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Thunderbird random crashing @ OOM | large -and- @ OOM | small; xul.dll in crash thread. Cause: Bitdefender? (mookien)

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I recently updated to Thunderbird version 78.8.1 (32-bit) on my Windows 10 machine and it crashes at random. I was previously using version 60.9.1 without issue. The crash reports indicate that xul.dll is the culprit. There are several entries--in red--that indicate xul.dll only, so I'm assuming that this is the issue. Any idea how to address this?

I have multiple (IMAP) email accounts on my TB profile from various hosts including IONOS, Hostgator, A2, and Google. I didn't have any issues when I was using an older version of Thunderbird but now the crashing is persistent. This is happening at both work and home; I'm using the same email profile for both. It's also happening for other users at my company who have recently upgraded. Different A/V for home/work PCs so not sure that this is the issue.

Using the following add-ons: Manage Emails (Nostalgy++), Manually sort folders, Provider for Google Calendar, Quickfolders, and Remove Duplicate Messages. Tried to restart with add-ons disabled and was still crashing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I recently updated to Thunderbird version 78.8.1 (32-bit) on my Windows 10 machine and it crashes at random. I was previously using version 60.9.1 without issue. The crash reports indicate that '''xul.dll''' is the culprit. There are several entries--in red--that indicate xul.dll only, so I'm assuming that this is the issue. Any idea how to address this? I have multiple (IMAP) email accounts on my TB profile from various hosts including IONOS, Hostgator, A2, and Google. I didn't have any issues when I was using an older version of Thunderbird but now the crashing is persistent. This is happening at both work and home; I'm using the same email profile for both. It's also happening for other users at my company who have recently upgraded. Different A/V for home/work PCs so not sure that this is the issue. Using the following add-ons: Manage Emails (Nostalgy++), Manually sort folders, Provider for Google Calendar, Quickfolders, and Remove Duplicate Messages. Tried to restart with add-ons disabled and was still crashing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Endret av Wayne Mery

Valgt løsning

Seems to be stable now. No crashes for a majority of the affected computers this week. I did reduce the number of accounts on the profiles where this was happening and also updated to TB version 78.9.0 so that seemed to work. Thanks for helping out with this. I'll go ahead and mark it as solved.

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All Replies (20)

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What is the crash ID? It's a string or URL beginning with bp-.... in the Crash Reports section of Help/Troubleshooting.

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bp-dc9b9d70-195d-49e8-b56b-d47420210321

This is one from 15 minutes ago 2021-03-21-1725 ET.

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Please also post the crash ID that occurred in safe mode

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I have many crash reports and not sure which one was the report when TB was in safe mode. Is there any way to determine this?

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If you post the full list, I can determine which one. Please paste as text, not an image.

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bp-5b8dee58-c388-431a-9907-431120210322 3/22/2021, 7:24 AM bp-4aa6e0d7-5fee-4e75-8766-802090210321 3/21/2021, 8:16 AM bp-43fbd983-3a3d-49b7-ac5b-a3c9a0210320 3/20/2021, 7:30 PM bp-d51715d2-50ce-43bb-b7d6-0c76f0210320 3/20/2021, 7:42 AM bp-2db33c91-2908-4247-b82f-6d1ad0210319 3/19/2021, 2:59 PM bp-abee671f-4beb-4474-a010-e76660210319 3/19/2021, 8:37 AM bp-3627e805-4e7f-435f-b9e1-2c7a90210319 3/18/2021, 8:14 PM bp-1b39f300-0c89-426f-ab58-da25f0210318 3/18/2021, 7:23 AM bp-7584aac9-597a-45b7-b859-1d9d40210317 3/17/2021, 5:08 PM bp-653962b8-937e-49f5-a4b7-7312b0210317 3/17/2021, 11:24 AM bp-88a089e8-b044-46de-8dc4-aa0d80210317 3/17/2021, 7:25 AM bp-6577ea13-68ee-4f19-93c5-dbd500210316 3/16/2021, 3:45 PM bp-d89c2434-0d0f-47d2-bbb2-6dfd80210316 3/16/2021, 11:44 AM bp-9866c202-c861-4e20-bd6a-1f91d0210315 3/15/2021, 7:30 AM bp-a9317e77-5c4c-4318-8163-b19cc0210315 3/14/2021, 10:18 PM bp-1d7d195c-a94d-4bf3-995e-4efd30210314 3/14/2021, 8:59 AM bp-719f5246-1ae6-4608-b00c-39d220210314 3/13/2021, 10:12 PM bp-a3c1cbb3-a1a1-41a1-a8a7-9f2670210312 3/12/2021, 1:34 PM bp-aa276805-9756-4485-b1fe-69e6a0210312 3/12/2021, 7:30 AM bp-3bbb21bb-bbcc-45fa-b582-3eafb0210311 3/11/2021, 7:22 AM bp-2f5285a7-d794-403e-8cb8-eff080210310 3/10/2021, 7:29 AM bp-c7175570-1f8f-48ba-b014-abcff0210310 3/9/2021, 9:49 PM bp-4120daee-681c-499a-987d-ed2550210309 3/9/2021, 7:29 AM bp-d54fc8c3-e697-4b38-9d05-21bf20210308 3/8/2021, 8:32 AM bp-3be68199-6a7f-4b7e-b566-a0dcf0210308 3/7/2021, 8:24 PM bp-effb0dae-12d1-4acb-986e-c660e0210301 3/1/2021, 9:39 AM bp-0fbd5018-bd65-4f52-8e0d-d50880210127 1/27/2021, 10:28 AM

