We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox crashes when not in use

more options

Firefox works great, but when I stop working with it (for instance: to go cooking) after a not known while it crashes and when I get back only the crash screen is visible. The problem started after the pre-last update. My computer is a Dell studio laptop and de plug-ins for Firefox are: AdBlock+, Ghostery and DuckDuckgo. I already sent numerous crash-reports.

Firefox works great, but when I stop working with it (for instance: to go cooking) after a not known while it crashes and when I get back only the crash screen is visible. The problem started after the pre-last update. My computer is a Dell studio laptop and de plug-ins for Firefox are: AdBlock+, Ghostery and DuckDuckgo. I already sent numerous crash-reports.

All Replies (6)

more options
  1. Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A list of Submitted/Unsubmitted Crash Reports will appear, similar to the one shown below.
  2. Copy the 5 most recent Submitted Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste those IDs into the "Post a Reply" box.

Note: If a recent Report ID does not start with bp- click on it to submit the report.

(Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the IDs. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like.)

aboutcrashesFx57

Thank you for your help!

More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

more options

Hi plumage, sorry to hear about the crashes and thank you for submitting reports. To get specific assistance, you can share some recent reports with forum volunteers to see whether we recognize how to solve the problem. Please check the support article "Firefox crashes - asking for support" for steps to get those crash report IDs from the about:crashes page, and then post some of the recent ones here.

more options

These are the 5 most recent reports:

bp-54697308-f695-4cf1-9853-2bb790190101 bp-e329ca31-ab44-4b8b-a360-588a90190101 bp-4fdce1b2-5709-4ab8-b966-10c7b0190101 bp-345e70f1-3117-4b64-9816-828e80190101 bp-919a13bd-341b-4129-b660-c61060190101

thx.

more options

Thanks. All five has the same "signature": "IPCError-browser | ShutDownKill". But:

  • in 2 reports, Firefox shut down in 13-15 seconds
  • in 3 reports, Firefox shut down after 7 hours and 14 minutes and 1 second, +/-10 seconds

That's both startlingly consistent and inconsistent.

Do you have any reports for Firefox 64, in case they possibly provide more clues?

more options

Here is one example:

bp-9f99a479-86da-4c3a-bc3a-068110181214

more options

Thanks. This is another IPC error:

IPCFatalErrorMsg : "Error deserializing 'data' (SerializedStructuredCloneBuffer) member of 'ClonedMessageData'"

IPC refers to interprocess communications, which is how the browser process exchanges messages with the processes running web content.

I still can't tell what is causing it, however, whether it is triggered by something in a page running in one of your tabs, or by external software (such as AVG), or is a "sleep/wake" problem that sometimes affects Windows users. Do you notice any pattern to it?