Pale Moon portable browser don't start on Windows 7

[user45687]

Operating system: Windows 7
Browser version: 33.6.1
64-bit browser
Problem URL: NA
Browser theme (if not default): don't know
Installed add-ons: don't know
Installed plugins: (about:plugins): don't know

Hi, I have downloaded the portable version of Pale Moon browser (v.33.6.1 x64). I unpacked the archive but the browser does not start. When I double click on Palemoon-Portable.exe I get a splash screen, and then in a second a window appears saying: "Pale Moon web browser has stopped working". When I expand "View problem details" it appears that the problem module is mozglue.dll:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Palemoon.exe
Application Version: 6.7.0.9198
Application Timestamp: 67cc4efe
Fault Module Name: mozglue.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.7.0.9198
Fault Module Timestamp: 67cc4ef1
Exception Code: c000001d
Exception Offset: 0000000000017ccd
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Additional Information 1: 5055
Additional Information 2: 5055a6fb19ab0f2c581f4fd7549f9c45
Additional Information 3: 18a2
Additional Information 4: 18a28e3b8d14760fd127877159e43e4d

The browser window never shows up.
How can I fix it?

[Nuck-TH]

Does your CPU support AVX instruction set?
If not, use my SSE2 build or make your own if you desire.

[user45687]

I am not sure, but I think that my CPU (Intel Core2 Duo E8500) does not support AVX.
Does that mean that the program will not run at all? How come Firefox 115 still can run on my computer?

[RedRamGT]

If you're not sure that your CPU supports AVX, you might download the 32-Bit version of Pale Moon Portable and try it. If it comes up and runs, it's likely because the CPU does not support AVX.

[Moonchild]

Your CPU does not support AVX (see techpowerup database). Not really surprising from a 2008 processor.

Does that mean that the program will not run at all?

Correct. The normal 64-bit versions require AVX.

How come Firefox 115 still can run on my computer?

They build against a lower CPU spec than Pale Moon.
Nuck-TH offers community builds compatible with your processor. Look for the SSE2 builds provided. (Link in sig on Nuck's post above)

[BenFenner]

I guess the CPU detection code that went into the installer never made it to the portable version (for obvious reasons). Does it make sense to work on a similar solution there?

[Moonchild]

I guess the CPU detection code that went into the installer never made it to the portable version (for obvious reasons). Does it make sense to work on a similar solution there?

Hmm.. it'd be something to consider, if the language of the portable launcher allows to test for CPU instruction sets, that is. I'd have to look into that.

EDIT: No, it doesn't allow for it. Not directly anyway - it could be done with raw dll calls but then we'd run into the same issue that it's windows version/build dependent so really isn't a reliable way to do this. On top, it'd probably make antivirus suites freak out more than it already does
Short of rewriting the launcher in a different way/language (which has been on the to-do for a while, but just too low priority to sink the required time into) there's no real feasible way to do this at the moment.

[RedRamGT]

Could a small "CPU Features Tool" be written to check for that? If something that would be easy to do, then maybe add a note to the Pale Moon documentation to "download and run the CPU Features Tool, if you're having problems and not sure if the CPU supports Pale Moon properly". That was just a stray thought...

[RealityRipple]

you mean CPU-Z?

[user45687]

Guys, thank you VERY MUCH for help! I downloaded the 32-bit version and it runs like charm. I already like this browser, it reminds me of the old days when Firefox was still a decent and user-friendly choice (which, unfortunately, it is not anymore). I still use Firefox as my main browser (I had to make my own web-extensions), but since they have dropped the support for Windows 7 and now are planning to steal and sell user data, I started to think about transitioning to another browser. I have tried a lot so far and none of them worked well or they don't work at all on my computer. Had some grief with Opera, strongly recommend not to try it. K-Meleon runs, but don't open some sites correctly, or don't open some sites at all. You, guys, are the best! I hope some day I too will contribute to the open source community.

[ron_1]

I downloaded the 32-bit version and it runs like charm.

Great. But if you would prefer a 64-bit version, get the SSE2 version here:

https://ftp2.palemoon.org/avx/

[moonbat]

If you have more than 4 GB of physical RAM and a 64-bit OS, better to use the 64-bit version linked above as it can use more memory than the hard limit of 4 GB addressable by the 32-bit version.

[user45687]

Great. But if you would prefer a 64-bit version, get the SSE2 version here:

Thank you for the suggestion. Do you by any chance know if this is (palemoon-33.6.1.win64-sse2.7z) a portable version, or just a version without an installer? Or if it can be configured to become a portable version?

If you have more than 4 GB of physical RAM and a 64-bit OS, better to use the 64-bit version linked above as it can use more memory than the hard limit of 4 GB addressable by the 32-bit version.

Currently I have only 4 GB of physical memory (the maximum amount that my motherboard supports). I am planning to upgrade in the future, but probably not very soon. I have the hardware lying around, but it requires a lot of work: changing the motherboard, transferring the OS. But eventually I will.

Does the browser only use physical memory, or it can use virtual memory, which is larger than physical? I have a 5 GB swap file, so the total virtual memory is 9 GB.

[Moonchild]

The 7z is just a packed version without installer. You can make it portable though by using its contents to replace what is in the portable's bin/Palemoon folder though. That effectively gives you a portable x64 SSE2 build.

The browser will use virtual memory but it'll be very slow. You should rather be conservative in the number of open tabs to limit its resource use. I also recommend the "suspender" extension to unload/sleep tabs that are in the background for low memory machines.

[user45687]

The 7z is just a packed version without installer. You can make it portable though by using its contents to replace what is in the portable's bin/Palemoon folder though. That effectively gives you a portable x64 SSE2 build.

The browser will use virtual memory but it'll be very slow. You should rather be conservative in the number of open tabs to limit its resource use. I also recommend the "suspender" extension to unload/sleep tabs that are in the background for low memory machines.

Thank you. That is a useful info about x64 build, I will give it a try. I prefer to use portable versions of the programs whenever I can.
I usually keep long sessions in my browser, like up to about 4000 tabs, maybe slightly more, but I restart the browser every day and most of the tabs are not loaded after the restart. And when the session becomes too big, I backup the tabs and start a new session, to speed things up. Like you said, lots of open tabs slows the browser, even when they are not loaded.