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Thanks. Yes, using Bitdefender on my work PC. I'll check in with Bitdefender to disable Antispam as a test.

Thunderbird is also crashing on my home PC which runs MS Defender only but let's see what happens on my work PC.

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Five crash signatures for the record

[@ OOM | small] - Thunderbird 78.8.1 Crash Report - Report ID: 5b8dee58-c388-431a-9907-431120210322 https://crash-stats.mozilla.org/report/index/5b8dee58-c388-431a-9907-431120210322#tab-details

[@ OOM | large | xul.dll | _PR_NativeRunThread | pr_root] - Thunderbird 78.8.1 Crash Report - Report ID: 4aa6e0d7-5fee-4e75-8766-802090210321 https://crash-stats.mozilla.org/report/index/4aa6e0d7-5fee-4e75-8766-802090210321#tab-modules

[@ OOM | large | mozalloc_abort | moz_xmalloc | xul.dll | NS_internal_main] - Thunderbird 78.8.1 Crash Report - Report ID: 43fbd983-3a3d-49b7-ac5b-a3c9a0210320 https://crash-stats.mozilla.org/report/index/43fbd983-3a3d-49b7-ac5b-a3c9a0210320#tab-extensions

[@ xul.dll | NS_internal_main] - Thunderbird 78.8.1 Crash Report - Report ID: 3627e805-4e7f-435f-b9e1-2c7a90210319 https://crash-stats.mozilla.org/report/index/3627e805-4e7f-435f-b9e1-2c7a90210319#tab-extensions

[@ arena_t::DallocSmall | je_free | XPCWrappedNative::~XPCWrappedNative] - Thunderbird 78.8.0 Crash Report - Report ID: effb0dae-12d1-4acb-986e-c660e0210301 https://crash-stats.mozilla.org/report/index/effb0dae-12d1-4acb-986e-c660e0210301

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Some similarity to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1322321

Have you determined if Bitdefender is the proximate cause?

If so https://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?/topic/81641-latest-update-breaks-thunderbird/&do=findComment&comment=293676 describes a process to submit information to the vendor, information they need to diagnose the problem. I would urge you to submit data using that process.

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Thanks for the update, Wayne.

I reached out to Bitdefender and received the following response, The Antispam rules should not affect the way that Mozilla Thunderbird works, especially if the situation is related to crashes. Can you please let us know if there is any particular detection in Bitdefender regarding the Thunderbird client? If not, can you please let us know if there is any specific error code seen when Thunderbird crashes? If yes, please provide us a screenshot of it. This is not an usual behavior for our Product and we will need to further test to observe what exactly is causing the issue on the machine. In order to pin-point the module which is causing this issue, you will have to uninstall them one at a time.'

This crashing issue is also happening with my home computer with Microsoft Defender only. Here are some of the crash IDs for my home PC:

bp-dc9b9d70-195d-49e8-b56b-d47420210321 3/21/2021, 5:24 PM bp-a4a9aa71-4b12-4b3b-bc11-36aa70210320 3/20/2021, 3:07 PM bp-5117f290-7cd5-433e-8bc8-c31490210318 3/18/2021, 6:53 PM bp-37555d60-b235-4150-b737-d2a910210314 3/14/2021, 7:20 PM bp-6ff79cf0-c149-4e31-b932-7ab3b0210314 3/13/2021, 10:11 PM bp-ad41b088-e610-4842-8e37-edf650210311 3/11/2021, 4:51 PM bp-ede68ad7-36a3-4e35-9e57-216d30210307 3/7/2021, 12:08 PM bp-44c8a7b1-c3c4-4b15-83c8-ee6000210307 3/7/2021, 11:18 AM

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Thanks for the update. These last set of crash IDs are similar. Unfortunately the stacks are not great.

It is certainly possible that Bitdefender is not the cause, given that they recently fixed a problem (in early January). That said, that fixing points to the fact that AV can be a cause.

But let's stay open minded. My thoughts to move forward

1. These crashes tend to be after 5-6 hours of uptime, so I would ask that you check hourly to see how much memory thunderbird.exe is using. Perhaps through that inspection we can find some activities that tend to consume memory faster. 2. On your work machine you are crashing daily, on average. So seriously consider disabling half your currently enabled add-ons for a day or two. Assess the results. And likewise, then do the second half. 3. If we still come up empty, then we must look at doing Thunderbird in safe mode, and Windows in safe mode.

