Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity, was: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues

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scruffyeagle
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by scruffyeagle »

Things have changed again.

Given that Antix was now my only way of connecting online from this machine, I decided to reset the GRUB boot menu. I used the Antix boot repair utility, and it seemed to work okay. But, rebooting to test it, I discovered a glitch. My 3 partitions are currently used as:
#1: Swap,
#2: Antix v19.3 (upgraded), and
#3: Linux Mint v20.2.

The glitch, is that the boot repair didn’t find Mint. Instead, it found Debian v11.1, which I’d had previously installed in p#3, but over-written with Mint. I tested to see if it could boot Mint from the line specifying Debian, and the answer was no. Instead, after failure, it returned to the GRUB boot selection screen.

My solution was to go back into Antix, and enter

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub
in a terminal.

That worked okay, but it had an odd side effect when I tested for booting Mint. Previously, Mint would go fairly quickly to the login screen. However, this time, it:

1) Gave me a blank screen with “LINUX MINT” top center, and 4 or 5 dots below it, similar to the Antix Live display.

2) It did a slow march across the dots, changing their color to display progress, similar to what Antix does.

3) It showed a terminal login, in large amber lettering on a black background. (I think it was tty1.) I decided to just wait, and see what it would do.

4) It displayed the normal LM login screen & routine.

Another oddity, once I was finally booted into Mint, is that the LM copy of ESR Firefox suddenly started working again when I tested it. I don’t know if it will continue to work, but it’s working now! (Curiouser and curiouser…) After discovering it was connecting normally, I went into the Settings, and checked. I found that DoH was on. I left it that way. I also found that HTTPS-Only mode was on. I turned it off.

I had no way of knowing exactly what had changed, to make FF work again in LM. But, encouraged by the ESR version suddenly working, I decided to reinstall FF v94.0 from the repos, and test that. I don't know how or why, but it's also working(!), and I'm using it right now to update this thread at the LM forum.

Is it possible that the altered behavior of booting Linux Mint is connected with the sudden resumption of Firefox (both versions) being able to connect online?
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t42
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by t42 »

scruffyeagle wrote: Sun Nov 21, 2021 8:43 pm Is it possible that the altered behavior of booting Linux Mint is connected with the sudden resumption of Firefox (both versions) being able to connect online?
...no, it's not.
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by scruffyeagle »

Update:

I went onto Facebook for a couple of hours, and during that time the connection problem resumed. Neither of the versions I have in the LM OS are fully functional now. Both have returned to the condition they were in yesterday.

I'm posting this via use of the Antix copy of FF.
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scruffyeagle
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Firefox only connects to Google, Facebook

Post by scruffyeagle »

I'm running LM 20.2 with Cinnamon, on a Dell Precision M6300 laptop. The internet connection worked properly for a short while after installation of LM, but then developed a malfunction. It can connect to a few websites (Google, Facebook, and maybe one other), but most of the time it returns an error message that it can't connect to the server. I have another laptop running Antix v19.4, and that has no troubles connecting - so, it's just in the LM OS. (Antix is what I'm using right now, for posting this.) LM has been able to maintain its updates, so that function seems unaffected.

Here's the output of inxi -Fxxxrz:

