Firefox ESR firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64 will no longer play videos reliably

[Jean-David Beyer]

This is not a bug report (at least, not yet). I assume I have some
configuration wrong. But I do not know what to do about it.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)
firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64

Since the above update, Firefox will no longer play videos well, nor
will it allow me to download them.

It often complains there is no video player.
Other times, I get a black rectangle, but no video.
Other times, Firefox just crashes.

Of lesser importance, Facebook videos do not play, but this has gone on
for a long time.

How do I debug this?

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 06/30/2018 09:37 AM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> This is not a bug report (at least, not yet). I assume I have some
> configuration wrong. But I do not know what to do about it.
>
> Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)
> firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64
>
> Since the above update, Firefox will no longer play videos well, nor
> will it allow me to download them.

I have now installed several different video downloader add-ons and they
all crash the system. They do not get as far as asking into which
directory they should go.

Examining /var/spool/abrt , I notice they all get code 5 (SIGTRAP)
aborts. Whatever that means. I was not running a debugger.

[Jean-David Beyer]

Someone told someone else to refresh Firefox, so on the off-chance, I
tried to do this, but I cannot download anything, and this includes the
rpm for Firefox. It does not refuse; it seems all downloads crash Firefox.

[WaltS48]

So you followed the directions from
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings>
and it didn't work?

I'm not familiar with Red Hat Enterprise Server or the
firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64 rpm file.

Maybe it doesn't have "Refresh Firefox" in Help > Troubleshooting
Information.

We are up to 60.0.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

--
CPU: 3.2 Ghz AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 455 Processor
RAM: 8 GiB
Graphics: GeForce GT 630/PCIe/SSE2
OS: Ubuntu Linux 16.04LTS - Unity Desktop

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 06/30/2018 05:44 PM, WaltS48 wrote:
> On 6/30/18 5:19 PM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>> On 06/30/2018 05:05 PM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>>> On 06/30/2018 09:37 AM, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>>>> This is not a bug report (at least, not yet). I assume I have some
>>>> configuration wrong. But I do not know what to do about it.
>>>>
>>>> Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)
>>>> firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64
>>>>
>>>> Since the above update, Firefox will no longer play videos well, nor
>>>> will it allow me to download them.
>>>
>>> I have now installed several different video downloader add-ons and they
>>> all crash the system. They do not get as far as asking into which
>>> directory they should go.
>>>
>>> Examining /var/spool/abrt , I notice they all get code 5 (SIGTRAP)
>>> aborts. Whatever that means. I was not running a debugger.
>>>
>>
>> Someone told someone else to refresh Firefox, so on the off-chance, I
>> tried to do this, but I cannot download anything, and this includes the
>> rpm for Firefox. It does not refuse; it seems all downloads crash
>> Firefox.
>>
>
> So you followed the directions from
> <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings>
> and it didn't work?

No: I went to the Red Hat support site and tried to download the .rpm
for firefox, and firefox crashed instead of even asking where I wanted
the downloaded file to be placed.

I then ran (as root) yum firefox and it downloaded and reinstalled it,
but it made no difference.

>
> I'm not familiar with Red Hat Enterprise Server or the
> firefox-60.1.0-5.el6.x86_64 rpm file.
>
> Maybe it doesn't have "Refresh Firefox" in Help > Troubleshooting
> Information.
>
> We are up to 60.0.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
>

60.1.0esr (64-bit) is what Firefox identifies it self as.

[Ed Mullen]

Try a new profile.


--
Ed Mullen
https://edmullen.net/
Can a blue man sing the whites?

[Jean-David Beyer]

I hate to seem dumb, but what is a profile?

[Sjouke Burry]

Your face, seen from aside.

[WaltS48]

It is where Firefox stores your data.

<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data>

<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_working-with-profiles>

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 07/01/2018 09:18 AM, Ed Mullen wrote:

I made a new profile with all defaults in it. I added a plugin to save
videos and when I tried to saveone, Firefox crashed as before.

[WaltS48]

Which extension? Can't help if you don't provide information.

There are 535 results for a video downloader search.

<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?platform=Linux&q=Video+Downloader&type=extension>

I thought the problem was your Firefox would no longer play videos
reliably. So which is it? You want to play them in Firefox or download them?

[Jean-David Beyer]

I tried two:

Video DownloadHelper 7.3.1 and
Download Flash and Video

>
> There are 535 results for a video downloader search.
>
> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?platform=Linux&q=Video+Downloader&type=extension>
>
>
> I thought the problem was your Firefox would no longer play videos
> reliably. So which is it? You want to play them in Firefox or download
> them?
>

All of above. And below.

I cannot play many videos. I cannot download anything with Firefox. Not
videos, not audio files, not even .pdf files.

For .pdf files, I can get them by displaying them in Firefox, looking
for them in /tmp, and saving them. But if I just click "save as" or like
that, Firefox crashes.

Some videos that would not play in previous versions of Firefox I could
download and play with VLC, but I cannot do that anymore.

I got the refresh of Firefox by using yum from the Red Hat support site.
But I could not just download it as I could before this latest update.

[WaltS48]

So, you tried a new profile and that didn't work.

Then you reinstalled Firefox and that doesn't work.

Is your operating system up to date? I know nothing about Red Hat.

Hope somebody comes along that uses Red Hat.

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 07/03/2018 10:36 AM, WaltS48 wrote:
>
> So, you tried a new profile and that didn't work.

True.

>
> Then you reinstalled Firefox and that doesn't work.

True.

>
> Is your operating system up to date? I know nothing about Red Hat.

Yes; Up to date as of a few days ago.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)

There have been a few minor changes since then, but that was the latest
major release.

6.10, also termed Update 10, June 19, 2018; 14 days ago (kernel 2.6.32-754)

>
> Hope somebody comes along that uses Red Hat.

Me too.