Thunderbird Not Responding.

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
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Rupert43
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Joined: May 10th, 2010, 2:02 am

Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by Rupert43 »

Hi, I'm having further incidents of TB Not Responding.
It is infrequent and usually following moving sent/received files to Named Folders.
I am using TB 17.with Shockwave Flash 11.5.502.110 and Silverlight Plug-in 4.1.10329.0 and the English Dictionary and no further add-ons.
Windows 8 64 bit.
Any advice will be welcomed.
Thank you.
tpaulr
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Joined: June 22nd, 2004, 8:01 am

Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

Having the same issue - it is very very frequent for me, though.

Anything and everything, any task from downloading mail to reading mail to deleting to composing to attaching a file, triggers a "not responding" - T'Bird just locks up, it's paralyzed, sometimes for minutes at a time, sometimes to the point where I have to shut T'Bird down. This includes writing, the curser just sits there and nothing I type shows up, it is the moronic spell checker, I know I put many of these same words in multiple times (like my company name!), and etc. It is paralyzed.

I also hold my breathe every time I open T'Bird up, because it now takes an unusually long time to open, and I mean a long time, again, minutes to open.

I have been having the issue of multiple windows of T'Bird opening, but apparently there is a workaround for that.

Downloading mail is another issue - it takes forever to download and takes forever to view the message, especially with attachments or embedded pictures, all the while I get the message "not responding".

T'Bird has become very unusable and seems to be very unstable on both my laptop and desktop, so it's not just a single instance - this began with FF15.0, and has just gotten worse, especially 16 and 17.

I have 2 extensions, Lightning and QuickText (which did cause issues when 17.0 was released and has subsequently been fixed, yes I know), and this entire "not responding" behavior is exhibited with and without them in safe mode.

I keep few, if any messages in my inbox, any that I keep go to a local folder, I compact daily sometimes more, and only have single account, a Gmail IMAP account.

I don't know what is happening with T'Bird over the past few months, but this has become a very unusable environment.

Any ideas, beyond the usual approaches?
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Rupert43
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Joined: May 10th, 2010, 2:02 am

Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by Rupert43 »

Hi tupair, By chance I might just have the answer. You may be aware that Firefox is a 32 bit version. Some 3 months ago while still on W7 64 bit I installed Waterfox which is a 64 bit version of FF. It installs no problem as it shares the same data base as FF and when it opens it is all ready to take over, so no problems there.
Having posted this 'fault' this morning it struck me 'Is there a 64 bit version of Thunderbird'. Via Internet search and Mozilla I found 'Earlybird', the 64 bit version of TB. Nothing ventured and all that I installed it and like FF & WF, it to shares the same data base as TB. Which meant that during installation it auto-imported all data and I had nothing to do but use it. OK - I've only used it once and moved files to folders without problem, so my fingers are crossed and the jury is still out. However, if it worked with FF and WF then hopefully it will solve the problem with TB & EB. Watch this space as they say.
I've still left TB on my PC and can return if required but I do believe it worth the try.
Regards and good luck.
tpaulr
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Joined: June 22nd, 2004, 8:01 am

Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

Rupert,

I'm not running 64 bit - I'm running XP/3, 32 bit.

Beyond that, I'm not exactly sure how this might be a solution.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by DanRaisch »

Do you regularly compact the message folders? Compacting is something that needs to be done regularly in any email program, particularly with POP type accounts. We recommend weekly, but many of us do it daily. When done often enough, it can be an extremely fast process. Not doing so can lead to problems like those you are experiencing. See this about how to and why it's so important: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders. If 'compacting' them (and leaving a long enough time for the process to complete) doesn't fully resolve the problem then do the following on each account:

Close Thunderbird. Find and delete all of the files with the .msf file extension in your profile folder/Mail http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder#Thunderbird including your Local Folders, especially if you are using the global inbox. You must have "View hidden files and folders" on http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=272 and you need to set "hide extensions for known file types" off (just below View Hidden) if you are using Windows. These are your mail summary files and do not hold any messages themselves. They will be rebuilt the next time you open each folder in Thunderbird. Compact all your folders when you have completed this.

To avoid this happening again, see the tips in these articles:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_worki ... derbird%29
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Performance_%28Thunderbird%29
tpaulr
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

DanRaisch,

As I mentioned, I compact daily, sometimes a couple times daily, depending upon the volume of messages I receive, send, delete.

My compacting takes precious few minutes because my inbox is small, ergo, my all mail folder is small.

My account is a Gmail IMAP account, not a POP account.

I archive what needs to be kept in a local folder.

I already do all the things mentioned in the 2 article links.

