click the Back (or Forward) button?)
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therube
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Location: Maryland USA

Re: Offline Mode

Post by therube »

if your click on a few pages on http://www.wikipedia.org, then switch to Offline Mode, do the pages still reload when you click the Back (or Forward) button?
I would not think that they should not "re-load" (i.e., from the Internet), but they do load.
And if I Quit & restart FF (loading from Session Restore), & then (again) set FF to Work Offline, & can still back/forward the the wikipedia pages.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
slickrcbd
Posts: 553
Joined: September 1st, 2010, 1:57 am

Re: Offline Mode

Post by slickrcbd »

Just to be through, would you check what the "browser.cache.check_doc_frequency" setting is set to in About:config ?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache ... _frequency

You might want to try setting it to "never reload"(2) instead of 3 (default). If you copied your profile over from the days of Mozilla, it might even be set to 0.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.check_doc_frequency wrote: Possible values and their effects
0

Check for a new version of a page once per session (a session starts when the first application window opens and ends when the last application window closes).
1

Check for a new version every time a page is loaded.
2

Never check for a new version - always load the page from cache.
3

Check for a new version when the page is out of date. (Default)
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dickvl
Posts: 54145
Joined: July 18th, 2005, 3:25 am

Re: Offline Mode

Post by dickvl »

You aren't using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the disk cache ?
sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Re: Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

slickrcbd wrote:Just to be through, would you check what the "browser.cache.check_doc_frequency" setting is set to in About:config ?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache ... _frequency

You might want to try setting it to "never reload"(2) instead of 3 (default). If you copied your profile over from the days of Mozilla, it might even be set to 0.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.check_doc_frequency wrote: Possible values and their effects
0

Check for a new version of a page once per session (a session starts when the first application window opens and ends when the last application window closes).
1

Check for a new version every time a page is loaded.
2

Never check for a new version - always load the page from cache.
3

Check for a new version when the page is out of date. (Default)
"browser.cache.check_doc_frequency" was set to 3.
I tried setting it to "2", and no change (still keep getting the Offline error). Same for "0". So I put it back to "3".
dickvl wrote:You aren't using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the disk cache ?
The setting: "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed" is not checked (that's the closest setting I can find to that).

Edit:
N/M, I found it under History settings (I had to select "Use Custom Settings" or something to that effect to find it). It also is not checked.
therube wrote:
if your click on a few pages on http://www.wikipedia.org, then switch to Offline Mode, do the pages still reload when you click the Back (or Forward) button?
I would not think that they should not "re-load" (i.e., from the Internet), but they do load.
And if I Quit & restart FF (loading from Session Restore), & then (again) set FF to Work Offline, & can still back/forward the the wikipedia pages.
So it's working on yours... Was this on Windows 7 32-bit with FF99? (I don't know if that should matter, but I've no idea) I wonder if something got screwed up on mine... But shouldn't Troubleshoot Mode bypass it if there's an extension or config issue? That's what gets me...

I hate to delete everything & reinstall (having to reconfigure all my extensions & settings again) or even having to go back to FF91 (the last time I know this worked)... Anyone have more ideas I can try before I resort to a reinstall? :?
slickrcbd
Posts: 553
Joined: September 1st, 2010, 1:57 am

Re: Offline Mode

Post by slickrcbd »

I'm pretty sure that setting the browser.cache.check_doc_frequency setting to 2 is needed to prevent it from trying to reload the page at startup.
I'm 99% certain that it was necessary on my XP laptop, and I confirmed that that is what the setting is set to, however that laptop has an old, outdated version of Firefox on it (ff24).
Sorry, I haven't tried to do what you're doing in years, I haven't needed a laptop since 2013, and I mostly use the one I just mentioned as a portable DVD player to enjoy movies on my porch on nice days. I used to use it for more productive stuff, but that was over 10 years ago.
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therube
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Location: Maryland USA

Re: Offline Mode

Post by therube »

So it's working on yours... Was this on Windows 7 32-bit with FF99?
100 beta 1, Win7, 64-bit FF & Windows.
But shouldn't Troubleshoot Mode bypass it if there's an extension or config issue?
Safe Mode would disable extensions & does set some (but certainly not all) preferences differently (like it disables hardware acceleration).
I hate to delete everything & reinstall
You can test by creating a new, clean Profile - without affecting your existing Profile.
(Backup, in any case.)

Create a new Profile.
Make no changes.
Load some sites... Quit & restart that Profile. Set FF to offline mode. Restore that session.
See if you have view those pages - offline...
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Re: Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

therube wrote:
So it's working on yours... Was this on Windows 7 32-bit with FF99?
100 beta 1, Win7, 64-bit FF & Windows.
But shouldn't Troubleshoot Mode bypass it if there's an extension or config issue?
Safe Mode would disable extensions & does set some (but certainly not all) preferences differently (like it disables hardware acceleration).
I hate to delete everything & reinstall
You can test by creating a new, clean Profile - without affecting your existing Profile.
(Backup, in any case.)

Create a new Profile.
Make no changes.
Load some sites... Quit & restart that Profile. Set FF to offline mode. Restore that session.
See if you have view those pages - offline...
I think "Safe Mode" is now called Troubleshoot mode...
Without finding Safe Mode where your link says it should be on the Menu bar, I tried forcing it via the suggested method of using the Run dialog:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -safe-mode

It launched FF in Troubleshoot Mode.

Are those pages still being maintained? They seem maybe a little out of date. Going through several of them, I didn't see any references to a FF version later than 58, which I know there's been significant changes since then (such as this apparent name change to Troubleshoot Mode, for one).

...

Anyway, I think (hope) I may have finally fixed the issue... This time after launching FF in Troubleshoot mode using the Run dialog, Offline Mode actually began working! (why it worked via the Run dialog and not by restarting FF from the Help Menu I don't know). So apparently it was an extension causing this after all.
So after almost an hour of going back & forth enabling and disabling extensions (restarting FF and reloading pages from the internet each time because I couldn't get good consistency otherwise), it seems I narrowed it down to uBlock Origin somehow corrupting files in the cache (forcing FF to attempt to redownload them from the internet), if that makes sense.
I uninstalled uBO, then reinstalled it, which seems to have fixed it (at least for now). Hopefully it lasts.

I appreciate the help guys. 8-)
sp1916
Posts: 10
Joined: June 5th, 2015, 2:11 pm

Re: Offline Mode

Post by sp1916 »

Well, the problem came back again... (I guess this time having rebooted the PC reactivated the issue) Once again, disabling uBlock Origin seems to resolve it.

So I guess i need a new ad blocker/ tracker blocker... I used to use AdBlock Plus, but uBO seemed more highly-recommended a couple years ago, but now it seems to be causing issues. I see one called AdBlocker Ultimate pretty high up on the Mozilla Add-Ons page (but not as high up as uBO)... What is everyone using nowadays?
slickrcbd
Posts: 553
Joined: September 1st, 2010, 1:57 am

Re: Offline Mode

Post by slickrcbd »

I just took a look at the settings for uBlock and I have a couple theories.
I saw these two items under settings->filter lists:
Auto-update filter lists
Suspend network activity until all filter lists are loaded
I suspect that counter-intuitive as it is, unchecking both the first and the second might help.
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