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Thunderbird V38.2.0 freezes after SLEEP under WIN10 Home 64bit

  • 21 replies
  • 80 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

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The freeze happens 8 of 10 times after sleep while Thunderbird was previously running fine. Also noticed a small, blank popup window that can not be dismissed. Must end via Task Manager, restarts OK.

The freeze happens 8 of 10 times after sleep while Thunderbird was previously running fine. Also noticed a small, blank popup window that can not be dismissed. Must end via Task Manager, restarts OK.

Chosen solution

It is a known issue that is getting attention.

WORKAROUND: Until a permanant fix is issued, hopefully in the next update, if you wish to avoid the hang try setting thunderbird to be offline before sleep/hibernate at File | Offline | Work Offline. Then do the same again after waking the computer to put it online. Or, in cases where the only problem is Thunderbird not getting new mail, do both after waking the computer.

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All Replies (20)

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It would be great if you could provide a screen shot of your issue, per https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

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The problem has seemed to go away. Maybe a benefit of one of the mandatory, secretive updates to WIN10 that have installed in the last few days?

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This problem has NOT gone away. The blank popup appears to be the "New mail notification" window and if you click on the invisible closure X on the upper right, Thunderbird recovers. Otherwise, it recovers after killing the app.

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I think this is a bug in TB 38.2. I had the same problem of my TB freezing after sleep even though I'm running Windows 7. My fix is simply to revert to an older version of TB. Probably any earlier version is ok, but I went back to 31.8, as supposedly that is the most recent "non beta" version.

The problem is gone now. And from my point of view, there's no difference between the older and newer versions of TB.

You can find the install file online. Dowload it and just run it and it installs and doesn't change your profile, and then TB works fine, although you may need to get an older version of one of your add-ons.

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This problem is now appearing on my desktop with same Win10/64bit. Must now exit TB before I allow a PC to to do an unattended sleep!

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Since this not reported to Mozilla as a crash, how do we get attention to a fix?

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Chosen Solution

It is a known issue that is getting attention.

WORKAROUND: Until a permanant fix is issued, hopefully in the next update, if you wish to avoid the hang try setting thunderbird to be offline before sleep/hibernate at File | Offline | Work Offline. Then do the same again after waking the computer to put it online. Or, in cases where the only problem is Thunderbird not getting new mail, do both after waking the computer.

Modified by Wayne Mery

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Wayne, thank you for the response. A minor inconvenience for a great application I would never replace.

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Wayne Mery said

It is a known issue that is getting attention. For now if you wish to avoid the hang try setting thunderbird to be offline before sleep at File | Offline | Work Offline

Hello,

I am having a similar problem or the same problem with my Windows 8.1 laptop. After awaking from sleep mode, Thunderbird 38.2 responds so sluggishly that it is almost frozen. All my other open programs are fine, so I think this really is a bug with Thunderbird 38.2.

Michael

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Wayne's workaround has worked. Set TB offline mode via tools>options>advanced>offline>manual>offline and answer online when TB awakens.

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I don't really see setting TB to offline before you sleep as being a practical fix. I mean, you can equally well turn TB OFF before you sleep and restart when you wake up...that might even be easier.

For now, my fix has simply been to revert to an earlier version TB.

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I don't believe anyone has implied or stated that using offline is a fix. I believe the word I used was "avoid".

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Wayne,

Thanks for all of your contributions. I think we should get over this and wait for the solution from our dedicated Mozilla developers.

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This is potentially bug 1196662. A patch has recently landed and one use reports success for getting messages automatically after sleep. So perhaps the patch will also help this windows 10 condition.

For those of you who have good backups and are comfortable trying an UNTESTED developement build, please try the win32 .exe or .zip from https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-central/ and please report your success or failure.

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Noticed the PC that most has this problem still had a POP (incoming) email account. Changed to IMAP and connection stability and speed improved. FYI, with COMCAST you must delete and reestablish account to change this setting option. Also note your non-default options, folder location and signature info as this will change. See providers web site for setup parameters.

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> ....and please report your success or failure.

We need this information ASAP so that we know whether the upcoming release will get a patch that is useful

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Wayne,

Put the PC to sleep 5 X and it awakened 5X and connected via "Get Message" QUICKLY after change to IMAP server. Should they notify every user to change to IMAP vs POP. Noticed my Galaxy S6 is smart enough to auto configure to IMAP server.

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Thanks.

I'm most interested in people's results with the newer version, using an unchanged configuration, i.e. the settings used when failure was observed.

Also, results after an extended period of time is helpful, say 1/2 hour.

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After installing Thunderbird 44.0a1 from the above link, it works correctly, not freezing after resume from sleep. I have tried it over 1/2 hour and several sleep-resume cycles (both invoked by the power button, and by automatic sleep after a period of inactivity).

Previously with the same configuration on Thunderbird 38.2.0, I was also seeing this freeze at least 80% of the time.

System is 64bit Win10 Home.

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I'll try this...if I can find TB 44.0a1 and install it correctly..I'm nervous

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