Firefox crashes when syncing

agromis
Hello,

I am having trouble syncing my library with the Zotero server. I already have all the references loaded into my library, I am just attempting to update a few of them. The problem seems to be two-fold. First, when my library tries to sync, I receive an error that states that conflicts have suspended my ability to sync.

Second, and the more pressing issue, is that while my library is attempting to sync, it often crashes Firefox. Usually, all my open programs freeze until I use the Task Manager to manually close the open Firefox windows (which are listed as "not-responding"). Once or twice I have also received a message on the Zotero pane that states that Firefox has experienced an error and needs to be restarted.

When I restart Firefox after either of these situations, the opening page states that Firefox is unable to restore my previous sessions and has to be restarted. This has happened approximately 5 or 6 six times in the last 5 hours.

If anyone could instruct me on how to resolve this issue, it would be greatly appreciated!
  • dstillman
    First, when my library tries to sync, I receive an error that states that conflicts have suspended my ability to sync.
    That just means what the message says—you have to click the Sync icon manually.
    Second, and the more pressing issue, is that while my library is attempting to sync, it often crashes Firefox.
    That's unlikely, though it may freeze Firefox temporarily if it had to perform a Full Sync (which it does automatically under some circumstances). Try just letting it go.
  • agromis
    Okay, maybe I should be more clear, my library will NOT sync at all. Not even when I try to do it manually. It just gives me a little red exclamation point beside the sync icon with an error message telling me that I have to sync my account manually. When I try to sink it manually, it still gives me an error message, if Firefox does not crash before it can even get that far. I tried to sync my account several times yesterday, all were unsuccessful. The sync icon tells me that the last time my account was successfully able to sync with the Zotero server was six days ago.

    In addition, Firefox is definitely crashing. My computer and ALL my active windows become unresponsive for an extended amount of time. My task manager states that my Zotero windows are no longer responding. Also, as I noted previously, there have also been a few times where a message appears in Firefox that specifically states that it has encountered an error with Zotero and must be restarted. When I restart Firefox, my previous session can never be restored (which is unusual--I usually do not have this problem when I encounter errors with other pages in Firefox) and I must start over again EVERY time.
  • dstillman
    When I try to sink it manually, it still gives me an error message
    OK, then we'd need to know what that error actually was. Report the error and provide a Report ID.
    In addition, Firefox is definitely crashing. My computer and ALL my active windows become unresponsive for an extended amount of time.
    1) That's not a crash—it's a freeze.

    2) What I said still stands. It's possibly it's actually freezing, but that's pretty rare. How long have you actually let it go? And how many items do you have in your Zotero library? You can always run Firefox with real-time debug output to know if it's actually doing anything.

    And before you do any of this, restart your computer and do a fresh start of Firefox.
  • agromis
    edited July 29, 2010
    Here is the error I receive when the library I am working on tries to sync:

    [JavaScript Error: "[Exception... "'Conflicts have suspended automatic syncing.

    Click the sync icon to resolve them.' when calling method: [nsIDOMEventListener::handleEvent]" nsresult: "0x8057001c (NS_ERROR_XPC_JS_THREW_JS_OBJECT)" location: "" data: no]"]

    [unrelated output removed — D.S.]

    [JavaScript Error: "[Exception... "'SSL certificate error connecting to sync.zotero.org' when calling method: [nsIDOMEventListener::handleEvent]" nsresult: "0x8057001e (NS_ERROR_XPC_JS_THREW_STRING)" location: "" data: no]"]

    The initial message said it was a SSL certificate error connecting to sync.zotero.org. I tried to send an error report to Zotero but I got a message stating that the report was unsuccessful due to a issue with accessing the repository (?).
  • dstillman
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9993/sync-error/

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/7972/sync-ssl-certificate-error-connecting-to-synczoteroorg/

    But do you get that error each time you try to sync manually?
  • jm2clure
    Dan,

    I am one of agromis's colleagues, and I am a bit more familiar with computer science than she is. How can I run Firefox with real-time debug output?

    PS--We are social scientists, so please keep the computerese to a basic level.
  • dstillman
    I linked to instructions above, but debug output and the SSL certificate error are mutually exclusive issues. Watching debug output was just to see if it was in fact freezing—but if it were freezing there wouldn't be an error.
  • jm2clure
    I saw the SSL certificate error instructions, but how can I see the debug output to see if Firefox is in fact freezing?
  • dstillman
    Again, I linked to instructions above.
  • adamsmith
    2 posts above the one with the ssl links
  • inspiredlight
    I think ma be having a similar issue. I found this thread whilst looking for info on Z crashing during a sync. I'll start my own thread, as the troubleshooting required may differ. But just a heads up that Z may be crashing FF on a sync with other users too.
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