Thunderbird randomly crashes

[rigsby999]

Since yesterday, Thunderbird has just started randomly crashing. Upon a restart, the Master Password prompt doesn't appear until I ask it to 'Get New Messages'. In the past you couldn't do anything without entering the Master Password.

I restarted with all addons disabled and it still crashed after about an hour.

Any ideas why this is happening now ??

[DanRaisch]

What version of Thunderbird are you running there?
How is the account set up, as POP or IMAP?
In Thunderbird the menu path is Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

[rigsby999]

Hi Dan. TBird v68.10.0.

I have a variety of accounts. Gmail is IMAP, whilst yahoo and hotmail are both POP.

When I go into account settings for each of the accounts, I get a variation of the following pop-up window for each of them. I believe these messages have existed for as long as I can remember.

The Local Directory path "C:\Users\Rigsby\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\vykw9nbi.default\Mail\localhost-1" is not suitable for message storage. Please choose another directory.

Is there an easy way to disable an account (without deleting it completely) to test if one particular account is causing a problem ?? Just a thought.

[DanRaisch]

One easy way to disable an account is to tweak the stored server name to make it invalid. The next time Thunderbird tries to get mail you will see an error message in regard to that account but it won't be able to actually access the server or download any messages. Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings. So, for instance, for the Hotmail account, you could change the ".com" at the end of the server name to ".nnn" to make it invalid.

[rigsby999]

Thanks Dan. Strangely, it hasn't crashed since I switched on the computer about 12 hours ago, whereas yesterday and the day before it was constantly crashing. Maybe a glitch with one of the accounts which is now OK.

I'll leave it for now and try your suggestion if the problem recurs. Thanks again for the advice.

[DanRaisch]

You're welcome. And good luck.

[rigsby999]

If it's OK, I'd like to ask a few more questions. They could all be related to the same problem or not; and I could have a profile problem, then again not.

1. When TB crashed there was a program running called Letasoft Sound Booster and this happened more than once. I uninstalled it and TB hasn't crashed for days now. Is that possible ??

2. When I open messages in a tab they now don't appear upon restarting TB. Message tabs I have kept & not closed all still appear upon a restart. Is this a feature in the latest version ?? Is there a setting somewhere ??

3. I mentioned this in my first post. The Master Password was always requested before you could do anything in TB. Now it only appears when messages are about to be retrieved. Is this correct ??

Thanks for your patience. This is why I think I 'may' have a profile problem.

[DanRaisch]

1. Yes, it's possible.

2. I don't understand this. You refer to messages open in a tab in both instances so I'm not sure what you are saying.

When I open messages in a tab they now don't appear upon restarting TB. Message tabs I have kept & not closed all still appear upon a restart.

What is the difference in those two cases?

3. That's the way that the Master Password has always worked. The Knowledge Base describes it this way:

With the master password feature, Thunderbird will require you to enter a master password in order to view or use the passwords you've told Thunderbird to remember.

[rigsby999]

Thanks Dan.

OK number 2. Long ago (in previous versions of TB probably) I opened some important messages in new tabs. Upon every restart of TB they remain there to this day. Now if I double-click a message and view it in a tab and don't close it, when I quit & restart TB it's gone.

[DanRaisch]

When you double click on a message is it actually opening in a new tab or in a new window?

[rigsby999]

In a new tab.

I have 3 message tabs created long ago, never closed. I now add 2 more to the already existing tabs along the top of the window. I now have and can switch between 5 tabs. I quit/restart TB and I only have the original 3 tabs.

[DanRaisch]

Thus far I have not been able to replicate your issue.

Does the same thing occur if you launch the application in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
Are you using any sort of clean up utility, such as Ccleaner, on that system?

[rigsby999]

Interesting. I still have the problem in safe mode.

I have used Ccleaner in the past but not recently due to bad reports. I use Glary for disk cleanup now.

[DanRaisch]

I would recommend that you set the options in Glary to NOT interact with Thunderbird to avoid any potential for problems.

[rigsby999]

OK. Thanks Dan.

I did one more test and closed the 3 tabbed messages and replaced them with 3 different (tabbed) messages. I closed/restarted TB and to my amazement only the original 3 tabbed messages (which I closed) were there again !!

I think I'll live with it and move on.

Thanks Dan for all your help and patience.