Firefox hangs, Safari & Chrome no cut, drag, copy or paste (Mac).

02 Sep 2010

I'm just getting started here, and I've tried three different browsers (all the latest versions) on Mac. Flash & Java/Javascript is enabled.

Firefox: Hangs during compiler load. Nothing.

Safari: Works, but no cut, drag or copy and paste, neither inside the compiler window or between windows.

Chrome: Works, but no cut, drag or copy and paste, neither inside the compiler window or between windows.

For the moment it seems the only way to get text into or out of the compiler is by typing and using the delete key. Editing can only be done by deleting and retyping. No select and drag, cutting or copying of example code, etc. If this is normal, it's going to be very annoying.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

02 Sep 2010

Hi SK,

It not working in Mac/Firefox is very strange. Can you confirm the FF version, and if you are running any plugins (or even "virus checker" type plugins)?

The copy/paste problem on safari is known, and will be fixed in the new compiler/site beta we put up tomorrow. Whilst it has been refined across all platforms in the beta, i'm surprised it is not working on firefox/chrome with the live version. Can you confirm you are using cmd+c/v? I'm on a mac at the moment and all is happy, so i'd like to reproduce this if possible.

Thanks,

Simon

02 Sep 2010

An update:

Cut, copy and paste using keys (command z,x,c,v) works, in chrome at least. Just not the menu selections. That's weird, but I could get used to it. Now if only drag and drop worked, but perhaps that's hoping for too much.

What's up with Firefox hanging during initialization?

Thank you.

 

 

02 Sep 2010

Firefox is 3.6.8.

I've got a few extensions:

Flashblock, but I've white-listed mbed.org. I assume that's the only site that is a concern?

 

Adblock - I doubt it could have anything to do with things, but I can white-list mbed.org.

Ghostery for web-bugs. I doubt that has anything to do with it, but I'll white-list the site as well and try again.

Thank you.

02 Sep 2010

Hi SK,

I just upgraded to FF 3.6.8 and all seems happy, so perhaps try disabling these plugins? Would be good to track this down. Maybe you need to add http+https?

Please keep us updated if you find out anything; we can then see if it is something we could fix our end.

Simon

02 Sep 2010

Another update:

I disabled everything (no white-listing, I completely removed all add-ons, including a system-level proxy server), and Firefox still hangs during "initialization." Again, it's Firefox 3.6.8 on Mac.

Thank you.

02 Sep 2010

For the moment, I can't think of anything else to try out regarding Firefox and hanging. If you have any other ideas that I can test, please let me know and I'll be happy to help.

At least Chrome is working fine, it seems. As a general comment: Since we have no choice in what editor we use, it would be good and wise to keep making improvements to the on-line editor, such as by getting the editing menu commands work, making sure you can copy from the examples in the library (you can't even select them within the compiler, though you can from the handbook), implementing drag and drop, etc.

Thank you.

02 Sep 2010

Hi SK,

I've now tried with all your plugins you mention, and still can't reproduce the problem unfortunately. The fact it is working with other browsers suggests it is not something further down the OS stack or the network monkeying with anything, so looks like it must be something to do with the FF setup.

One other thing you could try is to clear the cache/cookies/etc from FF, then restart and see if the problem persists with your plugins disabled, just incase one of your plugins manipulates something lower down that gets cached. The other thing would be if firebug etc shows up any errors, or you have any permissions set up to block anything.

Could you also confirm the OS version you are running on, and what sort of network you are on (e.g. if there are any proxies, firewalls, etc further down stream). You mention a proxy. Also, if you could try another machine if at all available? Would be good to nail this, as although we have seen very few issues like this, it'd be good to understand it.

Simon

03 Sep 2010 . Edited: 03 Sep 2010

Hi SK,

 

Try to use safe mode firefox and see if it works. Also try some other ssl access, the compiler link use ssl, maybe you have something that denies switching from plain http to https.

I used the compiler with firefox on windows and linux and works.

I agree with Simon Ford, it looks clearly like some your-firefox error.

 

Edit:

Safe mode firefox start from terminal: firefox -safe-mode

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -safe-mode

03 Sep 2010

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. I run a clean, unmodified system (note: OS-X 10.5.8 still) except for annoyance and privacy-related add-ons for browsing. The proxy I mentioned was Glimmer Blocker; Chrome and Safari work fine here with or without it.

I had fully disabled all proxies and add-ons, though I had not removed them entirely. I presume that I have some remaining difference or incompatibility somewhere that wouldn't impact the average user. Frankly, given that things are working on two good browsers, I'm fine, and I can't spare the time right now to figure out the Firefox issue. Maybe later.

Thanks again.

11 Oct 2010

user Simon Ford wrote:

It not working in Mac/Firefox is very strange.

It seems I have the same problem in Windows XP-SP3. Firefox 3.6.10.

The compiler loads completely (Loading...). When the little progressbar is completely filled, the compiler hangs with "Initializing...". I can't say whether that is at the end of the initialization or at the beginning; the progress bar is filled, but that could be in both cases.

There is no problem in Opera nor in InternetExplorer on the same machine. So it must be a Firefox problem. Fiddling with plugins/add-ons and safe-mode did not bring anything.

Packet sniffing is a bit difficult, it seems though, if my interpretation is correct, the connection is just closed.

11 Oct 2010

Just spitballin' here, but how many connections per server does your firefox allow?

Lerche

11 Oct 2010

user Christian Lerche wrote:

Just spitballin' here, but how many connections per server does your firefox allow?

Hi Christian,

about:config shows the following:

network.http.max-connections;30
network.http.max-connections-per-server;15
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy;8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server;6

That are the defaultvalues, they were not changed. Should be ample IMO.

Arwin.

13 Oct 2010 . Edited: 14 Oct 2010
user Arwin Vosselman wrote:

It seems I have the same problem in Windows XP-SP3. Firefox 3.6.10.

The compiler loads completely (Loading...). When the little progressbar is completely filled, the compiler hangs with "Initializing...". I can't say whether that is at the end of the initialization or at the beginning; the progress bar is filled, but that could be in both cases.

There is no problem in Opera nor in InternetExplorer on the same machine. So it must be a Firefox problem. Fiddling with plugins/add-ons and safe-mode did not bring anything.

I made another profile in Firefox with "firefox -P". In that new profile the compiler is running! With all options set the same as in the default profile and with the same add-ons installed, the compiler still runs! After copying the pref.js from the new profile into my default profile, the compiler runs in the default Firefox also.

There are still so many lines, that differ between the two configuration files though, that I have not been able to find the exact cause of the problem.

14 Oct 2010

user Arwin Vosselman wrote:

There are still so many lines, that differ between the two configuration files though, that I have not been able to find the exact cause of the problem.

In Firefox's configuration file after all I found the entry, that is responsible for the mbed compiler not being able to start.

dom.disable_image_src_set should be 'false'

If this entry is set to 'true', the compiler can't start.

The setting is probably a left-over from older versions of Firefox. Because the setting is not available in Options now, it must be changed using about:config.