Metro/Modern IE11 randomly crashing...


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I was asking about this in the support thread, but it has reached the point where I'm doubting it is an easy fix and need to go more in depth.

 

Since upgrading to Windows 8.1, whenever I'm using the Metro/Modern version of Internet Explorer it just randomly closes/crashes. It boots me back to the Start Screen, then restarts, opening the same tabs that were open before the crash. I can't spot any pattern to it - I'll be reading a website and it just closes, restarts, then puts the same page back up. Will work fine for a random amount of time (sometimes works fine for ages, sometimes does it several times in quick succession), then the same issue occurs. I've had it happen on a variety of websites - Neowin, the Kerbal Space Program forums, some comics and even Bing, so I can't see how it is a website specific issue.

 

The weird thing is, the desktop version of Internet Explorer 11 seems to be entirely unaffected. I've not had one crash with it. As a result of this I'm somewhat struggling to find any solutions, as others with issues have the opposite problem (desktop version crashing, Metro fine).

 

I've so far tried resetting IE to the defaults (twice), uninstalling add-ons (LastPass), removing tracking protection lists, turning off the predictive page loading feature, turning off the display tabs/url option, checked for malware, and more I can't remember.

 

I've checked Event Viewer, which shows the following "Application Error" records:

Faulting application name: iexplore.exe, version: 11.0.9600.16384, time stamp: 0x5215d145
Faulting module name: IEFRAME.dll, version: 11.0.9600.16412, time stamp: 0x5243e8ac
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000388cba
Faulting process ID: 0x1318
Faulting application start time: 0x01cecfd206022be1
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\IEFRAME.dll
Report ID: 7311934f-3bc5-11e3-be96-74d02b7a1ff8
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
So I'm really lost as to what to try next. Help? :(
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The issue appeared after KB2884101 update this October's patch Tuesday. I guess this update is already included if you upgraded through the Store, so there might be no way to uninstall it.
I removed it just now to see if it fixes anything. Apparently, there's no other solution at the moment.

P.S. No, it doesn't. It still crashes

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Just done a fresh-ish install (reinstalled 8 then upgraded to 8.1 without installing anything else). Has crashed about 10 times in 30 minutes. :( Was going to try removing that update but then noticed your PS.

 

Does anyone know if this is this a known bug that they are working on fixing? Find it hard to believe that a fresh install already has the issue, unless it is driver related.

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Just done a fresh-ish install (reinstalled 8 then upgraded to 8.1 without installing anything else). Has crashed about 10 times in 30 minutes. :( Was going to try removing that update but then noticed your PS.

 

Does anyone know if this is this a known bug that they are working on fixing? Find it hard to believe that a fresh install already has the issue, unless it is driver related.

Can't tell you whether it is a known bug or not, but it doesn't happen to me.

 

Every now and again a page will cause it to hang for a little while, but I've never had it close on me.

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Just tried switching it to software rendering instead of GPU rendering. No dice.

Can't tell you whether it is a known bug or not, but it doesn't happen to me.

 

Every now and again a page will cause it to hang for a little while, but I've never had it close on me.

Probably completely irrelevant, but did you upgrade 8.1 from the store? And is your Windows 8 a retail or OEM copy?

Only few people I've seen claiming to fix it have done so by doing a "refresh" via an 8.1 ISO downloaded using a retail key. The issue doesn't seem that prolific online, so I'm wondering if it is some sort of issue with the upgrade process in certain scenarios.

Anything Internet Explorer and crash related is so hard to find information on... so many irrelevant results out there from the 6/7/8/9 days. Wish I could find something solid.

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Just tried switching it to software rendering instead of GPU rendering. No dice.

Probably completely irrelevant, but did you upgrade 8.1 from the store? And is your Windows 8 a retail or OEM copy?

Only few people I've seen claiming to fix it have done so by doing a "refresh" via an 8.1 ISO downloaded using a retail key. The issue doesn't seem that prolific online, so I'm wondering if it is some sort of issue with the upgrade process in certain scenarios.

Anything Internet Explorer and crash related is so hard to find information on... so many irrelevant results out there from the 6/7/8/9 days. Wish I could find something solid.

My upgrade was done using the ISO. Windows 8 was a retail copy. Maybe it is something to do with the Store upgrade.

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Modern and desktop IE 11 are freaking out when I try to search from the address bar. If I type in anything that's not an address and hit enter the buttons and display area will just flicker around if only one tab is open on Modern and desktop versions. If another tab is open and I try to do the same search IE wont bug out it will just do nothing. I gotten used to just searching from the address bar and hitting enter but now I have to teach myself to click on the search provider button below the input area on the desktop or suggestions area. I did the whole disable add-ons and reset IE and nothing. I hope they fix this

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My upgrade was done using the ISO. Windows 8 was a retail copy. Maybe it is something to do with the Store upgrade.

I'm beginining to thing that is the case too, although perhaps something a bit more specific. I'd like to test the theory, but as my Windows 8 copy is OEM there doesn't seem to be a way to legally obtain an 8.1 ISO. Would need to purchase an 8.0/8.1 retail license.

