Firefox crashes after some time of inactivity.

I...did find some crash reports for 2021, but almost 99% had the same "Crash in [@ OOM | small]" signature.  Most were related to a crash of the JavaScript engine when too many tabs are open....

The problem with the JavaScript engine is simply that it is old, and 2021 was indeed the year when its obsolescence became painfully apparent to the advanced Windows XP diehards at MSFN, where Firefox 52 is no longer a major topic of discussion. The problem is not as simple as having too many tabs open. Websites such as YouTube use all the latest bells and whistles and are not concerned about supporting old browsers - in fact they discourage the use of old browsers. Whenever YouTube deprecates their Polymer v1 layout in favor of v2 that is already being served to a large majority of users, Firefox 52 will no longer even be able to display the YouTube homepage.

...This reminded me that I can't make a safety back up of my bookmarks, I only can export them as HTML.  ... Also, in case it matters, it takes alot of time for the browser to work if I make the mistake of opening the bookmarks from the upper-left menu (it hangs for quite awhile before eventually opening them)....

Hi Flyingshark:

 

Generally speaking, using Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Export to create an .HTML fine is fine if you want to import your bookmarks into a different browser like IE or Chrome, but if you are moving bookmarks between Firefox user profiles (even if they are on different computers) then backing up the bookmarks in your current profile at Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Backup to create a .JSON file and then restoring them in your new profile is the preferred method.  If I recall correctly if you use the Import / Export method with an .HTML file you will loose the favicon (graphic image) associated with each bookmark.

As previously mentioned, you shouldn't lose your bookmarks if you refresh (reset) or reinstall your Firefox browser, but if you create a new Firefox profile and have problems importing the .HTML bookmark file you exported from your current profile note that you should still be able to manually copy and paste the bookmarks from your old profile.  See the Mozilla support article Recovering Important Data from an Old Profile for instructions on how to move the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files to a new Firefox user profile to recover your bookmarks.  That might not help if your current bookmark file is corrupted but it's something to keep in mind if you ever run into problems using other methods.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Edited by lmacri, 01 February 2022 - 05:36 PM.

...Whenever YouTube deprecates their Polymer v1 layout in favor of v2 that is already being served to a large majority of users, Firefox 52 will no longer even be able to display the YouTube homepage.

Hi Flyingshark:

 

I don't know if this will help when Polymer v1 is eventually deprecated on YouTube, but if this ever becomes an issue for you then you might want to test the Disable Polymer on YouTube browser extension that Martin Brinkmann posted about in his 26-Mar-2020 ghacks.net article Make YouTube Faster on Firefox With This Extension. This browser extension is  currently compatible with FF 48 and higher so it should work with Firefox ESR v52.9.0.

As I said before, I rarely boot up my Vista SP2 machine these days but I use VideoLAN's VLC Media Player v3.0.16 (rel. 21-Jun-2021, compatible with Win XP SP3 and higher until v4.x is released) as my default video player on that old machine. The last time I checked I could still play most YouTube videos in Firefox ESR v52.9.0 (although playback was sometimes a bit choppy because of my slow internet connection and limited RAM) but if you know the URL of the YouTube video you want to play (e.g., https:// www.youtube .com/watch?v=xxxxxxxx) you can also stream YouTube videos directly to VLC Media Player - see the VLC support article How to Play YouTube Videos in VLC Media Player.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * 32-bit iTunes v12.1.3.6 * 32-bit VLC Media Player v3.0.16
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Edited by lmacri, 01 February 2022 - 05:44 PM.

I found a note I made about an earlier version I was using 2-3 years ago give or take? Maybe I'll give it a shot.

You will not be able to escape the shortcomings of your old Firefox version by installing an even older version. Of course they all worked much better 2-3 years ago, but websites (at least the most popular ones) are always changing. Pale Moon 27 was once a good browser that supported Vista until the fall of 2018. Unfortunately it was based on Firefox 38, so its JavaScript engine was even more outdated than Firefox 52, and advanced users had mostly stopped using it by 2020.

...Whenever YouTube deprecates their Polymer v1 layout in favor of v2 that is already being served to a large majority of users, Firefox 52 will no longer even be able to display the YouTube homepage.

I don't know if this will help when Polymer v1 is eventually deprecated on YouTube, but if this ever becomes an issue for you then you might want to test the Disable Polymer on YouTube browser extension that Martin Brinkmann posted about in his 26-Mar-2020 ghacks.net article Make YouTube Faster on Firefox With This Extension. This browser extension is  currently compatible with FF 48 and higher so it should work with Firefox ESR v52.9.0.

I know it will not help, because YouTube has already deprecated their classic (pre-Polymer) layout. Did you notice that the extension was from 2018? At least one roytam1 browser build delivers a mobile version of YouTube, which might be the only Firefox-based solution for operating systems older than Windows 7 - but Google could easily make a mobile layout that is incompatible with old Firefox code. A better solution is to use a Chromium browser based on more up-to-date code than Chrome 49. Two years ago I tested Yandex 17.4.1 (a Chromium 57 fork from Russia) on Vista, which can and does display Polymer v2 by default. Unfortunately this browser dates back to 2017, so its JavaScript engine is no more modern than Firefox 52! Chromium forks from China such as Extreme Explorer 360 are probably the only future that XP and Vista really have, but I will not be going back to Vista just to test that, nor will Imacri I am sure. As I have already said, the best solution is to use a newer OS that is supported by newer browsers.

