Recent Javascript issues with Safari

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Recent Javascript issues with Safari

Hi Team

Just in the past week or two, I have been having issues with Javascript on Safari, that are making numerous web-sites nearly unusable. It _is_ a Safari thing; Firefox and Chrome both load the same pages just fine.

Most recently, Safari is refusing to cooperate with eBay fer cryin' out loud. I've been an eBay regular buyer/seller for decades, using Safari for much of that time. Never had any problems until just recently.

On eBay what happens is that I log in, search for something, and get a list of results. When I click on one of them, the appropriate page appears to load, but then the screen blanks, and comes back with the following error:

Over and over, and over, altho once in a great while it _will_ actually load.

If I disable Javascript in "Preferences", the page will load, but then eBay refuses to acknowledge my login returning something to the effect of "You must have Javascript enabled to log in to eBay". A classical "Catch-22". Again, eBay works normally in Firefox.

This on my 2015 MacBook Pro running Mojave 10.14.5, Safari 12.1.1 AFAIK, this system has been the same for some time. (No recent updates, nothing much available unless I want to go to BigSur/Monterey, which I don't; it breaks too many of my apps, and causes problems with color management for my Epson printers. Been there, Done that, Regretted it. "Gee, Thanks, Apple :-P")

Beyond abandoning Safari for Firefox, can anybody offer a solution to this, or even hazard a guess as to what might be happening? It seems to be getting progressively worse with time. Weird.

If it weren't for my printers, I would ditch MacOS entirely in favor of Ubuntu (Runs/looks good on the MBP), but Linux support for my fine-art printers is extremely limited.

TIA! Steve

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 28, 2022 6:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Jul 30, 2022 12:21 PM in response to George T. Mule

Have you tried restarting the computer? Are you running any anti - virus programs? Using a VPN?

Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

Isolating an issue by using another user account

If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer or by using the developer’s uninstall instructions. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

Safe Mode - About.

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2022 2:27 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric, All

Yes, tried a reboot. No to an antivirus/malware app.

I hadn't thought to try creating another user, or booting into safe mode. Honestly, I didn't know there was such a thing as "safe mode" in MacOS; thought that was a Windows thing. I will save your post for future reference to be sure.

What I did do was to boot into recovery, and ask it to re-install Mojave. It completed the task while I was out running errands this morning. The system must have gone on-line to get the files, 'cause in the process it upgraded me from 10.14.5 to 10.14.6. I doubt this "update" was what fixed the issue, as there was nothing in the update documentation even remotely addressing Safari or Javascript, but who knows. Odd, because it never asked me for wifi info, and our home WiFi is password protected, and it isn't "broadcast", either. How did it know? I found this suggestion looking for a way to un-install/re-install Safari, just FWIW.

Anyway, that appears to have fixed the Javascript issues I was seeing on eBay. Another site that was having problems is "thedrive.com". Links from their home page just give me a page with text, and blank spaces where there should be content. This accompanied by an error in the address box saying: "Application error: a client-side exception has occurred". Googling this seemed to indicate a Javascript problem (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253645567), so I assumed they were related. Maybe, maybe not, as The Drive site still has the malfunction.

Not to worry; eBay I need to have working, The Drive is just a time-waster, tho they _do_ have some interesting articles from time to time.

I'm gonna grab another TimeMachine backup as soon as I'm done here, and I will watch closely to see if I can catch the glitch should it re-occur. I'll check back in here if I find anything interesting.

Thanks guys! Steve

Edit to add: We Be Geek. I try to fix problems myself as much as possible, but this one had/has me baffled. You don't see "intermittent" software very often. ByeBye! S.

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Answer 3

WinsC1

Community Specialist

Jul 29, 2022 10:19 AM in response to George T. Mule

Hey George T. Mule,

First, we'd recommend clearing Safari history and website data to see if that changes anything: Clear your browsing history in Safari on Mac

If that doesn't help, we'd suggest checking for and disabling any extensions that may be installed for Safari to see if they are causing the issue: How to install Safari extensions on your Mac

Thanks!

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Answer 4

chuckbl

Community Specialist

Jul 30, 2022 11:19 AM in response to George T. Mule

George T. Mule,

If this appears to happen most commonly with certain websites, you'll want to reach out to the specific website developer. They'd be in the best position to assist with troubleshooting their websites without updating macOS and Safari.

Take care.

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Answer 5

Jul 30, 2022 7:01 AM in response to WinsC1

Hi Wins

Yeah; I've already tried that. Reluctantly regarding clearing the Safari history, as it removes all of my saved logins. But that's all it did.

The only extension I have is Adblock Plus. All I got from disabling that was a page full of ads. I've grown accustomed to the ad blocker; I never knew how much I was missing :-P

I've "killed" and re-started Safari. I've re-booted the OS. I've looked thru all of the settings for anything that might be germane. The only thing that affects this issue is disabling Javascript, which breaks everything else.

I was looking at a couple of items I have closing on eBay this morning. It worked as expected three or four times before barfing out the above error, then it error'd on every page thereafter. It won't even let me go back to pages it previously loaded. Weird that it would be so intermittent. Whatever.

(Twilight Zone theme playing.) A mystery, then. Guess I'll move on over to Firefox. Too bad; I have a long history with Safari, and I _used_ to like it. But it's broken, now . . .

I have TimeMachine data from back before this started. If I get really bored, maybe I'll try some time travel. But probably not; even if it restored Safari, I don't know enough about Javascript to determine the differences, and there is always the standard time traveler paradox to consider.

Thanks anyway. Steve

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Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Jul 30, 2022 2:42 PM in response to George T. Mule

You are welcome.

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