Latest Firefox update freezing my system

[paz]

The latest updates of firefox renders my machine useless. I'm sending it as is hopefully before it freezes completely.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: firefox 69.0+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-62.69-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-62-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.7
Architecture: i386
BuildID: 20190828152935
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Sep 20 01:22:17 2019
DefaultProfileExtensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfileIncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
DefaultProfileLocales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfilePrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:997
DefaultProfileThemes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-05-01 (506 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release i386 (20170412)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles:
 Profile1 (Default) - LastVersion=None/None (Out of date)
 Profile0 - LastVersion=69.0/20190828152935 (In use)
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by "renders my machine useless". What exactly are you observing, under what circumstances?

This was reported against version 69.0+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 and since then version 69.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 was published, did it make things any better?

[paz (mozit)]

@Oliver Tilloy (osomon): What I mean when I say "renders my machine useless" - the system is freezing. I have to hard boot it after a short time with only the home page of Firefox open. as long as I'm not starting Firefox - the system is working without any issues at all. for your question about updating, Yes I did.Unfortunately it didn't change the situation for me.

I already tried the usual stuff - refreshed the browser,created a new profile but didn't help.
This is my first time ever I face such a strange unsolvable issue in Firefox.I have Ubuntu 16.04 (dual boot} And now I just forced to use it on a daily basis . if it was an hardware issue that could surface in the other system as well I believe.
Thanks for looking at it.
Paz

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Thanks for the feedback. Could you please reproduce the freeze, and after rebooting, run the following commands in a terminal and attach the resulting /tmp/journal.tar.bz2 file (or make it available somewhere):

    journalctl -b-1 > /tmp/journal.txt
    tar cjf /tmp/journal.tar.bz2 /tmp/journal.txt

Thanks!

[paz (mozit)]

Here it is ...

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Thanks!
Unfortunately I'm not seeing anything really suspicious in the journal.

Could you try to downgrade to 68.0.2+build1 (you'll need to fetch the packages manually from https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/68.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) and see if that version is affected too?

[paz (mozit)]

Thanks for looking at it.
Maybe the log messages can give you a clue?
This one is current. A lot of Firefox, Gecko references in there.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Can you start firefox in safe mode and report whether the freeze still happens?

    firefox --safe-mode

[paz (mozit)]

I did all those things before I even desperately called for help.
safe mode, refresh, new profile and so on.
the only change in safe mode was faster start-up. and then the freeze again.
Now I did downgrade as you suggested - was much better then I updateD again ( update-manager was nagging me -:) ) .
Today the 70th version came up and so far for few hours I have my beloved Firefox and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
back to normal.
Hopefully ...Is it OK to wait few days more before closing it, to be sure all is really well?

Thanks a lot,
Paz

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Oh, that's really good news!

Yes, let's wait a few days and close this bug if the issue is really fixed. If the problem happens again, please shout here.

[paz (mozit)]

Hello @Oliver Tilloy(osomon), The good news are that I can at least use the browser most of the time but not all the time... I'm adding log messages. I initiated oom to kill the processes instead of hard booting. I hope it will help you to see what's happening.
Thank you,
Paz

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

What do you mean by "not all the time"? Does the browser still freeze from time to time?

[paz (mozit)]

Yes, freeze from time to time and the all system freezing with it.
alt+f+prinscreen (oom killer) or hard reboot are the only options to go back from it.
My suspect is multi processes by default but I'm just guessing.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you check the available RAM/swap, could perhaps be that the system is running out of memory?
The log you added seems to confirm that
08:22:31 kernel: Out of memory: Kill process 4459 (gnome-shell) score 106 or sacrifice child

[paz (mozit)]

Thank you for looking at it @seb 128,
as I mentioned above, I initiated the oom when my browser and the system are completely freezing.
It is happening only when using Firefox (last 2 versions). it feels like a process within the browser
just go wild suddenly and cousin the freeze.

There is a major improvement in the last update but still going on randomly.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you give the memory usage information from top before opening firefox? do you have any swap activated?

[paz (mozit)]

 $ free
              total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 1022440 299328 378272 808 344840 567588
Swap: 603372 344256 259116

 $ cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda6 partition 92156 792 -1
/dev/zram0 partition 255608 171064 5
/dev/zram1 partition 255608 171048 5

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.