Firefox is shutting my PC off

[kaveman1969]

Hey everyone. This one has me truly stumped.
It started when I upgraded to FF 3.5. I would be in the middle of surfing and my PC would just shut off. No blue screen, nothing. Just shut off and restart.

First, I thought it was a hardware issue. Maybe overheating. After monitoring it for a bit, that didn't seem to be the case.
I also couldn't duplicate it with any other browser...IE, Opera, Safari, none of them would do it.

Then I got to thinking that maybe the newest FF was the issue, so I uninstalled it and went to version 3.0. Same thing. Just randomly shut the PC off.

Yesterday I went to version 2.0, and immediately after install, just moved the mouse cursor to the FF quick launch icon and bam, shut down.

I've had the PC on now since yesterday with Opera as the browser and no issue at all.
I really like FF, but at this point it's unusable to me. Anyone have any idea as to what's going on or why?

I'm running XP with 2 GB of ram on a P4 2.6 Ghz processor.


Thanks in advance,

Kaveman

[Allan]

Have you scanned your system with both your av and MalwareBytes?

[kaveman1969]

Yeah. I've scanned several times with AVG and Kespersky online scanner as well as with Malwarebytes AntiMalware and nothing.

Every other browser works fine, it's just FF that seems to have an issue.

[2x3i5x]

did you try to create a new firefox profile?

maybe it would work to stop autoshutting your PC? Creating new profile should be like having a fresh installed Firefox once you do it....

[kaveman1969]

Hey. Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot.

[kaveman1969]

Just to update, I turned off the setting to automatically restart the PC when this error happens, so I could actually see what the PC was saying.
First I got an error message and could continue using the PC, then got nothing but blue screens when it happened.

After Googling some, I ran Memtest, and it seems one of my two newish sticks of Crucial 1024 Mb of ram has gone flaky.
Passed the test once, and failed twice. Removed the stick this morning, and I've been fine on FF all day.

I don't know why FF was the catalyst that caused the crashes, and no other browser would. Maybe it utilizes system memory in a different way than other browsers.

But, so far so good. Thanks to all that helped, we'll see how it goes from here.

[Computer_Commando]

...I ran Memtest, and it seems one of my two newish sticks of Crucial 1024 Mb of ram has gone flaky.  Passed the test once, and failed twice. Removed the stick this morning, and I've been fine on FF all day.  I don't know why FF was the catalyst that caused the crashes, and no other browser would. Maybe it utilizes system memory in a different way than other browsers...

Never heard of a bad RAM module causing crashes in 1 program only.
That's a new one on me, have to file it away for future reference.
Good thing Crucial has lifetime warranty.

[kaveman1969]

I'm no PC expert by far, but I have been around them since the Win95 days, even built a few PCs myself.

I've never experienced this either, but as stated, I don't have the experience that some on here do.

Is it that odd to have just one program/browser affected? I could play PC games like FEAR, Prey etc...the older ones that my PC could manage on high settings no problem.
Only time I ever had an issue was when launching FF.
Am I wrong in thinking that my problem may be solved?

Also, I wasn't aware that Crucial had a lifetime warranty. I don't recall filling out or receiving any warranty info when I purchased the memory from Tiger Direct. Maybe I did, but I don't think so.
How would I take advantage of the warranty?

Thanks.

[Computer_Commando]

...
1.  Am I wrong in thinking that my problem may be solved?
2.  I wasn't aware that Crucial had a lifetime warranty. I don't recall filling out or receiving any warranty info when I purchased the memory from Tiger Direct. Maybe I did, but I don't think so.
How would I take advantage of the warranty?...

1.  You'll know soon enough.  You did test the memory and 1 module was bad.
2.  http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx
Read terms here:  http://www.crucial.com/company/termsofsale.aspx#warranty
Contact Crucial for RMA, 1-800-336-8915

[kaveman1969]

Thanks much. I'll check the Crucial site now.

[2x3i5x]

How old is your ram sticks? If it's still new enough, Tiger Direct could service you, if you preferred that.

[Helpmeh]

This idea just hit me, maybe firefox isn't the EXACT cause. Firefox could use those specific ram sticks and their flakiness is causing a crash. Windows shuts off to "protect" itself. @OP, have you disabled restart on error? http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/automatic-restart.htm

[kaveman1969]

I did disable restart on error, so I could actually view the error message. I can't remember the exact message but it was something like "firefox.exe application error The instruction at .......... referenced memory at .......... The memory could not be read".

After that, every time it happened it was a blue screen. Don't remember what it said at all now.

[kaveman1969]

How old is your ram sticks? If it's still new enough, Tiger Direct could service you, if you preferred that.

Thanks. I'll check my invoices and find out how old the memory is. I don't think they're quite a year old yet.

[2x3i5x]

Thanks. I'll check my invoices and find out how old the memory is. I don't think they're quite a year old yet.

A year old? Then TigerDirect can't excahnge or refund your product. "TigerDirect.com will accept qualified and conforming products for exchange or refund within 30 days of the original purchase date." so their website says.

But you definitely could call them up and ask what's going on because they sold you the product and you have proof of purchase. They might have people there who can assit you and get you on your way....