This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox 3.6.10 crashes each time I try to open a PDF file? Any suggestions?

more options

Each time I try to open a PDF file from any website, Firefox (3.6.10) crashes. No error messages--just closes abruptly. For add-ons, I've got Personas 1.6.1, United States English Dictionary 1.0.0, and WOT. I've got the Adobe Reader 9 and Foxit 3.3.1.0518. The crashes of Firefox occur with both PDF readers. I did go through the posted solutions for PFD related crashes in the FAQ section but those steps did not resolve the problem.

Each time I try to open a PDF file from any website, Firefox (3.6.10) crashes. No error messages--just closes abruptly. For add-ons, I've got Personas 1.6.1, United States English Dictionary 1.0.0, and WOT. I've got the Adobe Reader 9 and Foxit 3.3.1.0518. The crashes of Firefox occur with both PDF readers. I did go through the posted solutions for PFD related crashes in the FAQ section but those steps did not resolve the problem.

All Replies (2)

more options

Does that only happen if you open the PDF files in the browser or also if you open the PDF files in the standalone program by disabling the plugin?

more options

I tested this and with both Adobe reader and Foxit plugins disabled, the browser did NOT crash when opening a PDF doc. It looks as if the plugins are the source of the problem. Checking for plugin updates, Adobe is up to date. However there was only as "research" option for Foxit's status. Following the "research" link, I read that perhaps an older version of Foxit might fix the problem, so I installed v4.1.1.0805.

After all that, I can successfully enable the Foxit plugin and use it without having the browser crash. Oddly enough, if the Adobe plugin is enabled instead absolutely nothing happens--no crashing browser, but also no PDF opening for me to read. So, the upshot is that you've helped me solve my browser crashing...I can either disable both PDF reader plugins and have the browser ask me each time which to use or I can leave the older Foxit reader plugin enabled and leave the Adobe plugin disabled.

I'm still a bit confused--shocking, I know ;) -- but I've learned how to manage plugins and I can open PDF docs in Firefox without crashes so I'm good to go.

Thank you