I will try the process of deleting all the .msf files.

Like I said, have had no real T'Bird issues until T'Bird 12 or so, then things have steadily gone downhill from there, especially 15/16/17.

I thought the development team was trying to stabilize T'Bird for the time being, performance. security, and etc., and forget about the new features and functions?

Seems as though there have been more issues ever since the announcement, or is this my imagination?
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by DanRaisch »

I was responding to the original poster.

I've seen no problems in my use of Thunderbird, and, while there have been some issues reported by multiple users, the rate of problem reporting is not higher than with older (pre-12) versions of the application.
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Rupert43
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by Rupert43 »

Hello to both DanRaisch & tpauir.
Thanks for the information Moderator, I will certainly give your suggestions a try. I do compact regularly although I only received less than 2 dozen mails per week.

To tpauir I say sorry, your post stating you had similar problems to mine led me to incorrectly assume you too were using 32 bit versions on a 64 bit OS which prompted the nature of my reply. I hope you are able to get things sorted.
Regards to you both.
wsmwk
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by wsmwk »

tpaulr wrote:Rupert,

I'm not running 64 bit - I'm running XP/3, 32 bit.

Beyond that, I'm not exactly sure how this might be a solution.

tpaulr

Does problem go away with thunderbird started in windows' safe mode?
- XP http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu ... lsafe.mspx

let us know please
tpaulr
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

WSM:

I have no idea, truth be told - I've never started Windows in Safe Mode to fix a Mozilla issue, either Firefox or T'Bird.

Please explain why this would be necessary - I've never seen this recommendation before.

BTW, I am still having "Not Responding" issues, now with even greater frequency.
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makaiguy
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by makaiguy »

tpaulr wrote:WSM:

I have no idea, truth be told - I've never started Windows in Safe Mode to fix a Mozilla issue, either Firefox or T'Bird.

Please explain why this would be necessary - I've never seen this recommendation before.

BTW, I am still having "Not Responding" issues, now with even greater frequency.


The suggestion was to restart TBird in Mozilla Safe Mode, not restart Windows in Windows Safe Mode, although it was not explicitly stated.

Mozilla Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode which will run with default theme and with all extensions and a few other things disabled (changes you've made to toolbars, hardware acceleration, the just-in-time Javascript compiler, and any changes you've made via CSS). If the problem clears up under Safe Mode, you'll know this problem is with one of the disabled things, very often with a theme or extension.

Now you can investigate which one is the problem by disabling one or more at a time and restarting the program. When the problem clears up, you'll know it is caused by one of the disabled ones, and you can refine further.

Info on Safe Mode:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
Doug Wilson
Win10 64bit: FF 115.0.02 64bit, TB 102.12.0 32-bit ║ Android 13/10: FF 115.2.0/115.0.1 ║ No TB for Android available, dammit!
What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away - Doobie Brothers
wsmwk
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by wsmwk »

makaiguy wrote:
tpaulr wrote:WSM:

I have no idea, truth be told - I've never started Windows in Safe Mode to fix a Mozilla issue, either Firefox or T'Bird.

Please explain why this would be necessary - I've never seen this recommendation before.

BTW, I am still having "Not Responding" issues, now with even greater frequency.


The suggestion was to restart TBird in Mozilla Safe Mode, not restart Windows in Windows Safe Mode, although it was not explicitly stated.


My suggestion is explicitly for *windows* safe mode
tpaulr
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

makaiguy: No, WSM was explicitly suggesting Windows in Safe Mode, not Thunderbird - the link he posted was for Windows in Safe Mode, not T'Bird.

I always run both Firefox and T'Bird in Safe Mode before I post anything, always have.

WSM: OK - have run Windows in Safe Mode - nothing changed. It remains slow to respond - it constantly says "Not Responding", specifically for writing, reading attachments, downloading attachments and using Lightning to add a new meeting or task.

I have a single Gmail IMAP account, BTW, so nothing complex.

Why Windows? Nobody ever mentioned this before as a way to fix a Mozilla issue.
wsmwk
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by wsmwk »

tpaulr wrote:Why Windows [safe mode]? Nobody ever mentioned this before as a way to fix a Mozilla issue.

Because drivers and antivirus, etc can cause performance issues
tpaulr
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Re: Thunderbird Not Responding.

Post by tpaulr »

When I run T'Bird or FF in safe mode, I always stop my anti-virus software.

As for drivers, they are all current, as far as I know, nothing new lately.

T'Bird has been this way since 15.0, if memory serves, maybe 16.0 - I haven't had any performance issues since early releases 3.X before that.
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