... Like the title says, when I don't do anything on the computer for awhile and have the browser running, it crashes....I have to move the mouse every now and then to avoid the crashes....

 

Hi Flyingshark:

 

One other thought.  You also mentioned that your Firefox browser tends to crash while your system is idle and that you can prevent crashes by occasionally moving your mouse.  It's possible you have some automated task that runs during system idles that is consuming memory (e.g. a legitimate program that runs a background check for available updates during system idles or hidden malware like a cryptominer), but if you haven't already done so you might also want to try increasing the time before your computer goes into sleep mode at Control Panel | Hardware and Sound | Power Options | Change Plan Settings for your current power plan so you don't have to move your mouse as often.  From my HP Vista SP2 laptop (if you have a desktop computer you won't see settings for "On Battery"):

 

 Vista Power Plan Change Plan Settings.png   33.45KB   0 downloads

 

 Vista Power Plan Change Time to Sleep.png   47.56KB   0 downloads

 

...My antivirus is the free version of MBytes 3.5.1 so I don't have active protection....

 

From all the other problems you've described about your bookmarks, etc. I'd still advise that you perform a clean reinstall of Firefox ESR v52.9.0 and create a new Firefox user profile and start testing with no added browser extensions or plugins. You said you don't have an antivirus that runs in real-time protection mode (which is not something I would recommend - I believe there are free legacy products like Avast Free Antivirus v18.8 that are compatible with Win XP and Vista and still receive regular virus definition updates) so if you have to leave your browser open for an extended period of time to see if it crashes you might want to test with one reputable ad blocker like Adblock Plus installed.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Edited by lmacri, 02 February 2022 - 08:56 AM.

I'll reinstall it tomorrow

I do not expect that reinstalling Firefox 52 will change anything, but please let us know so that Imacri can stop writing about it.

Sorry for the late post!

I reinstalled but it's still pretty much the same. I also tried creating a new profile by renaming my existing one to "___.old" and by using the manager but again nothing (with the first way the browser, again, couldn't start instead of creating a new profile).
The browser keeps crashing except one, seemingly random, time. I'll try tweaking some options in about:config. I was also thinking about trying an earlier version of mozilla but maybe I won't do that after all. We'll see.

Other than that, I have a lot of catching up to do with the links Imacri posted (once again, thank you very much!), so who knows, there might be something there that will lead me to the solution.

 

Once again, buddy215, cryptodan and Imacri, thank you for your efforts.

.I reinstalled but it's still pretty much the same. I also tried creating a new profile by renaming my existing one to "___.old" and by using the manager but again nothing (with the first way the browser, again, couldn't start instead of creating a new profile)...

Hi Flyingshark:

I'm not sure why you can't access the Firefox Profile Manager as instructed in the Mozilla support article Profile Manager - Create, Remove or Switch Firefox Profiles [i.e., close Firefox, open a Run dialog box (Window key + R) and enter firefox.exe -P or firefox.exe -ProfileManager]. If that doesn't work then see my post # 7 - if you refresh your browser (Help | Troubleshooting Information | Refresh button) this should create a new profile without any added browser extensions, but your bookmarks, cookies and browsing history should be automatically transferred to the new profile.

I'll post a few other troubleshooting suggestions shortly in a separate post.

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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Edited by lmacri, 10 February 2022 - 02:35 PM.

Hi Flyingshark:

 

If a clean reinstall of 32-bit Firefox ESR v52.9.0 and creation of a new Firefox user profile (i.e., with no added browser extensions) doesn'tstop you browser crashes then it might be a hardware issue.

 

Publish a Speccy Snapshot

It would be helpful if you could publish a snapshot of your system using Piriform's Speccy utility.  A Speccy diagnostic isn't as thorough as the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST) diagnostic described in the Malwarebytes support article Run Farbar Recovery Scan Tool to Gather Logs but Speccy will give us some basic information about your current hardware and software. To publish a Speccy snapshot:

1.  Install Piriform's free Speccy utility (available at https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy **).
2.  Launch the program and allow it to collect information about your system software and hardware.
3.  Go to File | Publish Snapshot and copy and paste the URL this generates (e.g., http: // speccy.piriform.com/results/xxx... as shown in the image below) in your next reply.

 Speccy Snapshot Copy to Clipboard.png   5.8KB   0 downloads

 

** Note that I prefer to use the portable (.ZIP) version of Speccy available <here>.  Just unzip and run the .exe file (Speccy.exe for a 32-bit OS; Speccy64.exe for a 64-bit OS) from any location, including a removable USB thumb drive.

