System-wide freezes caused by Safari, other browsers (#2)
System-wide freezes caused by Safari, other browsers (#2)
We continue coverage of an issue where some Web browsers (Safari is the most widely implicated, though others have also been pegged) cause system-wide freezes where the only escape is a forced system restart.
One MacFixIt reader describes the typical scenario:
"I have seen the identical problem. The blue progress bar freezes during the load of a page and the system is more or less hung. Force Quit of Safari will not work, and sometimes the dialog will even not appear. Restart in the Apple menu doesn't seem to work either. Restarting the Finder doesn't help, assuming it even works. The only way to fix the problem is to power cycle the system."
We've identified a number of potential causes for this issue, and interestingly, many user reports currently incoming indicate similar causes/solutions to those outlined in our tutorial "Minimizing System-Wide Freezes where "Force Quit" will not work".
Possible causes
Acrobat PDF viewer MacFixIt reader Chris narrowed his instance of this problem down to Adobe's Acrobat PDF viewer plug-in. Removing the plug-in resolved the issue.
Chris writes:
"I had problems identical to what's described in the article, and in Camino, too - I'd switched to Camino because of the recurring freezing and crashing.
"I used Console to try to identify which thread could have contributed to the freezing and crashing - and I found one common set of "code" in the logged kernel failures, following:
- 0 com.adobe.Acrobat.framework 0x25312fe8 AcroBundleThreadQuitProc + 84
- 1 com.adobe.Acrobat.framework 0x25312b28 CopiesPagesPDE_Terminate + 549800
- 2 com.adobe.Acrobat.framework 0x25312e2c RunAcrobatInBrowser + 56
"I deleted Acrobat Reader's PDF plugin, and I haven't had a freeze or crash in 10 days. I'm happy again."
Network activity bugs As noted in the aforementioned tutorial, heavy network activity, interruptions, or other interference can cause these freezes.
In some cases, as noted by John Van't Land, simply unplugging then re-activating network devices (routers, DSL/Cable modems, etc.) can resolve the issue.
John writes:
"I've found that merely unplugging my DSL Modem's power supply and then replugging it in allows my system to work fine again. I think there's something in the upgrade that causes a degradation in the DSL connection."
Another reader writes:
"I had one freeze recently. I was unplugging my Ethernet connection to my cable modem to intentionally interrupt network activity. Safari was frozen, as were other apps that were doing networking, but I could still switch apps. Activity monitor showed netinfod sucking up 60% of the CPU time. (Config: iMac G5, Mac OS X 10.4.2 w/o the security update, Safari 2.0.)"
Embedded media/specific sites A number of readers have noted that these freezes are associated with embedded media (QuickTime movies, Flash, etc.) on specific Web sites.
One reader writes:
"I'm pretty sure that I've narrowed it down. Almost exclusively these problems happen to me when I'm browsing the site MySpace. The problem actually seems to be the media files or advertisements that are embedded into the site. My browser/computer will freeze up when on a page with a flash advertisement (not all flash ads, but a lot of them.) Then if I go back to that same page and it happens to have static graphic I don't lock at all.
"There have been times when I won't have to force quit, but after simply mousing over a flash ad (usually one of those ones that require user interaction (I.E. punch president bush, shoot the basket and win a free iPod, slime the co-worker, etc.)), or simply just having the ad load on the page, everything slows to almost a halt. Typing is nearly impossible.. the beach ball will come up.. but I'm still able to intermittently click on links. I find in these situations if I'm able to click on the browser refresh button and a new ad comes up.. my functionality is completely renewed.
"Lastly, If I'm on a page that doesn't have any ads and my browser locks up I find that it's always a page with some sort of media embedded in it by the author (possibly a movie, or flash, or a music file.. I can't be 100% sure because I'm never able to scroll down to view it. But I do, sometimes, get errors stating something to the effect of, 'unable to locate media path.. invalid path..' right before I freeze and I have to restart.)"
Keychain-related issues Some users have implicated Keychain in these freezes -- primarily issues with saving fields or accessing previously saved items.
In many cases, the application Keychain First Aid can resolve these problems.
Meanwhile, one MacFixIt reader writes:
"Reset the keychain to a new one and copy as many items from the old one as you can using Keychain Access."
Random notes Rick Hyman writes:
"I have had Safari freezes since Safari first came out, and with various versions of OS X. These freezes have occurred after having Safari open for many days in a row, and opening many web pages. I often hold onto many web pages for future reading. When I do not quit Safari at some point, I invariably get to the point where Safari freezes, and some freezes take the whole system down.
"Some months ago in a message on the web, this was attributed to a bug in Apple's memory management system code. This could be connected to the problems in the reported cases of people having many fonts loaded, using the real time player and going to specific web pages."
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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