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7 wm: muffin 5.0.2 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Precision M6300 v: N/A 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 8 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0JM680 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A14 
  date: 12/06/2011 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 68.6 Wh condition: 68.6/73.3 Wh (94%) volts: 12.6/11.1 
  model: PS2 DELL 00 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T7250 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Core Merom rev: D L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 7978 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/2001 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 798 2: 798 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA G84GLM [Quadro FX 1600M] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia 
  v: 340.108 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:040d 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1920x1200~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Quadro FX 1600M/PCIe/SSE2 v: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 340.108 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:284b 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5756ME Gigabit Ethernet 
  PCI Express 
  vendor: Dell driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: df00 bus ID: 09:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:1674 
  IF: enp9s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY 
  vendor: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card driver: wl v: kernel port: df00 
  bus ID: 0c:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4315 
  IF: wlp12s0 state: dormant mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb 
  bus ID: 6-2:2 chip ID: 413c:8140 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.06 TiB used: 27.45 GiB (2.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS543216L9SA02 size: 149.05 GiB 
  speed: 1.5 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: C52F scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Western Digital 
  model: WD My Passport 0748 size: 931.48 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 1019 
  scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 28.23 GiB used: 19.91 GiB (70.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 9.77 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: 45.0 C gpu: nvidia 
  temp: 60 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
  Processes: 191 Uptime: 23m Memory: 3.84 GiB used: 1.05 GiB (27.4%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
Last edited by xenopeek on Wed Dec 15, 2021 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: move code tags so they are around the inxi output instead of just around the command
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MikeNovember
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by MikeNovember »

Hi,

Fortunately Firefox has been updated to 95.0!

Maybe your problems (and this long post) will be solved.

Regards,

MN
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Linux Mint 21.3 Mate host with Ubuntu Pro enabled, VMware Workstation Player with Windows 10 Pro guest, ASUS G74SX (i7-2670QM, 16 GB RAM, GTX560M with 3GB RAM, 1TB SSD).
scruffyeagle
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by scruffyeagle »

MikeNovember wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:43 am Hi,

Fortunately Firefox has been updated to 95.0!

Maybe your problems (and this long post) will be solved.

Regards,

MN
Thank you! I'll dl' v95.0 from the repo, and see if that solves the connection problem.
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scruffyeagle
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Re: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues - not reproduced in other Firefox versions

Post by scruffyeagle »

MikeNovember wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:43 am Hi,

Fortunately Firefox has been updated to 95.0!

Maybe your problems (and this long post) will be solved.

Regards,

MN
Returning to use LM 20 today, I decided to try FF again. After all, it started working for a while once before, for no apparent reason - why not now? Here's what happened:

* Starting FF, it checked and found itself up to date in FF v91.3.0esr.

* Startpage.com connected, which it hadn't been doing before.

* Checking back a couple of minute later (after making notes), I found it offering an update to v91.4.1esr.

* I clicked to update. It was quick... After a restart, the "About" menu reported it as being v91.4.1esr.

* Checking, I found Startpage still connecting.

Maybe it's fixed? If so, then my only problem that I'm aware of in LM is now the failure of LuckyBackup to initialize for use when clicked.

Thanks for your help!

Note, I'm not marking this as "[Solved]", because it's fooled me once before, suddenly being able to connect to sites it couldn't reach before, and then for no apparent reason losing that ability to connect properly.
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Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by scruffyeagle »

If I could, I'd improve the title of this thread - but, the edit pencil is missing from the 1st post. I would want to change it to: "Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity".

My copy of LM has lost its full connectivity again, exactly as happened before. The only difference, is that I was in the middle of using the internet when it happened this time.

I'd been on Facebook for about 2 hours, and had read several articles linked to on other sites. So, it was fully functional when I began the session. But, there came a point when I clicked on a link that should have opened a new tab showing a page on another site - and got the message that Firefox couldn't connect to the server. I was using the Firefox v91.4.1 copy of the program, when this happened.

I ended the Facebook session, and closed down the browser.

Next, I clicked to open the Firefox v95 copy of the program. I tried to connect to https://www.startpage.com/, and got the message that it couldn't connect to the server. Note, that both copies of Firefox had been fully functional, before I began this Facebook session.

