Got exactly the same problem as seth. Running OSX 10.5 fully updated. Have had problem for two downloads of firefox which is also at the latest version:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092414 Firefox/3.0.3

I actually think it’s worse thatn the previous issues because it seems to require a restart to get going again. The powerbook gets pretty hot and noisy too while trying to do the job…

Im having the same problem. Firefox will be running, then the status bar will say Stopped, and then Im screwed. I wont notice at first, and will have clicked it a few more times. This locks it up even more, then I try to go task manager and end the process, but that doesnt really do anything. it will say its ending it, but firefox will still be on the list. i will finally have to restart. Im a few months behind this blog, but has anyone found a solution yet. This just started happening in the last month or so.

This is a problem I had lots before version 2. I haven’t seen it in a long time.

I haven’t paid attention to freezing, which means either it’s been doing it all along to me, or it really hasn’t (I’m guessing the latter), but my goodness whenever it seems to start chewing up my processor activity, it doesn’t stop unless I close out and restart (quickest way is with the task manager and hit restore session when it comes up). Might could be an extension, as I run quite a few (damn I love those), but I’ve been curious if I’d see that with the others.

I’m betting on corrupted profile or bad extension, so I agree with running the above mentioned diagnostic tools.

The fact that the browser can be extended with addons is its strength and its greatest weakness… the main Firefox may be really well coded, but anybody can whack together an addon that will then wreak havoc at will.

mike…no problem extensions for me either..

i did have wifi issues last week (lightening blew out my dsl modem and router)…and i had to redo my home wireless (“Mom” was not a fun person to be around with internet access). I feel like i am becoming an expert at diagnosing issues lately…

Actually, I feel better knowing others are having issues…. but still not enough to chase me over to IE….lol

Thanks for that Fox Diagnostics link! I’ll set aside some time this week to go through that.

I’m running it on XP, btw. None of their problem extensions are ones I have.

^^^ What he said.

I realize this isn’t constructive as to fixing the actual problem, but it’s a great solution IMHO – hit http://www.opera.com and grab that instead… (just take an hour or so to customize it, move things around in the interface etc until it becomes as you like it.)

Fast, rock solid, just plain usable.

We now return you to the regular Firefox topic…