Firefox crashes with BadWindow X error

[Arnold J Noronha]

... when run from "Run Command" box

Binary package hint: firefox

On my system (upgraded Breezy->Dapper->Edgy->Fiesty) Firefox doesn't start up from the "Run command" (Alt+F2) dialog box. But it works fine when run from a terminal. On doing "firefox 2>/path/to/file", I get the following in /path/to/file.

 The program 'firefox-bin' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.
  (Details: serial 2722 error_code 3 request_code 20 minor_code 0)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

I get the same if I try with the --sync command.
I've been having this problem for quite some time, perhaps it started on my Edgy system, I can't be too sure.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 05:09:46PM -0000, Arnold J Noronha wrote:
> Public bug reported:
>
> Binary package hint: firefox
>
> On my system (upgraded Breezy->Dapper->Edgy->Fiesty) Firefox doesn't start up from the "Run command" (Alt+F2) dialog box. But it works fine when run from a terminal. On doing "firefox 2>/path/to/file", I get the following in /path/to/file.
>

> The program 'firefox-bin' received an X Window System error.
> This probably reflects a bug in the program.
> The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.

Does this happen always or just sporadically?

 - Alexander

[Arnold J Noronha (arnold)]

On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 07:03:15PM -0000, Alexander Sack wrote:
> Does this happen always or just sporadically?

Sporadically. Should've mentioned that earlier. But when it happens it
keeps happening.

--Arnold

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

I can confirm this.

I have the same error in ~/.xsession.errors then, if it fails. It fails sometimes/sporadically, but works afterwards then.

I've experienced since a while already.

Maybe this is related to some extension? - I have quite a lot, and remember that Firefox sometimes had been segfaulting on first startup, in conjunction with the Html Validator add-on IIRC.
Maybe related to screen resolution (1920x1200 here) and/or window positioning?

[Harm van Bakel (hvbakel)]

I can confirm this as well. I'm running firefox on a Dell D810 with an ATI X600 using the fglrx driver at a screen resolution of 1920x1200. I'm currently using feisty beta, but I've seen this problem since Dapper (for some reason it's just more frequent in feisty). I'm only running two extensions, adblock plus and mouse gestures.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

I do not have those extensions here, and use the nvidia binary drivers (nvidia 6600GT).

The resolution is the same however!

What screen resolution do the others use?

[Arnold J Noronha (arnold)]

On Thu, Apr 12, 2007 at 06:19:48PM -0000, dAniel hAhler wrote:
> I do not have those extensions here, and use the nvidia binary drivers
> (nvidia 6600GT).
>
> The resolution is the same however!
>
> What screen resolution do the others use?

I'm on 1024x768. Intel 915GM. Using Adblock Plus and Web Developer.

[Harm van Bakel (hvbakel)]

I've also tried to switch back to the ATI driver (instead of fglrx), but the problem persists.

[Harm van Bakel (hvbakel)]

I just installed swiftfox from the repositories provided at http://getswiftfox.com/debian.htm and it doesn't seem to be affected by the same problem. No crash in ~30 swiftfox starts.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

tepsipakki, can you give us some advice here ... e.g. how to properly debug those kind of crashes?

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

I was advised that these are "almost always bugs in the app". But how to debug it.. no idea :/ Attaching gdb to it seems tricky if not impossible. Could firefox be run from the dialog with gdb? Write a script that does the output and stuff?

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

Confirmed in gutsy. I was trying to report a bug using /usr/bin/ubuntu-bug.
Crash file attached.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

I reported a crash at bug #133270, and what I exactly did to get it.

When this happens, I disable desktop effects and then it works.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

It looks like some kind of timing triggers it.
I'm able to (sometimes) reproduce it when running ubuntu-bug, but not when running firefox directly.

I've tried to debug using strace, but I haven't been able to reproduce it using the -f option. Attached is output of strace -F -tt ubuntu-bug 2>strace-ubuntu-bug.log.
I've not been able to reproduce it from gdb, the program always exits normally.

[Juan Pablo Salazar Bertín (snifer)]

strace -F -tt ubuntu-bug 2>strace-ubuntu-bug-noerr.log

No error.

[David38840 (dridley)]

Hi everyone, I too am having problems with crashing with the following report from the desktop terminal :
The program '<unknown>' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.
  (Details: serial 58082 error_code 3 request_code 20 minor_code 0)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
INTERNAL ERROR on Browser End: Pipe closed during read? State may be corrupt
System error?:: Resource temporarily unavailable

Can anyone suggest anything to a newbie???? Thanks to everyone

[hackel (hackel)]

Seeing this again with FF3.5 RC2 (from ubuntu-mozilla-daily PPA), which I know is not a part of Ubuntu, but it seems this issue has been present for a while and is related to something other than Firefox itself, in combination with Compiz and GTK.

[hackel (hackel)]

I am no longer seeing this issue with 3.5.1~hg20090629r26036+nobinonly-0ubuntu2~umd1~jaunty.

[ariel cornejo (arielco)]

Happens in 3.5.2+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1, but only when starting through the Profile Manager:

The program 'firefox-3.5' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.
  (Details: serial 2155 error_code 3 request_code 20 minor_code 0)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 401055, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Please continue to report any other bugs you may find.