Browsers crashing

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Browsers crashing

For some not-so-small time now, Opera 10 has been crashing whenever I attempt to download a file. I submitted bug reports, went to the Opera forums etc etc and have yet not received any replies. (The issue was briefly resolved post clean-reinstall of Opera, but it came back) In the meanwhile, I downloaded Firefox, and I just noticed that Firefox frequently crashes in the exact same circumstances. I download a file, select the download location, and when I press "save", the application crashes and prompts me to restart...

This is now leading me to believe this might be a problem on Apple's side. I mean, what are the odds of two browsers constantly crashing under the same exact circumstances?

Has anybody else experienced this?

Macbook 2.0GHz, 2gb ram, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 5:46 PM

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Answer 1

Lord Kamina Author

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Sep 22, 2009 3:07 PM in response to Lord Kamina

Two days later, and I have experienced the same exact behavior on Opera, Firefox, Safari, Transmission and Adobe Acrobat. I think there is definitely going on with Snow Leopard here... It crashes when saving a file after showing a destination selection dialog. That is, if I open something, use "Save as" or whatever equivalent, I get a crash. if I just use "Save" or if for example I tell Firefox to always download to the same folder, without my input, I get no crash.

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Answer 2

Oct 4, 2009 8:28 PM in response to Lord Kamina

Hi, I've just noticed this behaviour on my Snow Leopard Install.

Was trying to save a forum post and doing so crashed each browser (Firefox, Safari, Chrome) I tried to do it on. Had to open a virtual windows machine in the end to save it.

Didn't try a straight-forward save but used "save as". I believe there's a few posts on the forum that are related to this problem. Hopefully someone can find a solution.

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Answer 3

pila1

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70 points

Oct 4, 2009 10:24 PM in response to Lord Kamina

The first thing what I recommend you do in a situation like this is to create
another User and see if the problem is the same.

If not, then there is something wrong in your setup.

Pila

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Answer 4

Oct 6, 2009 7:15 PM in response to pila1

In my case, a new user account fixed the "save as" problem. However that doesn't fix the problem though, as I have a lot invested in my current user account.

Would an erase and install fix it I wonder? Then import just apps and user settings. Or is there a problem with my user settings. If so, it must have only been introduced when I installed Snow Leopard, as I didn't have this problem under Leopard.

Any more help appreciated.

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Answer 5

pila1

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70 points

Oct 6, 2009 7:27 PM in response to Paul Woodford

It could be a "Flash" problem. Make sure you have the latest Flash installed.

Pila

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Answer 6

Oct 8, 2009 1:47 AM in response to pila1

Thanks for the help pila1, and sorry to Lord Kamina for any thread hijacking.

The latest flash is installed unfortunately. However, in desperation, I did an erase and install (using Disk Utility to format my HD) then imported across only my old user account and applications from my time machine backup.

Having done this, it's seemed to fix my "save as" problem. However, it's a bit of a drastic solution, and the only reason I did it was because I was having some other niggles with Snow Leopard. Anyway, now I've just got to get networking working, and then I'll be 100% satisfied with Snow Leopard 🙂

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Answer 7

Lord Kamina Author

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Oct 8, 2009 3:22 AM in response to Paul Woodford

Hmm... That is what I did in the FIRST PLACE.

Also, I know it can't be flash because I now see this is an issue not only affecting browsers. It's definitely a SL problem, as it affects any application which has the capability to open a save as dialog.

(From Opera to Acrobat to iMovie to Quicktime, etc)

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Answer 8

Oct 8, 2009 11:10 AM in response to Lord Kamina

Hmmm...yes I agree, definitely a Snow Leopard problem. Before my re-installation I also got crashes in mail when using the attachment window so I also agree that it is system-wide.

I suppose the only hope now is that Apple addresses this problem in a future update, or someone finds a cure for it on the internet.

I would also recommend filing a bug with Apple at:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
or
http://bugreporter.apple.com/
Apple Developer Connection (ADC) account needed for BugReporter.

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Answer 9

pila1

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70 points

Oct 8, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Lord Kamina

+It's definitely a SL problem, as it affects any application which has the capability to open a save as dialog.+

I have to disagree with you on that. Other SL users, including myself, haven't got that problem.

You have to look at your own settings, because that's were the problem is.

Pila

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Answer 10

Lord Kamina Author

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Oct 8, 2009 1:07 PM in response to pila1

The fact that you do not have this problem does not mean it's not a snow leopard bug.

There should be no combination of settings ever that makes an OS crash regularly with an operation as global and simple as saving a file.

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Answer 11

Oct 10, 2009 9:04 AM in response to Lord Kamina

Kamina - look at the two threads below (if you haven't already) - they seem to describe the same problem that you are having (my problem also seems to have returned), so it seems a small(?) number of users are having the same symptoms:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2142456&start=0&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151970&start=0&tstart=0

I've just done a font book validation (and deleted a font with problems) which was recommended in one of the threads above, so will see how that affects the crashing. Also, disabling 3rd party add-ons was also mentioned, so that might be worth a try.

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Answer 12

thorny

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2 points

Oct 25, 2009 7:56 PM in response to Lord Kamina

I cannot believe we are the *only ones* with this *VERY ANNOYING PROBLEM!*

Half of the time I try to upload a (jpg) file to my discussion site - Safari and/or Firefox *CRASHES . . .*

WHAT IS UP??

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Answer 13

Oct 27, 2009 12:23 PM in response to Lord Kamina

Same here. Firefox and Safari have become all but unusable. Constant beachball action.

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Answer 14

Oct 29, 2009 11:13 PM in response to Joseph Rose

I found a solution to my file browser crash problems. Follow the steps below, and see if it works for you:

“Anyone that’s getting crashes whenever the system tries to save or open docs should try this:

-1. Start by opening System Preferences
-2. Select ‘Sharing’ from the Internet & Wireless section
-3. From the list on the left choose ‘File Sharing’ and turn it off.
-4. Delete anything listed in the Shared Folders section
-5. Turn File Sharing back on
-6. Log out, then Log back in
-7. Done!!”

Taken from:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/two-proposed-solutions-to-sn ow-leopard-crash-problems-on-macs/

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Answer 15

thorny

Level 1

2 points

Oct 29, 2009 11:31 PM in response to Paul Woodford

Thanks buddy . . .

But my sharing is never on.

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