"Gah. Your tab just crashed." (Linux)

[kenmorgan]

Not too long ago (maybe a month or two), my Firefox started something very strange. Before giving the details, here are my "statistics" (would that be the right word?):

Linux 6, CentOS
Firefox: 52.8.0 (32-bit) -- fixed for no updates a long time ago

What happened is this: I pull up a Web site and after a minute or two that tab crashes. This message is given:

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
We can help you!
Choose Restore This Tab to reload page content.

When I click it, yes, the page comes back up. But I just this afternoon went to Realtor.com to look at a few house for sale, and that site crashed four or five times in two or three minutes! That's the extreme. Other Web sites also crash, but not as often.

Here is something that may or may not be related to the problem. While a Web site is running (before the crash), other Web sites appear in the lower left hand corner with names like "google", "facebook," etc., as if the Web site I have up is trying to get to those other Web sites. Why, I have no idea.

LONG ago, I have installed Apache on my home computers so that I can bring up my Web sites locally to test new additions to one of my Web sites before uploading them. When I bring up one of my local Web sites, they too have crashed the same way, although not very often.

One other piece of information. In Edit --> Preferences --> Privacy, I recently turned off "Accept cookies from sites." Now I only put in "Exceptions." I don't know if this has any relationship to the above problem. It seems very unlikely, but the problem seemed to begin at about the same time. But I can't see how it might be related.

My theory is that the problem might have something to do with my old version of Firefox. But what could have changed to make my 52.8.0 Firefox start doing this crashing just recently? Especially, when even my local Web site has crashed a couple of time.

Thanks.

So far, forums.mozillazine.org has not crashed!!!

Ken

[DanRaisch]

Have you tried starting Firefox in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
If no improvement using Safe Mode, do you have the same problem if you create a new profile and test it with no extensions or non-default themes installed?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager

[Grumpus]

Might help if you update to the latest CentOS - 2019-09-24: Distribution Release: CentOS 8.0.1905 which would allow the Firefox update most likely.
The possibilities could be user agent string or any number of security or other issue either system of Firefox which are version related

[therube]

Firefox: 52.8.0 (32-bit) -- fixed for no updates a long time ago

Any reason you're not on 52.9.0 ESR?

Is FF from your distro (probably no crash reports?) or from Mozilla?
If the latter, about:crash, the last few related crash report URLs.

[kenmorgan]

Dan: First suggestion: I went to http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode. Under "All systems," I went to "Help -> Restart with Add-ons disabled." That got me into safe mode, and I tried Realtor.com again. It was maybe about three minutes, and then the tab crashed. I also went to "Linux," and then ran /path/to/firefox/firefox -safe-mode. Result:

[kmorgan@localhost1 ~]$ /path/to/firefox/firefox -safe-mode
bash: /path/to/firefox/firefox: No such file or directory

Second suggestion: I went to http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager and then read this:

"Warning

"Care must be taken when creating and deleting profiles, to avoid loss of valuable data. This potential data loss may include non-Mozilla files. Be sure to read the warnings given below, here and here, before proceeding!"

I was just a little too scared to try this.

Grumpus: I've thought about your first suggestion and might have to do it. But not just yet. I couldn't follow your second sentence. (I very much agreed with your Cashless comment!)

therube: I think when I decided to keep Firefox 52.8.0, it was the distro version.

[therube]

(/path/to/, is not going to be literal, if that's how you're going about it.
In any case, if you got in to Safe Mode one way, & you crashed, getting into it a different way, is not going to change the outcome.)

You can always create a new, clean Profile to test in.
Backup first. Understand where things are & how to successfully use multiple Profiles.

[Grumpus]

Redo of second line from above"
The possibilities could be "user agent string" , picked up by sites and not recognized. Note some spoofing might help of the User Agent String?
Reseting User Agent String
. . . or any number of security or other issues, either system or Firefox which are version related.
Things like headers in the kernel or system exploits fixed in later versions but still an issue in your system.