Firefox circles forever trying to log into Schwab.com

[NanoAnno]

Since ~ 3 weeks ago, Firefox 78.15.0esr (64-bit) circles forever trying to log into Schwab.com. This is on MacOS. Logins from Windows11 (Firefox or Edge, on work machine) work fine.

Possibly related, or not, while logging into WSJ.com works, opening an article mostly fails with the message "

Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information)

Started occurring oin about the same time frame.

Firefox 78.15.0esr days it is up to date.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[jscher2000]

Firefox has two consoles that show errors. Probably WSJ is referring to the Web Console (Command+Alt+K), which is specific to the current tab. Do the error messages there say anything about a script error or blocked function?

(Firefox also has a console called the Browser Console, Command+Shift+J, but it usually focuses on non-page-specific errors.)

[NanoAnno]

Hi jscher2000:

Thank you for the prompt response! The wsj website does indeed complain about a syntax error in the Web Console,              

                     Uncaught SyntaxError: expected expression, got '='

This showed up in right-clicking Inspect Element / console

Happened before maybe half a year ago, then went away, but now has been fairly persistent. Almost all articles seem affected. Somebody somewhere suggested updated Java, but it does not sound like that would resolve a syntax error (and I find it hard on my very old machine to update Java).

In the Browser Console:

Store does not have a valid reducer. Make sure the argument passed to combineReducers is an object whose values are reducers. redux.js:362:13
Redux 6
exports resource://devtools/client/inspector/store.js:20
Inspector resource://devtools/client/inspector/inspector.js:148
InspectorPanel resource://devtools/client/inspector/panel.js:8
build resource://devtools/client/definitions.js:171
onLoad resource://devtools/client/framework/toolbox.js:2511

TypeError: state.hideToggleDeferredTask is null PictureInPictureChild.jsm:793:7
onMouseLeaveVideo resource://gre/actors/PictureInPictureChild.jsm:793
onMouseOut resource://gre/actors/PictureInPictureChild.jsm:606
handleEvent resource://gre/actors/PictureInPictureChild.jsm:200

TypeError: browser is null AudioPlaybackParent.jsm:19:9
receiveMessage resource://gre/actors/AudioPlaybackParent.jsm:19

Unknown Collection "main/cfr-fxa" RemoteSettingsClient.jsm:155
UnknownCollectionError resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm:155
sync resource://services-settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm:455
InterpretGeneratorResume self-hosted:1151
AsyncFunctionNext self-hosted:693

No messages returned from https://snippets.cdn.mozilla.net/6/Firefox/78.15.0/20210927121355/Darwin_x86_64-gcc3/en-US/esr/Darwi.... ASRouter.jsm:124
reportError resource://activity-stream/lib/ASRouter.jsm:124
_remoteLoader resource://activity-stream/lib/ASRouter.jsm:259
InterpretGeneratorResume self-hosted:1151
AsyncFunctionNext self-hosted:693

Content Security Policy: The page’s settings blocked the loading of a resource at inline (“default-src”). panel.js:78:24

================================================

As for the Schwab issue:

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at about:blank. (Reason: CORS request not http).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://dpm.demdex.net/id?d_visid_ver=4.4.0&d_fieldgroup=MC&d_rtbd=json&d_ver=2&d_verify=1&d_orgid=5.... (Reason: CORS request did not succeed).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at about:blank. (Reason: CORS request not http).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://dpm.demdex.net/id?d_visid_ver=4.4.0&d_fieldgroup=MC&d_rtbd=json&d_ver=2&d_orgid=5DB5123F5245.... (Reason: CORS request did not succeed).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at about:blank. (Reason: CORS request not http).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://dpm.demdex.net/id?d_visid_ver=4.4.0&d_fieldgroup=AAM&d_rtbd=json&d_ver=2&d_orgid=5DB5123F524.... (Reason: CORS request did not succeed).

Thank you also for pointing out the difference between Web Console and Browser Console, was not aware of the latter.

[jscher2000]

Syntax errors can be serious, but it's difficult to know without tracing what the script was doing when it halted.

I think demdex might be a tracking service. Blocking that probably won't break a site, but just in case, you can turn off Enhanced Tracking Protection on the Schwab site (or each different Schwab site as you notice the server name changes in the address bar) by clicking the shield icon to the left of the lock in the address bar and clicking the slider switch at the top of the drop-down panel. This allows broader cross-site cookie permissions among related servers, so can help with multi-server sites.

[NanoAnno]

Hi jscher2000:

Turning off Enhanced Tracking Potection did not unfortunately move the needle. But very much appreciate your continued follow-up and advice. I learn a lot, unfortunately at the expense of your precious time...

[jscher2000]

Hmm, maybe it's an issue with older versions of Firefox.

Unfortunately, there are no more updates for MacOS 10.9, 10.10 and 10.11 beyond the Extended Support Release of Firefox 78.

For MacOS 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14, you could update to the Extended Support Release of Firefox 115 (downloading the DMG, if needed: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-esr).