Problems With Running Firefox Under Xfce

[Polytropon]

On Fri, 20 Apr 2018 03:04:26 +0000, B J wrote:
> Ever since the "new and improved" FF was introduced, I've been
> unimpressed with its performance.  Tabs often crash, if they even load
> at all.  On top of that, every time I open a new tab or window, I end
> up with several FF processes running simultaneously.

This probably is due to the sandboxing and the JS processing
which has been improved... ;-)



> The final straw came this morning when I had problems with accessing
> the Internet.  The cause, it seemed, was a router on its last legs.  I
> obtained a Cisco DPC3825 modem/router from the Internet service and
> I've been having a terrible time with it.
> 
> It seems that the Internet service has been dropping out about every
> hour or so today, which isn't entirely surprising.  We've been having
> some spring weather for the past few days and it seems that each year
> at this time, the Internet service becomes wobbly.  (That also happens
> whenever there's a major downpour during the summer.)
> 
> Whenever that happened, I switch off the power to the modem/router,
> let it set for a minute or so, and then switch it on again.  It often
> takes several minutes for access to be restored.

Your ISP would be the appropriate party to address. Maybe they
are unaware of the problems on your side? Maybe some of _their_
equipment (the modem's counterpart) is broken?




> The only problem is
> that my laptop can't make a connection while my older iMac can.

The Internet connection itself is a matter of the modem/router,
while access to the router a LAN thing. You could try to check
(or exchange) the cables connecting the devices to the modem/router.



> I've run bsdconfig each time and it appears that the network interface
> is enabled, but that doesn't help with the laptop.

That is not needed.

I assume your endpoints are obtaining their network configuration
via DHCP from the modem/router (which is common today). If this
information changes due to rebooting the modem/router, you just
have to re-initialize your network interface:

	# service netif restart

This should get new DHCP information and configure everything else
as needed.



> It seems that the
> only way I can restore access is to reboot the machine and that is
> rather a nuisance.  When I had a separate modem and router, that never
> happened.

With a separate modem, you typically have better control of what
happens (or at least you can examine what's now "hidden" inside
the modem/router), for example PPPoE connection creation or the
general packet flow. Basic tools like ping, netstat, and tcpdump
can help diagnosing the actual problem. But sometimes, it's simply
just a bad cable...



> Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this?  Thank you.

Check cabling and modem/router, replace and re-check. In worst
case, inform the ISP so they can check from their side (if you
have verified that on _your_ side everything is fine). What you
experience with Firefox might just be a follow-up problem
originating from a flaky internet connection - you never know
how "modern software" like Firefox will react when something
is not 100 percent working. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...