For the records, your list of addons from one of the crashes...

{a300a000-5e21-4ee0-a115-9ec8f4eaa92b} 0.5.1b2 quickfolders@curious.be 5.4.1 {a62ef8ec-5fdc-40c2-873c-223b8a6925cc} 78.0.1 tbsortfolders@xulforum.org 2.0.6 nostalgy@opto.one 2.2.4

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Forgot to ask ... on the work machine, what is the largest folder in number of messages?

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Thanks again, Wayne. Correct on crash frequency. I have quite a few email accounts on my TB profile but would say that one of the biggest has 70,000+ emails within the account. A decision was made a for consolidating several email accounts into one big account.

I've disabled add-ons on my work profile and will see how that works out. I'm home today and will keep my home profile with add-ons enabled and with monitor both.

Do you think disabling Server Settings > Check for new messages... would make a difference? Many of these accounts are used solely as an email repository so we don't really need to check for emails at a given interval.

We're also in the process of moving many of our domains/email accounts from IONOS to Hostgator and now have several Hostgator email accounts on my TB profile. We did this at the same time that we updated Thunderbird so not sure if this is a contributing factor.

BTW....both instances of Thunderbird--home and work--crashed at approximately the same time a few minutes ago:

bp-af23e239-312f-43b2-98ee-88efc0210323 (work) bp-a099c96b-6776-45c0-af19-01bd00210323 (home)

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mookien said

Thanks again, Wayne. Correct on crash frequency. I have quite a few email accounts on my TB profile but would say that one of the biggest has 70,000+ emails within the account. A decision was made a for consolidating several email accounts into one big account. I've disabled add-ons on my work profile and will see how that works out. I'm home today and will keep my home profile with add-ons enabled and with monitor both. Do you think disabling Server Settings > Check for new messages... would make a difference? Many of these accounts are used solely as an email repository so we don't really need to check for emails at a given interval.

It might. Even better, set Thunderbird's status to offline (effectively blocking all network activity), and then go online only when you are prepared to read mail.

mookien said

BTW....both instances of Thunderbird--home and work--crashed at approximately the same time a few minutes ago:

This raises a question I had not considered, do these two PCs access the same email accounts?

mookien said

bp-af23e239-312f-43b2-98ee-88efc0210323 (work) bp-a099c96b-6776-45c0-af19-01bd00210323 (home)

OOM small and large, respectively

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Work Thunderbird profile set to offline. I'll send an update tomorrow when I'm back at my work desk.

Yes, my work and home Thunderbird profiles access the same email accounts and calendars. I'm going to reduce the number of accounts over the next few weeks since we're consolidating but hope this doesn't cause issues by having few email accounts with way more emails per account.

Re: OOM - is there something I could glean from the reports? Should I upgrade my PC's memory?

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mookien said

Work Thunderbird profile set to offline. I'll send an update tomorrow when I'm back at my work desk. Yes, my work and home Thunderbird profiles access the same email accounts and calendars. I'm going to reduce the number of accounts over the next few weeks since we're consolidating but hope this doesn't cause issues by having few email accounts with way more emails per account.

Same accounts and calendars both PC might imply that the fault correlates to specific emails, or sequence of incoming emails.

It might be nice to nail the cause before you make significant changes, which introduces new variables. All imap accounts?

mookien said

Re: OOM - is there something I could glean from the reports? Should I upgrade my PC's memory?

Not really.

If I read the reports correctly, on both PC you have 16gb memory, and are running 32bit Thunderbird which yields 4gb process space.

Normally 4gb should be adequate (70k messages should take <1gb memory, calendar - unknown), assuming you don't do silly things that tweakers do like manually restricting paging size in Windows settings. Unfortunately the crash doesn't tell me how much memory Thunderbird was using, so tracking memory size hourly, or noting it just before you go online should answer the question of whether there is a steady memory loss, vs sudden catastrophic loss, or neither (perhaps irrecoverable memory corruption).

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Yes, all IMAP accounts.

Unfortunately, I may not have a choice re: setting up new accounts. I've been tasked with migrating email from IONOS to Hostgator this week so I will likely just create a new profile with the new email accounts and will see what happens. I'll do this on another free PC to check behavior.

I think it makes sense to schedule and log performance monitoring (memory). Might give some insight when there's a TB crash.

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Update, 2021-03-24-1511 EDT: No useful feedback from Bitdefender other than uninstall/reinstall. Instead, I decided to download Thunderbird (ver 78.9.0) on a new PC at work (which also has Bitdefender and other programs) and installed several email accounts as well as the add-ons that I have on my current PC. Thunderbird crashed on my current PC a little while ago but Thunderbird seems to be stable on the test PC. Fingers crossed.

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mookien

still stable?

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