Zen won't start - Couldn't load XPCOM

[burnout426]

What happened?

Windows 11 23H2 64-bit + Zen 1.0.0-a.8 installed with "zen.installer.exe" from https://github.com/zen-browser/desktop/releases/tag/1.0.0-a.8. Also tried zen.win64.zip.

When I try to start Zen, I get the attached error dialog titled "Firefox" that says "Couldn't load XPCOM."

CPU: Intel Core i5 2520m: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/52229/intel-core-i52520m-processor-3m-cache-up-to-3-20-ghz/specifications.html. See "Extensions and technologies" at https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i5/Intel-Core%20i5%20Mobile%20I5-2520M%20FF8062700840017%20(BX80627I52520M).html for list of supported features ( SSE and AVX version support). 8GB RAM. Intel HD3000 GPU on CPU.

Firefox 128.0.3 (64-bit) loads fine.

Reproducible?

• I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.

Version

1.0.0-a.8

Severity impact

Critical

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows

Relevant log output

No response

[A-Lamia]

Have the same issue, tried installing older version but none of those work with different errors.

Windows 10.

[detyso]

I have the same error xpcom error

[nero-0]

It doesn't open here either

[mr-cheffy]

Just to be clear, did it open on the previous versions?

[detyso]

Yea it open when I installed the first release and there was no error

[nero-0]

For me, no version after 1.0.0-a.4 opens

[burnout426]

Same here. a.4 is the last build that works for me.

a.6 and a.7 give me "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)".

a.8 gives me the XPCOM error.

In the changelog for a.6, it mentions "Updated CPU requirements for x86_64-v3", which I suspect is the culprit. But, I couldn't find what the requirements were before or what they are now. That's why I provided my CPU specs though.

[mr-cheffy]

We are trying to solve it for 1.0.0-a.9

[burnout426]

I did set the MOZ_LOG and MOZ_LOG_FILE system environment variables to see if any log files would be produced. None were though when I tried to start Zen. I tried ZEN_LOG and ZEN_LOG_FILE variables too just in case they were changed to be branded for Zen, but still no go. Either logging doesn't work or Zen never gets that far because of the error.

[mr-cheffy]

Zen doesn't get that far, i've checked it, and we are trying to fix it by lowering CPU requirements but that would make it slightly slower because we are doing less precise optimizations

[burnout426]

we are trying to fix it by lowering CPU requirements but that would make it slightly slower because we are doing less precise optimizations

I was just testing Zen to see how it was progressing. I can't speak for others here, but if you want to require a newer processor than I have, I'm personally okay with it. I would just suggest that https://get-zen.vercel.app/download lists the system requirements (including the CPU requirements).

An alternative would be to provide regular builds and then optimized builds. More work for you though.

[burnout426]

I can confirm that that the generic, non-optimized build of 1.0.0-a.11 (64-bit) starts and runs fine with my CPU now.