The problem is exactly as it was before. Facebook & Google will connect, but most of the other websites won't.
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by Moem »

scruffyeagle wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:28 am If I could, I'd improve the title of this thread - but, the edit pencil is missing from the 1st post. I would want to change it to: "Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity".
Done. I did leave a reference to the previous title.
Image

If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by scruffyeagle »

Moem wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:49 am
scruffyeagle wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:28 am If I could, I'd improve the title of this thread - but, the edit pencil is missing from the 1st post. I would want to change it to: "Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity".
Done. I did leave a reference to the previous title.
Thanks!
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity, was: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues

Post by scruffyeagle »

It's been a few days since there was any activity on this issue, so I'm "bumping" it. Anybody have any ideas, what's gone wrong to cause this recurrent loss of connectivity? The best theory I've read so far, is the idea that there's a difference between the websites that work, and the websites that don't - and the difference is related to whether the websites are using IPv4 or IPv6. However, I don't have a clue how that theory could be tested, or used for fixing the problem.

This disfunction has come & gone at least 3x. I have no idea why it did either. At one point in this long thread, I posted a list of websites that did & did not work, during an interval when the disfunction was happening. Here's that list again:

Google - y
gmail - y
Facebook - y
Debian Forum - y
Wiktionary - y
usps - y
yahoo - y
youtube - y

yahoo answers - n
mozilla - n
actblue - n
speedtest.net - n
Startpage - n
Binsearch - n
DuckDuckGo - n
Craig's List - n
Bastyon - n
wisconsin public service - n
weather.com - n
my bank - n
michigan.gov - n

"y" means it could connect, and "n" means it couldn't connect.
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity, was: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues

Post by rene »

It is very likely to have something to do with IPv4 versus IPv6 indeed; when I disable IPv4 here all your n-s stop working indeed while your y-s (except yahoo.com) tick along --- although I will hope/assume that the fact that e.g. mozilla.org is among the n-s means I'm looking at some local ISP-influenced caching behaviour (also, perhaps). Because, really? mozilla.org not reachable via IPv6-only?

Anycase you can when the issue exists go to e.g. ipv6-test.com and/or see what's happing locally in a terminal with ifconfig. Prime suspect would be system-local broken VPN setup -- although you would supposedly have been able to suspect such yourself if you use any... --- or if ifconfig shows no difference between working and non-working situation, DNS only. That ipv6-test.com site also checks your DNS-connectivity. Haven't trawled though the thread to see what's already been ruled out and what not but as to DNS also check Firefox -> Settings -> General | Network Settings -> Enable DNS over HTTPS (to test, enable if disabled, disable if enabled). A hung IPv4 stack in modem/router -- restart modem/router -- or a to you specific local ISP issue is of course also possible.

It's in any case something quite specific to you / your setup; no one is otherwise experiencing this, and especially given how this thread started this is likely to say that you, as tends to happen, vewy-vewy secuwely completely <bleep> over your own setup in ways that others have great difficultly imagining. I.e., shall otherwise (also) leave this thread at that above verification of IPv6-vs-IPv4 being likely involved; hope it helps.
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by t42 »

scruffyeagle wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:28 am got the message that Firefox couldn't connect to the server. I was using the Firefox v91.4.1 copy of the program, when this happened.

I ended the Facebook session, and closed down the browser.

Next, I clicked to open the Firefox v95 copy of the program. I tried to connect to https://www.startpage.com/, and got the message that it couldn't connect to the server. Note, that both copies of Firefox had been fully functional, before I began this Facebook session.
1. Are you using separate profiles for v95 and v91? If not, you may have profile corruption issues. Firefox profiles are not always are back compatible. Just reading in your the other thread
scruffyeagle wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 2:18 am all that was needed was to perform complete removal of the stock v94.0 Firefox browser from the repos, and replace it using v91.3.0esr,, downloaded directly from Mozilla.
2. FUD aside and Firefox as well. Reading after rene this thread again (and even editing my own comment) I wonder why not to run several relevant commands analyzing DNS functionality?
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity, was: Firefox v94.0 connectivity issues

Post by scruffyeagle »

rene wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:10 am It is very likely to have something to do with IPv4 versus IPv6 indeed; when I disable IPv4 here all your n-s stop working indeed while your y-s (except yahoo.com) tick along --- although I will hope/assume that the fact that e.g. mozilla.org is among the n-s means I'm looking at some local ISP-influenced caching behaviour (also, perhaps). Because, really? mozilla.org not reachable via IPv6-only?

