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I would take this question over to Mozilla.org and not here at askubuntu.com except for the following:

  1. This is a brand new install of Ubuntu, Firefox and Thunderbird.
  2. On the same computer I also have band new installs of Firefox and Thunderbird for the Wondows7 partition. And they are running perfectly.
  3. One of the Firefox lockups is totally reproducible. Simply put, I can right click on a link and Firefox will lock up every time.

It is almost like pop up menus (other then the Thunderbird password pop up) never show up for either application. In all lock up cases the application window darkens as if to draw attention to a pop up that never shows up. I am stating to suspect the pop ups actually do happen but are somehow not shown.

I should add, after the locked application window darkens, I can still (usually) click on the Ubuntu "X" button to ForceQuit the application. That force quit pop up does say "The window this-n-that is not responding".

Removing pulseaudio prevents the lockup.

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Hey, just noticed that trying to use any of the main drop down Firefox menus (i.e. File Edit View...) cause the Firefox application window to darken and lock up. Hey, just notice something else. On my old (working) Ubuntu laptop those main drop down menus are on the top of the desktop window. But on the brand new Ubuntu install they remain on the application's window. I'm wondering if the difference has anything to do with the lock up problem. – st2000 Jul 7 '12 at 23:15

closed as off topic by Jorge Castro, Ringtail, hhlp, Mik, belacqua Nov 21 '12 at 17:38

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1 Answer

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This is most definitely a problem with Ubuntu. Here's why. I loaded Xubuntu and changed my desktop. The problem is gone! I can use Firefox, I can use Thunderbird and all the other applications that (I later found) were also not working.

Should this be entered as a bug somewhere?

Other notes:

  1. I enabled and disabled the Ubuntu provided hardware graphics acceleration while using the Ubuntu default desktop. That made no difference.
  2. I tried to run Firefox in safe-mode. That made no difference.
  3. I had problems with other applications. But no application was as crippled by the Ubuntu desktop as Thunderbird. Thunderbird was essentially useless.

edit: added later...

New information: Noticed that the pulseaudio daemon failed to start at boot up. The Ubuntu package was removed and the computer rebooted using the default Ubuntu desktop. The Thunderbird application did not lock up after the pulseaudio Ubuntu package was removed. The Firebird application work similarly.

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"Should this be entered as a bug somewhere?" Yes, bugs should be reported as bugs. – Eliah Kagan Jul 8 '12 at 15:30
Hummm, that path makes me use the ubuntu-bug utility which tries to collect data on my box. But, I've already fixed my box by switching to xubuntu! So the collected data should show no problems. Where can I simply enter a bug report regarding the default ubuntu desktop? – st2000 Jul 8 '12 at 16:53
That documentation page explains that too. However, if you can't provide information from your system where the bug occurred, it might not be possible for anyone to figure out what causes the bug, so that it can be fixed. – Eliah Kagan Jul 8 '12 at 17:10

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