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

Why are pages taking a while before they start loading

  • 10 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by thubleau

more options

It seems after a second day of not restarting FF the loading of pages takes about 5 seconds after tab opens 'till the balls start appearing in tab then it loads. This has been going on since Nov. abouts.

It seems after a second day of not restarting FF the loading of pages takes about 5 seconds after tab opens 'till the balls start appearing in tab then it loads. This has been going on since Nov. abouts.

All Replies (10)

more options

Is this with all website, some, a few? Note that support.mozilla.org has always been slow to load.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.

A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?

more options

This is not going to work for me ,do to accessing bookmarks and that it takes 2 or more days to have problem. It would be helpful if someone could make a suggestion of what the problem is instead of safemode!

more options

tfinniii said

This is not going to work for me ,do to accessing bookmarks and that it takes 2 or more days to have problem. It would be helpful if someone could make a suggestion of what the problem is instead of safemode!

There is a reason for SafeMode-it to find out where the problem is coming from not a fix. So follow the help so they can help you diagnosis your problem or not.

more options

tfinniii said

it takes 2 or more days to have problem

Try keeping track of what you were doing at the time. Just browsing the web, leaving the browser doing nothing, watching clips . . . . .

FredMcD said

Is this with all website, some, a few?
more options

It is any website I open when this starts happening. Flicker also acts up also as not downloading full page or nothing happens at all. Once I am at a website I can navigate ok in site unless it opens a new page. Once I restart FF it works ok until it acts up.

more options

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  3. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  4. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

In Firefox 55 and above:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the General panel.
  3. Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
    Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  5. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

Thank you.

more options

unchecking Hardware extension gave NO change. Everything is kept up to date!

more options

Well try this start the computer in Safe Mode with Networking and try the Browser again. Does this have the same problem or not.

more options

Because of the amount of stuff I do in those 2 days or so ,safe mode with no bookmarks is TOO MUCH of a hassle! As stated BEFORE! This is not going to work for me ,do to accessing bookmarks and that it takes 2 or more days to have problem. It would be helpful if someone could make a suggestion of what the problem is instead of safemode!

Modified by tfinniii

more options

Non of these remedies work, .Surely it is obvious there is something wrong with Firefox and the way it accesses pages for this slowness to occur.