Problems with needing to force quit Firefox for Mac OS X while viewing Mumsnet

[RubberDuck]

Hi Tech,

I'm having continued problems viewing Mumsnet with Firefox (I use Mac OS X Leopard). It's fine for a while, but if I stay on site for a while (reading lots of threads, not just having the site open) then it eventually ceases up and I have to force quit the program.

This happens on no other website or forums that I use.

Am currently using Firefox 3.0 but have had similar issues with Firefox 2 - in fact switched to using Safari for a while to get around it (same issues don't occur with Safari).

Running the Error Console, I notice this error while viewing Mumsnet:

Error: Permission denied to call method Location.toString

Is this likely to be something Firefox is getting its knickers in a twist about?

erm seizes not ceases up!

bump?

Message withdrawn

I have similar when I have lots of tabs open, not always including MN - Firefox hangs every day about 1pm.

(am still using Tiger ie MacOS X 10.4.11, Firefox v2)

Am now getting:

Error: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NSERRORFAILURE) [nsIFileOutputStream.init]" nsresult: "0x80004005 (NSERRORFAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: file:///Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/components/nsSessionStore.js :: sss_writeFile :: line 2140" data: no]
Source File: file:///Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/components/nsSessionStore.js
Line: 2140

in error console - although I'm guessing you're faffing currently

Tech, are you out there?

I think you've scared him off with the Mac speak.

I also have firefox 3.0 but honestly find Safari best for viewing the vast majority of websites. Firefox has seized up on me when accessing the Daily Mail site (I know[blsuh], but it was only from a link on here, honest!), plus another forum. I only have it for the odd things I can't access with Safari.

I think I must of done, oh well

Yes, Safari seems by far the more stable, but I miss the plugin architecture, the way it handles bookmarks and multiple password/login storage (have a photo site which I help run so have an admin login plus my own user login - Safari will only remember one which is VERY annoying!).

Brangelina, on the contrary - most of MNHQ use Macs and if the techs had our way they all would.

We've not seen a universal problem with Firefox and the site, so it's probably some unique combination of precise browser version and a particular ad that is being published at any given moment.

I personally prefer Safari, but use Firefox for some things and have had various weird problems with Firefox 3, as have some others at MNHQ.

Can you try again with Firefox 2 and see if the issue persists? You can have both versions installed at once (just change the name of one of them).

BigTech normally deals with this stuff, but doesn't work at weekends. He loves meeting your every (MN-related) need, so post again if you're still having problems and I'll make sure he takes a look at the thread on Monday.

laugh

I have previously had the same issues with Firefox 2 (although didn't think to check the error console at the time). Just freezes after a while of mumsnetting (no problems with other sites). Sometimes it gives me prewarning that it's going to fall over by not loading any images properly just before hand, but not always the case. Maybe a memory-leak type issue?

I would stick with Safari except for there's a couple of really nice addons that I love Firefox for

Which thinking about it ... maybe the issue.. will try removing some of the plugins and see if it's more stable...

Safari seems to work OK for me.

What's great about Firefox?

I find wyzo works brilliantly with mumsnet, although it will have a paddy with too many tabs open.

You can add third party plugins to do more fancy stuff.

Greasemonkey scripts to get more out of Flickr, for example. Or a StumbleUpon bar. Or readeroo to "save" webpages to read for later without having a complex bookmark system.

I prefer the way I can access my bookmarks on Firefox without having to go into a separate screen.

I also like the fact I can have several logins/passwords saved for a particular site.

You also tend to get security patches/issues resolved more quickly with Firefox, ime.

The downside is that it's not as fast or as stable. That said, Firefox 3 does seem to be quicker than Firefox 2 and the difference between loadtimes compared to Safari now seems negligible.

Both browsers are a zillion times better than Internet Explorer

the nsSessionStore error is usually associated with plugins that access/fiddle with FFs session management (tab managers, etc). The idle time bit is probably significant - sounds like something is looking for idle time then trying to either save a session or refresh a session and doing it badly (not catching an exception)..

the Location.toString permission denied thing is cross site information requests being badly formatted in a flash object (ads in the case of mumsnet I guess) and is associated with a change in the flash components internal workings which in turn required a change in configuration properties.

Hello all,

I would suggest disabling all plugins on firefox and use mumsnet.com with them disabled to see if this error keeps happening.

If it doesn't then activate each one individually until you see the error again, then you can see which one is causing the problem and not use it with mumsnet.com.

If it is then there is something with Firefox, i have not noticed anything with Firefox 3 and Mumsnet but in general Firefox does quit occasionally especially when i am doing multiple things on my Mac.

I assume Firefox are working on Bug fixes constantly and if there is a problem with it they will eventually release updates to iron out the kinks....

Hope this helps,

If you need anymore assistance, i will be checking back on a regular basis..

Well rather bizarrely... it hasn't done it all today.

I still get the "Error: Permission denied to call method Location.toString" message in error console, but it doesn't seem to be crashing so regularly.

Maybe it's a particular ad block that has changed? I never did get around to turning off the plugins, and as far as I know nothing has been patched.

The nsSessionStore errors were only occurring when there were also issues with Active Conversations - so I can only assume the site was being changed at the same time, they stopped shortly after.

Will let you know if it starts to happen again

"it doesn't seem to be crashing so regularly"... that should read "it doesn't seem to be crashing any more".

Of course, now I've said that...