Watir tests fail when running in background under windows 8 - firefox

Question

I'm running Watir tests in firefox using a jenkins slave installed as service under windows 8 in virtual box.
Testcases include two tests. When I run them manually, everything is fine. When jenkins runs them, the first test always succeeds, and the second always fails with exception:Net::ReadTimeout: Net::ReadTimeout.
I have tried different combinations of test code and begin/rescue blocks, but everytime the exception is caused by browser object methods:
#browser.goto
#browser.execute_script
#browser.wait_until_present
#browser.close
...
Setup and teardown are:
def teardown
#browser.close
end
def setup
profile = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Profile.new
profile.add_extension #extension_path
#browser = Watir::Browser.new :firefox, :profile => profile
end
gems versions:
watir (4.0.2)
selenium-webdriver (2.33.0)
I have also tried to run service under system account with desktop interaction enabled and under local user account.
One of error logs:
> Net::ReadTimeout: Net::ReadTimeout
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/protocol.rb:158:in `rescue in rbuf_fill'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/protocol.rb:152:in `rbuf_fill'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/protocol.rb:134:in `readuntil'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/protocol.rb:144:in `readline'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http/response.rb:39:in `read_status_line'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http/response.rb:28:in `read_new'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1406:in `block in transport_request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1403:in `catch'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1403:in `transport_request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1376:in `request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1369:in `block in request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:852:in `start'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/net/http.rb:1367:in `request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/default.rb:83:in `response_for'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/default.rb:39:in `request'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/http/common.rb:40:in `call'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:629:in `raw_execute'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:607:in `execute'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/remote/bridge.rb:195:in `quit'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/firefox/bridge.rb:55:in `quit'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/selenium-webdriver-2.33.0/lib/selenium/webdriver/common/driver.rb:168:in `quit'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/watir-webdriver-0.6.4/lib/watir-webdriver/browser.rb:135:in `close'
C:/jenkins/workspace/tests_matrix/TEST_BROWSER/firefox/TEST_OS/windows8/build_script_win/tests/test_case2.rb:173:in `teardown'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1316:in `block in run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1314:in `each'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1314:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit/testcase.rb:17:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:919:in `block in _run_suite'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:912:in `map'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:912:in `_run_suite'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:657:in `block in _run_suites'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:655:in `each'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:655:in `_run_suites'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:867:in `_run_anything'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1060:in `run_tests'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1047:in `block in _run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1046:in `each'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1046:in `_run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/minitest/unit.rb:1035:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:21:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:774:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:834:in `run'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/2.0.0/test/unit.rb:838:in `run'
C:/Users/test/AppData/Local/Temp/hudson2953103359547849695.sh:4:in `<main>'

Answer 1

I run into the Net::ReadTimeout error, too, and tried hard to fix it by refresh the browser after catching the Net::ReadTimeout error, like this:
begin
#browser.goto WEBSITE
rescue Net::ReadTimeout
#browser.refresh
sleep 1 unless #browser.ready_state == "complete"
end
I think if you post the test case code, maybe it will help to reach the solution.