abrowser freezing randomly
I have had multiple random freezes with abrowser in the last few days.
Abrowser must be closed/restarted to fix.
Does anyone have a fix? It was working fine until a few days ago.
Failing RAM make random freezes. Have you tested your RAM? You can install "memtests86+" (in Trisquel's repository) and let it test you RAM during one full night. Memtest86+ is to be launched from the menu of GRUB, the bootloader, that lists the installed operating systems right after the computer switches on. You may have to press [Esc] to have GRUB's menu appear. If memtest86+'s blue screen turns red, your RAM is defective. Instead of installing memtest86+, you can test your RAM with any live ISO that includes memtest86+.
Thanks Magic Banana. However, I now suspect this is a Firefox issue. Abrowser is at release 104.0 while FF is now at 104.0.2. The latest FF release fixes an out-of-memory crash issue on Ubuntu. Mozilla support says:
Chosen Solution
An update (104.0+build2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1) fixed the crash. I was using the previous build 104.0+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
I will try the memtest if the next Abrowser update doesn't fix the issue. Thanks.
Are you running nonfree software in your browser?
I am a translator!
What do you mean?
As long as you don't use software that allows to distribute and run modified JS when loading a web page, you don't have the freedom to decide which software to run when loading a web page and usually, there isn't even a link to the source code in the JS you receive while loading the page(I searched for many of them) even for JS that pretends to be free software.
The only way I know to choose what you run is haketilo (see https://hydrillabugs.koszko.org/projects/hachette) but I only know one repository and it has very very few scripts.
So in most cases, the only freedom you have is not to run JS at all. By the way, I use v2 of haketilo, I just see that there is a new v3, so I will try it.
Have you tried toggling "Hardware Acceleration" either on or off in your preferences? That often works when Firefox-based browsers are having crashing issues.
When you dont run nonfree software in your browser, that mean have LibreJS and JShelter active, you have the same problem?
I never used hacketilo because it doesn't work when you have private browsing mode turned on and I have permanent private browser mode on, so I have not been able to use it. It seems really cool though.
I have also been having random ABrowser freezes (on an Etiona system). The freezing started a few weeks ago, and seems to happen whenever I use the web for an extended period of time, which supports IBM1130's theory that it's caused by a memory leak in Firefox. I guess it's possible that both IBM1130 and I are having hardware issues. But if so, it's odd that ABrowser is the only piece of software that seems to be affected, despite the fact that I leave this laptop on for days at a time (to keep torrents seeding).
Are you running nonfree software in your browser?
iShareFreedom:
> Are you running nonfree software in your browser?
I'm not sure why this is relevant, but FWIW ...
I use NoScript to keep it to a minimum. But it's not currently practical to use a web browser for everyday purposes without ever running a single line of nonfree JS. Sometimes I need to book a flight, or submit information to a government website, and this requires me to allow JS from at least the primary domains, and sometimes some third-party domains, even though I don't know whether the JS they send is free or nonfree.
Just in case it helps, I'm going to try closing all my hoarded tabs, shutting the browser, and doing a system reboot.
> Just in case it helps, I'm going to try closing all my hoarded tabs, shutting the browser, and doing a system reboot.
It didn't help. I'm still getting random ABrowser freezes, even with only 2-3 tabs open.
El 2022-10-30 07:15, name at domain escribió:
>> Just in case it helps, I'm going to try closing all my hoarded tabs, shutting the browser, and doing a system reboot.
>
> It didn't help. I'm still getting random ABrowser freezes, even with
> only 2-3 tabs open.
Javascript-enabled browsers are heavy programs. Sometimes I get
freeezes on heavy programs because they need more energy to run. I
suggest you also check that the hardware is in optimal conditions
besides checking on the software. Usually the power supply is the main
component because when there is not enough voltage, devices might work
but they will not do it well. A good check would be to use different
hardware for the same test.
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> Javascript-enabled browsers are heavy programs. Sometimes I get freeezes on heavy programs because they need more energy to run. I suggest you also check that the hardware is in optimal conditions besides checking on the software.
At any given time I usually have Transmission, Nicotine+, and ABrowser running. At times I will also be watching video using VLC or MPV. Out of all of these, the only one that ever crashes is ABrowser. Surely if the problem was with the hardware, and not Abrowser, others programs would sometimes be the ones that crash? Just now, ABrowser crashed with only a single tab open, running Pinafore.social, a libre web app built using Svelte. If the problem was with heavy JS, not a software bug in ABrowser, surely that single app would not be enough to crash it?
FYI I am running ABrowser 106.0.5, on Trisquel 9.0.2. ABrowser has been upgrade multiple times since the problem began but it has not gone away.
El 2022-11-16 06:03, name at domain escribió:
> Surely if
> the problem was with the hardware, and not Abrowser, others programs
> would sometimes be the ones that crash?
I agree. It would probably not be hardware.
If a specific region of RAM is damaged, the probability to affect an application is, in first approximation, proportional to how many distinct addresses in RAM it allocates. Abrowser allocates far more RAM than most applications. Maybe 100 times more than Transmission. So, if a region of RAM is damaged, it is expected that it affects Abrowser 100 times more often than Transmission.
Moreover, although I am not an expert in kernels, I believe that the first processes that run tend to always use the same regions of RAM. If Transmission is always launched before Abrowser (maybe because it is among your "Startup Applications"), it may never use the bad region. If there is such a region. memtest86+ would tell.
On which version of Abrowser is this happening? The current version for Trisquel 9 is 105.0 but it will only be pulled by a full system update, not by security updates:
I recommend you use LibreJS and JShelter as a defense against nonfree javascript.
Here is a slightly longer read, seemingly confirming that upgrading to 104.0.1 and above solves the issue but also suggesting turning 'media.wmf.zero-copy-nv12-textures' and 'gfx.direct3d11.reuse-decoder-device' to FALSE in about:config as a a work-around:
https://www.ghacks.net/2022/08/30/firefox-104-0-1-fixes-youtube-playback-issues
Not sure if I am encountering the same problem. I have upgraded the browser to the latest version 107.0.
I see the browser tabs seem to freeze, but I can tell it is trying to switch tabs because the window's title bar changes. Sometimes it goes away after some minutes.
I have two profiles that I use at the same time with the abrowser -P command. I find one browser profile does not freeze while the other does.
eric23:
> I see the browser tabs seem to freeze, but I can tell it is trying to switch tabs because the window's title bar changes. Sometimes it goes away after some minutes.
I was having the same problem with Abrowser in Etiona, as mentioned in previous comments. I did a fresh install of Nabia on the same laptop and ran a full apt upgrade. I now have Abrowser 107.0 (64-bit) but the problem persists.
Curiously, after the problem kicks in, I can click the address bar, do ctrl-a and ctrl-c, then click over to a Pluma window and paste the URL from that tab. Even though there's no visual indication that the URL is selected.
If I click another tab, do ctrl-a and ctrl-c, then click over to a Pluma window, the browser will switch to displaying the page in that other tab. But otherwise the hanging behaviour persists.
All of this suggests a software problem with the UI display of Abrowser, because the underlying application seems to carry on working.
BTW In response to my previous comments, Magic Banana suggested it might be a hardware problem. I ran a memtest for a couple of hours, no errors. I also ran all the hardware checks built into the laptop, none of them picked up any problems.