Problems With Running Firefox Under Xfce

[B J]

I've got the current version of Xfce installed on an older HP laptop.
Unfortunately, the latest version of Firefox is proving to be a major
headache.

Ever since the "new and improved" FF was introduced, I've been
unimpressed with its performance. Tabs often crash, if they even load
at all. On top of that, every time I open a new tab or window, I end
up with several FF processes running simultaneously.

The final straw came this morning when I had problems with accessing
the Internet. The cause, it seemed, was a router on its last legs. I
obtained a Cisco DPC3825 modem/router from the Internet service and
I've been having a terrible time with it.

It seems that the Internet service has been dropping out about every
hour or so today, which isn't entirely surprising. We've been having
some spring weather for the past few days and it seems that each year
at this time, the Internet service becomes wobbly. (That also happens
whenever there's a major downpour during the summer.)

Whenever that happened, I switch off the power to the modem/router,
let it set for a minute or so, and then switch it on again. It often
takes several minutes for access to be restored. The only problem is
that my laptop can't make a connection while my older iMac can.

I've run bsdconfig each time and it appears that the network interface
is enabled, but that doesn't help with the laptop. It seems that the
only way I can restore access is to reboot the machine and that is
rather a nuisance. When I had a separate modem and router, that never
happened.

Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this? Thank you.

B. M. Jatzeck

[Gary Aitken]

Post by B J
I've got the current version of Xfce installed on an older HP laptop.
Unfortunately, the latest version of Firefox is proving to be a major
headache.
Ever since the "new and improved" FF was introduced, I've been
unimpressed with its performance. Tabs often crash, if they even load
at all. On top of that, every time I open a new tab or window, I end
up with several FF processes running simultaneously.
The final straw came this morning when I had problems with accessing
the Internet. The cause, it seemed, was a router on its last legs. I
obtained a Cisco DPC3825 modem/router from the Internet service and
I've been having a terrible time with it.
It seems that the Internet service has been dropping out about every
hour or so today, which isn't entirely surprising. We've been having
some spring weather for the past few days and it seems that each year
at this time, the Internet service becomes wobbly. (That also happens
whenever there's a major downpour during the summer.)
Whenever that happened, I switch off the power to the modem/router,
let it set for a minute or so, and then switch it on again. It often
takes several minutes for access to be restored. The only problem is
that my laptop can't make a connection while my older iMac can.
I've run bsdconfig each time and it appears that the network interface
is enabled, but that doesn't help with the laptop. It seems that the
only way I can restore access is to reboot the machine and that is
rather a nuisance. When I had a separate modem and router, that never
happened.
Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this? Thank you.

I used to have a similar sort of problem, not exactly the same.
Rather than rebooting, have you tried re-initing or re-starting just the
appropriate processes? As I recall, I usually got my situation resolved
by re-establishing my firewall rules using "sh ipfw_rules" or something
like that. I never did figure out why it was dropping out, but it
happened under similar circumstances.

Gary

[B J]

<snip>

Post by Gary Aitken
I used to have a similar sort of problem, not exactly the same.
Rather than rebooting, have you tried re-initing or re-starting just the
appropriate processes? As I recall, I usually got my situation resolved
by re-establishing my firewall rules using "sh ipfw_rules" or something
like that. I never did figure out why it was dropping out, but it
happened under similar circumstances.

<snip>

Thanks for your comment.

Part of the problem is that, for some reason, I can't toggle between
enabling and disabling the network interface, which I was able to do
before.

I made a note of the IP address and the net mask and entered them by
hand. It seemed to work but in more recent versions of Xfce, it did
that automatically.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
Part of the problem is that, for some reason, I can't toggle between
enabling and disabling the network interface, which I was able to do
before.

Is it a wired or a wireless network interface?

Post by B J
I made a note of the IP address and the net mask and entered them by
hand. It seemed to work but in more recent versions of Xfce, it did
that automatically.

Establishing network connections is part of the OS.
Xfce usually has nothing to do with it.

