I’ve been using NPM’s Passwordless Vault Unlock flawlessly for a couple of years until the last few days after repeated system crashes due to the Intel 13th and 14th gen processor bug. It no longer works no matter what I do, which including following all instructions provided by Norton, Google, community discussion, uninstall, reinstall, etc., etc. the NPM Firefox and Chrome extensions keep showing “No active devices.”
Need help urgently!! It’s not the end of the world yet as NPM still works but it would be nice to have that feature again.
Go to your NPM and delete any phone’s listed for Passwordless Unlock. Then on your mobile device, go to NPM Settings and look for a Use this device for Passwordless Unlock, or something similar. Tap on that and then go back to NPM on your computer and try setting up Passwordless Unlock again.
I tried to add my phone but like I said, both Firefox and Chrome extension showed “No active devices.”
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S24U for the last year or so and Passwordless Vault Unlock had always been working on this phone even after updating to Android 15 and One UI 7.0. I also uninstalled NPM, reinstalled NPM, clear app cache, delete app data, removed and reinstalled Firefox and Chrome extensions numerous times, etc. but no help. I seriously doubt the culprit is the phone.
I’ve been using my Intel 13900k system for over two years and all was working until recently that the processor bug was causing a lot of Firefox, Chrome, game crashes and BSoDs (probably because of the recent hot weather). It was so often that Windows 11 Pro went into Safe Mode. I updated my motherboard to the latest firmware and all is working fine now as before. However, when it went back to Windows 11 desktop, most of the app settings were lost and that included NPM’s settings. NPM’s Passwordless Vault Unlock is the only setting that I cannot get it working again.
Reinstalling Windows 11 from scratch is a monumental task, therefore, it’s a last resort I am not considering yet…
After you reinstall the NPM app on your phone, you have to re register it with the Passwordless Unlock settings. It is not the phone number used to identify the phone to be used. It is a unique installation serial number that is used. So I have to ask again if you setup the phone to be used for Passwordless Unlock from the Android NPM app’s Settings pages.
On My phone, I pressed that “Enable Passwordless Vault Unlock…” as you have circled. The app then showed a screen that says “Almost done! Now that you choose this device for …” I then go to the Firefox or Chrome NPM extension, clicked either “Managed Devices” or Turn on “Passwordless Vault Unlock” And all I get is this (screen capture):
Biometrics, face and pin are all enabled. I followed every instructions Norton has to offered in the links. Like I mentioned in the first post, I followed every potential instructions offered by Norton, Google Search, and Reddit but nothing worked. I was hoping devs in this forum could provide something low level that noone have dealt with…
Well you won’t find any of the Norton devs in the forums. The forums are user to user. Gurus are still just users like you who volunteer our time to try to help others from our experience with the Norton products.
I cannot think of any other suggestions other than contacting Norton Support. They have the ability to connect to your devices that will show them more about what is going on with the device that we cannot determine through the forum posts. Official Norton™ Support . If using the chat option, when you can enter information enter Agent Please to get connected to a human.
@JeffCA Just a passing thought. Have you disabling the “Adaptive Battery” or “Battery Saver” feature, as it has been known to interfere with the unlock process.
Hi @SoulAsylum, that I haven’t tried before until now. I just turned off Adaptive Battery, set “Unrestricted” to battery usage for the NPM app and then rebooted my phone and PC. Nope. Still no help. Nice try though. Thanks!
I still strongly feel it’s something in Windows safe mode that screwed up VPU. In the past 2.5 years, the Intel processor bug had been giving me intermittent crashing or BSoDs but I let it slip ('cause I’m too lazy to troubleshoot and I am allergic to motherboard firmware updates lol). I had a similar problem with Surfshark VPN during trial period. I blamed it on them and switched to NordVPN (My bad, Surfshark lol). Then NordVPN gave me another weird problem their support and devs couldn’t fix. Rather than wasting everyone’s time, I rebuilt Windows 11 Pro from scratch and everything worked fine. 18 months later today, it’s NPM’s VPU’s turn. Blame it on Intel and Microsoft, our favorite scapegoats! LOL!
Thanks for the post back, it was worth a shot though. I agree regarding Intel and Microsoft being the scapegoats lol, most of the time they actually are. In your case Intel actually is the culprit with your PC issues. What is your Windows 11 build and version if I may ask?
Edited: Have you considered an RMA for your CPU at some point? Intel is totally aware of an oxidization issue during the manufacturing processes with this CPU. I would make them bone up and replace it.
AI Overview
The Intel Core i9-13900K, along with other high-end 13th and 14th generation CPUs, has been experiencing instability issues, primarily manifesting as crashes during gaming and other demanding tasks. These crashes are often accompanied by “out of video memory” errors and can be linked to high default power and current limits, as well as improper voltage handling by the motherboard. Intel has identified a microcode issue causing elevated operating voltage as the root cause. A microcode update is being developed to address this.
@SoulAsylum I abandoned halfway while searching for Edge’s NPM extension. I figured even if it works I wouldn’t use Edge anyway and it wont help to solve why Firefox and Chrome didn’t work, so why bother.
The Intel bug wasn’t much a nusance the first two years. It only crashed or BSoD once every blue moon it was nothing. It was only starting last week the continuous Firefox and Chrome crashing and the constant games BSoD-ing that I had to risk updating my motherboard’s firmware. I have jinx bricked so many things in the past I now have phobia when it comes to updating firmwares. Each time I bricked something I either have for wait 2 or 3 months for it to return to me after repair OR I buy a replacement. Each time I always choose wasting money buying a replacement. I am glad this time my motherboard survived the microcode firmware update. No more crashing for a few days now.
Thanks for the post back. FWIW!! The Edge extension for NPWM is on the Edge Addons Store. I was suggesting Edge as an attempt to verify if the issue is with FF and/or Chrome. Chrome has been blocked by Windows of late due to a Family Safety settings issue. Thanks for allowing me to try other areas of interest.
In your case Intel actually is the culprit with your PC issues. What is your Windows 11 build and version if I may ask?
Each time I bricked something I either have for wait 2 or 3 months for it to return to me after repair OR I buy a replacement. Each time I always choose wasting money buying a replacement. I am glad this time my motherboard survived the microcode firmware update. No more crashing for a few days now.