I’ve been using Firefox 3 since Release Candidate 1 (RC1) and what I really like about the new version is the improvement in time required to load web pages. Loading any websites seems to be much faster. However, the memory usage problem is there. Three weeks later came Firefox Release Candidate 2 (RC2) and I immediately downloaded and installed RC2 because it is suppose to fix more bugs.
Firefox 3 Crash Problem
I started to experience real big problem with Firefox 3 RC2 that is intermittently crashing of the browser. I thought this is normal because it is still under testing and not a final stable release. Within a week, Firefox RC3 was released and it is the last RC before the final release. Updated to RC3, still the same crashing problem. About a week later, Firefox 3 final was released and I immediately updated my Firefox to the latest version hoping that the crashing problem would be fixed.

Unfortunately even the final “stable” version of Firefox 3 is still crashing intermittently. Waited for nearly 2 weeks, but still no updates. This crashing problem is really annoying because it is intermittent and there is no way to replicate the problem. Firefox 3 can crash when opening a site with flash, opening a new tab, closing tab, filling up forms and etc… I’ve got really fed up with the problem and I had to find a solution.

Sometimes I’d get a screen that says “firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. For more information about this error, click here.”

firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close

Clicking the more information link shows that there is a problem with mozcrt19.dll at offset 00006c6c. Sometimes it is caused by other DLL files.
mozcrt19.dll error signature

And sometimes Firefox 3 crash is caused by ModName unknown at offset 0521001d.
Firefox crash modname unknown

There are times that Firefox 3 just crashes and closes itself. Immediately after that Mozilla Crash Report window will show asking me to report the problem to Firefox developers.
Firefox crash reporter

Firstly, I uninstalled Firefox and deleted Firefox folders in Program Files. I then install a clean version of Firefox 3 and use a new profile. After using it for a while, Firefox 3 crashed again. It clearly shows that there are problems with Firefox 3 because I’ve already done a clean installation and using a new profile.

I tried using the latest Opera but somehow I am not used to it. Some of the shortcut keys and mouse clicks are different. One example is I need to simultaneously press CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT CLICK to open a link in a new tab. As for Firefox, it only requires CTRL + LEFT CLICK to open a link in a new tab… Another problem is some of the websites doesn’t display correctly in Opera.

I could revert back to Firefox 2 but I am so used to the speed in loading websites with Firefox 3. I remembered that the most stable version I used for Firefox 3 was RC1. What I did was I downloaded Firefox 3 RC1 Portable, extracted to my hard drive, copied my local profile to the portable version and voila, I am using Firefox 3 but no crashes. This is my temporary solution until the developer of Firefox fix the crashing problem. The local Firefox profile is usually installed in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.???\ Just copy the contents of that folder (except the cache directories) to the FirefoxPortable\Data\profile directory.

I know that I will be exposed to security risk when using Firefox 3 RC1 but crashing few times a day is very annoying, unproductive and gets on my nerves. I have Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 and it should protect my computer from any malicious codes that is vulnerable to Firefox 3 RC1.

Update: I noticed that an Add-on {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}:3.0 is causing the crash. The weird thing is I don’t even have any add-on installed! I went to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions and found a folder {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd} with a install.rdf file inside. I removed the folder and so far it’s not crashing for me “yet”.

[ Download Firefox 3 RC1 Portable ]

[tags]firefox, crash, browser, internet, RC1[/tags]