For diagnostic purposes, always use the "low level"
tools provided by FreeBSD, i. e., use the command line,
not GUI tools that will probably hide what you are
searching for.

[Gary Aitken]

Post by B J
<snip>

Post by Gary Aitken
I used to have a similar sort of problem, not exactly the same.
Rather than rebooting, have you tried re-initing or re-starting
just the appropriate processes? As I recall, I usually got my
situation resolved by re-establishing my firewall rules using "sh
ipfw_rules" or something like that. I never did figure out why it
was dropping out, but it happened under similar circumstances.

<snip>
Thanks for your comment.
Part of the problem is that, for some reason, I can't toggle between
enabling and disabling the network interface, which I was able to do
before.
I made a note of the IP address and the net mask and entered them by
hand. It seemed to work but in more recent versions of Xfce, it did
that automatically.

Not sure I understand what xfce has to do with this.
If the problem is the network not working, it isn't an xfce problem;
you can enable and disable the network interface from any terminal
window using ifconfig as root:

ifconfig re0 down
ifconfig ...
ifconfig re0 up

Gary

[Polytropon]

Post by B J
Ever since the "new and improved" FF was introduced, I've been
unimpressed with its performance. Tabs often crash, if they even load
at all. On top of that, every time I open a new tab or window, I end
up with several FF processes running simultaneously.

This probably is due to the sandboxing and the JS processing
which has been improved... ;-)

Post by B J
The final straw came this morning when I had problems with accessing
the Internet. The cause, it seemed, was a router on its last legs. I
obtained a Cisco DPC3825 modem/router from the Internet service and
I've been having a terrible time with it.
It seems that the Internet service has been dropping out about every
hour or so today, which isn't entirely surprising. We've been having
some spring weather for the past few days and it seems that each year
at this time, the Internet service becomes wobbly. (That also happens
whenever there's a major downpour during the summer.)
Whenever that happened, I switch off the power to the modem/router,
let it set for a minute or so, and then switch it on again. It often
takes several minutes for access to be restored.

Your ISP would be the appropriate party to address. Maybe they
are unaware of the problems on your side? Maybe some of _their_
equipment (the modem's counterpart) is broken?

Post by B J
The only problem is
that my laptop can't make a connection while my older iMac can.

The Internet connection itself is a matter of the modem/router,
while access to the router a LAN thing. You could try to check
(or exchange) the cables connecting the devices to the modem/router.

Post by B J
I've run bsdconfig each time and it appears that the network interface
is enabled, but that doesn't help with the laptop.

That is not needed.

I assume your endpoints are obtaining their network configuration
via DHCP from the modem/router (which is common today). If this
information changes due to rebooting the modem/router, you just
have to re-initialize your network interface:

# service netif restart

This should get new DHCP information and configure everything else
as needed.

Post by B J
It seems that the
only way I can restore access is to reboot the machine and that is
rather a nuisance. When I had a separate modem and router, that never
happened.

With a separate modem, you typically have better control of what
happens (or at least you can examine what's now "hidden" inside
the modem/router), for example PPPoE connection creation or the
general packet flow. Basic tools like ping, netstat, and tcpdump
can help diagnosing the actual problem. But sometimes, it's simply
just a bad cable...

Post by B J
Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this? Thank you.

Check cabling and modem/router, replace and re-check. In worst
case, inform the ISP so they can check from their side (if you
have verified that on _your_ side everything is fine). What you
experience with Firefox might just be a follow-up problem
originating from a flaky internet connection - you never know
how "modern software" like Firefox will react when something
is not 100 percent working. :-)

[tech-lists]

Post by B J
We've been having
some spring weather for the past few days and it seems that each year
at this time, the Internet service becomes wobbly. (That also happens
whenever there's a major downpour during the summer.)

Hi,

Sounds like you might have issues with power. Not just outages, I mean
brownouts, voltage sags, spikes. It's common in a rural setting. It
would explain both your connection problems and some programs crashing,
and service interruption when it's raining. It might not be the only
problem, but in your shoes it's where I'd start looking.