My initial assessment of it not being very prolific may have been a bit premature too. Nearly every other post on Microsoft's Internet Explorer community is now someone suffering problems with the Modern version of IE randomly closing/crashing.

 

Modern and desktop IE 11 are freaking out when I try to search from the address bar. If I type in anything that's not an address and hit enter the buttons and display area will just flicker around if only one tab is open on Modern and desktop versions. If another tab is open and I try to do the same search IE wont bug out it will just do nothing. I gotten used to just searching from the address bar and hitting enter but now I have to teach myself to click on the search provider button below the input area on the desktop or suggestions area. I did the whole disable add-ons and reset IE and nothing. I hope they fix this

You could try updating graphics drivers as it sounds like it could be graphics related. If that doesn't help, may be worth checking the Event Viewer to see if there is an error code that you could use to find a solution.
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Maybe the problem is because IE11 desktop is 32Bit and Modern is 64Bit (that is if your using 64Bit), you can see when looking at process explorer the modern version opens under svchost whereas the desktop runs under explorer. Also when viewing Task Manager (Details) you`ll see that if you have both open one leads to Program Files, the other Program Files (x86).

 

Does SFC /scannow bring up any issues? Not sure if Troubleshooting -> Internet Explorer Performance will do anything :(  Hopefully MSFT will have a fix for next patch Tuesday.

Not sure if creating a recovery on a USB then using that for a refresh would do anything (or if it`s even applicable). Any how,

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

 

Good luck

 

p.s. If you need an 8.1 ISO just throw us a pm and i`m sure i can post you one...

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Maybe the problem is because IE11 desktop is 32Bit and Modern is 64Bit (that is if your using 64Bit), you can see when looking at process explorer the modern version opens under svchost whereas the desktop runs under explorer. Also when viewing Task Manager (Details) you`ll see that if you have both open one leads to Program Files, the other Program Files (x86).

 

Does SFC /scannow bring up any issues? Not sure if Troubleshooting -> Internet Explorer Performance will do anything :(  Hopefully MSFT will have a fix for next patch Tuesday.

Not sure if creating a recovery on a USB then using that for a refresh would do anything (or if it`s even applicable). Any how,

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

 

Good luck

 

p.s. If you need an 8.1 ISO just throw us a pm and i`m sure i can post you one...

Does look like that is the case (64-bit vs 32-bit) but whether it is the cause of the issue I don't know. For me only one of the desktop IE processes shows as being x86 though. Wonder if I can get the desktop IE running in 64-bit mode... the directory appears to exist, so I will give it a go.

I did run SFC /scannow on my previous install. All it "fixed" was the recreating the default shortcuts I'd moved around in the start menu folders. :laugh:

Edit: Running the iexplore in the Program Files directory does exactly the same thing - one process is from x86, the others appear to be x64.

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Maybe the problem is because IE11 desktop is 32Bit and Modern is 64Bit (that is if your using 64Bit), you can see when looking at process explorer the modern version opens under svchost whereas the desktop runs under explorer. Also when viewing Task Manager (Details) you`ll see that if you have both open one leads to Program Files, the other Program Files (x86).

Just to come back to this... I have now been running the Modern IE11 without an issue for the last hour (longest I've achieved). It may not be much but I looked in Process Explorer, and the one iexplore.exe instance that was running from Program Files (x86) has vanished. I'm not sure why or how, but I'm wondering if whatever this x86 iexplore.exe process is, is causing a problem due to every other iexplore.exe instance being x64.

Will have to investigate some more, but does anyone have a clue what the x86 process would be for? As I presume it is an IE feature running in the background, rather than a tab.

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I'm beginining to thing that is the case too, although perhaps something a bit more specific. I'd like to test the theory, but as my Windows 8 copy is OEM there doesn't seem to be a way to legally obtain an 8.1 ISO. Would need to purchase an 8.0/8.1 retail license.

My initial assessment of it not being very prolific may have been a bit premature too. Nearly every other post on Microsoft's Internet Explorer community is now someone suffering problems with the Modern version of IE randomly closing/crashing.

 

You could try updating graphics drivers as it sounds like it could be graphics related. If that doesn't help, may be worth checking the Event Viewer to see if there is an error code that you could use to find a solution.

 

The problem seems to be Protection Mode under Internet Options->Security. Turned it off and search is working again. I been having other strange problems with IE 11 and now I am going to see if that setting helps.

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No idea whether the update fixes it or not as I managed to fix it via chance. :laugh: While investigating the odd processes mentioned above, I opened "iexplore.exe" directly from "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\" and it has been fine since. No crashes for about 4 hours last night and 2 hours this morning, even with some 30 tabs open. No idea why that should have fixed anything, but it worked. Installed the update anyway and it is still ok (although the desktop version now randomly ignores my mouse button's back/forward buttons :/ ). I gather from elsewhere that the update does fix the issue so I'll mark that as the answer. :)

Typed from IE11 Modern/Metro/Store/Whatever. :D

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