Arch Linux

yomtendok

Member

Registered: 2007-10-21

Posts: 15

Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

For a couple of reasons I decided to go ahead and install OSS a few days ago.  On the first day, the install went smoothly and everything was working just as it should (I used the oss-linux-free PKGBUILD in AUR).  Yesterday and today, however, I've started to get a reoccurring problem that is, to put it lightly, driving me nuts.

Firefox (or Epiphany, though I prefer the former) consistently crashes when opening up any site that uses Flash or Java.  With the way the internet is going, this is a large chunk of websites—not being able to visit YouTube or the website for Enemy Territory: Quake wars, for instance, is driving me nuts.

Now, when I say "consistently" I don't mean each and every time.  I've been able to get these sites to load a number of times, but in the last two days Firefox has crashed in probably 2/3-3/4 of the time when loading any site that has a Flash element.  I've made sure that I have not wrongly assumed this has to do with my newly installed OSS by uninstalling, reinstalling the kernel and all ALSA packages, rebooting, and then surfing the web for a while to see if anything went wrong.  It didn't. 

So my question is this: why is Firefox crashing so often in the two days since I've installed OSS?  What can be done to rectify this?

After some experimenting, it seems the problem is worst under the following conditions:
- Having several tabs open, though not necessarily several tabs with Flash
- Listening to music and THEN navigating to YouTube or something.
However, it's not specific to these circumstances.  In fact, just before I decided to make this post I opened Firefox, went to a site with Flash on it (one tab), and it immediately shut down.  I tried this three or four additional times and was met with the exact same results.

Other info
Firefox: Pre-compiled Mozilla i686 build, v. 2.0.0.11
OSS: OSS (GPL version) 4.0, build 1012
Operating System: Arch Linux 2.6.23-ARCH

I've also posted this here.

Hohoho

Member

Registered: 2007-06-23

Posts: 222

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

I'm using:
flashplugin 9.0.115.0-1
swiftweasel-pentium-4 2.0.0.7-1

and I get hangs when loading flash containing websites. Not always, but approximately 1 out of 10 times, perhaps this could be related?
Also, this started after the last update of flashplugin.

mrunion

Member

From: Jonesborough, TN

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 1,938

Website

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

This happens to me with the latest flash plugin and Firefox as well.  I don't have OSS so I don't think it's that.

---

Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

I have the same problem. I've never been able to identify when it started. Once firefox crashes, mpd, if it was playing, becomes unresponsive. The only way to get a flash site working again is to reboot my computer.

I uninstalled flash: I'm not going to put up with that kind of behaviour. Now I watch youtube videos on other people's computers --you know how they say "You've GOT to see this movie!". And if I really need to see that one specific video, there's youtube-dl.

Unfortunately gnash doesn't work on youtube for me.

mrunion

Member

From: Jonesborough, TN

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 1,938

Website

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

I wish I could uninstall it.  At work we're developing a website and the Flash people use the absolute latest release Adobe puts out -- So I gotta go with Flash to be able to do the DEV work.  Ticks me off, but Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

---

Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

Unfortunately gnash doesn't work on youtube for me.

swfdec always works on youtube for me.

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

Thanks skottish! swfdec does the job very well.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Firefox consistently crashes when loading Flash sites

Thanks skottish! swfdec does the job very well.

Sweet!

You know what's super-cool? Gnome is including swfdec as the default Flash viewer as of the upcoming 2.22. Swfdec now has major backing! It won't be long...