Anycase you can when the issue exists go to e.g. ipv6-test.com and/or see what's happing locally in a terminal with ifconfig. Prime suspect would be system-local broken VPN setup -- although you would supposedly have been able to suspect such yourself if you use any... --- or if ifconfig shows no difference between working and non-working situation, DNS only. That ipv6-test.com site also checks your DNS-connectivity. Haven't trawled though the thread to see what's already been ruled out and what not but as to DNS also check Firefox -> Settings -> General | Network Settings -> Enable DNS over HTTPS (to test, enable if disabled, disable if enabled). A hung IPv4 stack in modem/router -- restart modem/router -- or a to you specific local ISP issue is of course also possible.

It's in any case something quite specific to you / your setup; no one is otherwise experiencing this, and especially given how this thread started this is likely to say that you, as tends to happen, vewy-vewy secuwely completely <bleep> over your own setup in ways that others have great difficultly imagining. I.e., shall otherwise (also) leave this thread at that above verification of IPv6-vs-IPv4 being likely involved; hope it helps.
Thanks, Rene. I return to play with LM today, and found it ready for doing an update. During the update, the repo copy of FireFox was updated to v96.0.1 - and now is working again (for now). I have no doubt, that I'll be returning to your comment, to remind myself of how to do the IP tests once it stops connecting again. I really hope it isn't ISP-related... My provider is Spectrum, and making use of their customer service is like pulling teeth.

I don't use a VPN.

I should mention, that the only advanced way in which I tweak my system, is via my reliance on VeraCrypt & LuckyBackup for maintaining all my personal files on an encrypted external drive (plus a backup drive as a cloned copy) instead of keeping my data files on the internal drive.
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scruffyeagle
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by scruffyeagle »

t42 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:42 pm
scruffyeagle wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:28 am got the message that Firefox couldn't connect to the server. I was using the Firefox v91.4.1 copy of the program, when this happened.

I ended the Facebook session, and closed down the browser.

Next, I clicked to open the Firefox v95 copy of the program. I tried to connect to https://www.startpage.com/, and got the message that it couldn't connect to the server. Note, that both copies of Firefox had been fully functional, before I began this Facebook session.
1. Are you using separate profiles for v95 and v91? If not, you may have profile corruption issues. Firefox profiles are not always are back compatible. Just reading in your the other thread
scruffyeagle wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 2:18 am all that was needed was to perform complete removal of the stock v94.0 Firefox browser from the repos, and replace it using v91.3.0esr,, downloaded directly from Mozilla.
2. FUD aside and Firefox as well. Reading after rene this thread again (and even editing my own comment) I wonder why not to run several relevant commands analyzing DNS functionality?
Thanks for the reply. No, I'm not using separate profiles for the different FF versions. But, I don't think that's the key to what's going wrong on this system, because the connectivity malfunction was occurring before I downloaded the 2nd version from the FF website. In fact, the connectivity problem was the REASON why I downloaded the 2nd copy. That said, I can see how profile conflicts could cause connectivity problems. I'll see if I can figure out how to change the website copy to have a new profile and NOT use the current one.

The repo version of FF was updated, so for the moment, FF is connecting again. I'm using it right now, for accessing the LM Forum. If & when the connectivity problem resumes (which, it probably will), I'll turn to running the IPv tests for analyzing DNS functionality.
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Re: Recurrent partial loss of internet connectivity

Post by scruffyeagle »

After doing some research & study this evening, I was able to put what I'd learned into use.

Now, the 2 different versions of Firefox in the Linux Mint OS are using completely separate profiles. So, if the connectivity failure recurs, I can be fairly sure it's not a matter of Firefox profile conflicts.
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