Comments on: Firefox segmentation fault on Asus Eee PC after update

By: rich

rich — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:30:21 +0000

ive done the above install but still to no avail.neither the web key or google ,mail keys etc are working still.any ideas?????

By: John McCreesh

John McCreesh — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:10:17 +0000

Just did a synaptic update everything and broke Thunderbird. Fortunately I didn;t break Firefox so was able to google for your posting.

Many thanks

By: chupa

chupa — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:34:03 +0000

seriously, thanks.

By: Keith - asus-eeepc

Keith - asus-eeepc — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:55:08 +0000

Am I glad I found this post! Don’t get me wrong, I love the eeepc but I updated earlier this week and Firefox was knackered. I’m not a total noob but this really stumped me – your fix works a treat.

I’m sure there are loads of average eeepc users that have had this problem – Asus have to address it directly.

By: Leo

Leo — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:19:31 +0000

Tim, thanks for this great tip.

I really like the EEE PC, but the whole update process (even using Synaptic) is not very user friendly. Having an update break a core function (Firefox) without the slightest notice does cast doubt on whether Linux is totally ready for prime time.

This error would likely doom the average user.
An average user will not think to find the firefox launch path, open a console, try launching firefox from the command line, observe the segmentation fault, and then google for the cause.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:56:39 +0000

You are a genius. There is a mountain of web material on this subject (it’s user permissions, your library is corrupted, just delete your profile, it’s scim &c &c) and it is all useless. Your solution actually works, no two ways about it.
How on earth is the average eee punter supposed to cope? Shows why people stick with Windows.

By: Graeme Vetterlein

Graeme Vetterlein — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:19:58 +0000

Thanks for that. Broke my Son’s eeepc at bedtime … bad karma …. this got it back on air in a about 5 mins … no tears before bedtime.

I’ve mailed xandros about this … since their mail address is in the package. I’d really like to know was ASUS are up to here … this feels like an elementary mistake

By: Marty Heyman

Marty Heyman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:02:00 +0000

Thank you Tim. Your response came up high on the GOogle hit list and it was clear and to the point. The very best in ’08 and I’m adding this blog to my daily watch list!

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:14:25 +0000

Will try this tonight instead of a re-install.

Thanks :O)

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:32:57 +0000

Thanks for this tip that fixes the problem.

I had wasted almost 3 hours trying to find out what was wrong. The strange thing was that : if you become root, set DISPLAY=:0 and launch firefox from the console , firefox starts normally. The problem happens only for ‘user’.

apt-get update&upgrade should leave the system in a perfectly sane status. More specifically: those commands should have installed the patch that fixes the bug. Especially since this article is dated 24-dec-2007 and today it’s 13-jan-2008.

So it’s almost one month since the bug is known, so the patch should have been included on the package repository ages ago.
Totally not impressed by the way xandros or asus is managing the package repository.

The device is a true “jewel”: fully functional laptop, enough memory, running Linux. And -of course- truly portable (unlike the standard laptops that are unpleasant to carry around). If only the screen were 9″ ….