 

Graphics Drivers and Hardware Acceleration in Firefox

 

If you've had other problems with your Vista SP2 machine (e.g., freezing or black screens times of high CPU / RAM consumption) make sure you have the latest available graphics drivers (post back if you require assistance).  Disabling hardware (graphics) acceleration in your Firefox browser at Tools | Options | Advanced | General | Browsing | Use Hardware Acceleration When Available might also make your browser more stable - see the section titled "I Still Have Problems With My Graphics Card in Firefox" in the Mozilla support article Upgrade Your Graphics Drivers to Use Hardware Acceleration and WebGL for more information.

 

Electrolysis (e10s) Multiprocessing in Firefox

If AdGuard AdBlocker is the only extension you've added to your new Firefox user profile then Electrolysis (e10s) multiprocessing (enabled by default since FF 51 was released in Jan 2017) is likely enabled on your machine.  Electrolysis is supposed to speed up Firefox and reduce the number of crashes, but it also uses more memory because every tab you open is a separate container and launches a new instances of firefox.exe.  That way if one tab crashes or freezes while you're viewing a webpage your entire Firefox browser won't crash and your other open tabs should still work. See the ghacks.net article Multi-Process Firefox: Everything You Need to Know for more information.

If I only enabled newer WebExtensions-style extensions like Adblock Plus, Save Page WE and Bitdefender TrafficLight that are available on the Mozilla AMO site then Multiprocess Windows (Electrolysis) is "Enabled by default" in my Firefox ESR v52.9.0 browser at Help | Troubleshooting | Application Basics  (I believe that "1/1" means on for 1 out of 1 user profiles) ...

 

 FF ESR 52_9_0 Multiprocess Enabled MAF Disabled.png   5.06KB   0 downloads

 

... but if I enable my old legacy (XUL/XPCOM) Mozilla Archive Format (MAF) add-on then Multiprocess Windows (Electrolysis) is "Disabled by add-ons".

 

 FF ESR 52_9_0 Multiprocess Disabled MAF Enabled.png   6.8KB   0 downloads

 

If you are running out of available memory when Firefox ESR v52.9.0 is open then it might help to disable Electrolysis (e10s) multiprocessing. To do this open the advanced settings (enter about:config in the address bar) and set browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 to FALSE.  Note that browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 is not supported in FF 58+; some newer FF 58+ browsers can disable Electrolysis by setting browser.tabs.remote.autostart to FALSE (see cor-el's 2018 solution in the Firefox forum thread Why is Firefox Using Too Much Memory?) but as far as I know Electrolysis cannot be turned off in the latest FF versions (see the 2019 ghacks.net article Going Forward, Multi-Process Can't Be Turned Off Anymore in Firefox).

Low Available RAM / Test for Failing Memory

I don't know how much free RAM you typically have on your system when Firefox is loaded and multiple tabs are open but you might also want to consider testing your RAM to see if failing.  I'd suggest starting with HCI Design's MemTest for Windows utility recommend in the Tom's Hardware article How to Test RAM: Making Sure Bad Memory Isn't Crashing Your PC. It's a portable tool that doesn't require installation - just unzip and run the memtest.exe executable.  The MemTest manual at https://hcidesign.com/memtest/manual.html suggests that you use the default setting and test the unused RAM that is not in use by your Windows OS and other applications, so be sure you close all unnecessary third-party programs before starting your test.

If you need to test the integrity of all your RAM (i.e., without your Windows OS loaded on your machine and consuming RAM) you need to use a utility like Passmark's MemTest86 described in that Tom's Hardware article that must be run off a bootable USB or CD.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * Speccy Portable v1.32.740
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Edited by lmacri, 10 February 2022 - 02:40 PM.

...with a little experimentation you could probably determine which specific tabs cause the browser to crash if they are left open too long. Once this has been determined, just dont leave those tabs open! Use bookmarks instead.

Hint: One website that should not be left open is YouTube. This browser is dying of old age, and there is really no fix for that. Its usefulness will continue to decline.

@Imacri Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I can access the profile manager the way you showed me. It's just that it crashed again (though I didn't test it nearly as much as I would) despite the new profile if I remember correctly. I'll try it again though just to make sure.

 

My total RAM is 4 GB so maybe it's not enough anymore.

I can't go through all your suggestions right now (thank you very much!!) but I did turn browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 to false (haven't tested things yet).

 

Probably tomorrow I'll go through the rest as well. Once again, thank you!

My total RAM is 4 GB so maybe it's not enough anymore.

That is barely sufficient for Vista x64, but the maximum for Vista x86.

My total RAM is 4 GB so maybe it's not enough anymore.

That is barely sufficient for Vista x64, but the maximum for Vista x86.

I've ran windows Vista and windows 7 on 4gigs of ram with no issues and I'm a gamer. You are wrong here.

My total RAM is 4 GB so maybe it's not enough anymore.

That is barely sufficient for Vista x64, but the maximum for Vista x86.

I've ran windows Vista and windows 7 on 4gigs of ram with no issues and I'm a gamer. You are wrong here.

Yes, I ran Vista x86 on 3 GB RAM for 12 years with no issues, and I believe Imacri did likewise. (However, neither of us were using Vista by 2021.) If I had used the word insufficient, then your point might have some merit, but barely sufficient seems correct to me. Vista x64 systems with 16 GB RAM were not uncommon back in the day.