Hi Emmy, sorry for the delayed reply! Assuming this hasn't resolved itself by now:

When a page doesn't load, what is the reason Firefox gives, if any? For example:

• Site/Server not found
• Timed out trying to load
• Just got a blank page
• Secure connection error

Details from the error page could be helpful.

If I try to load a page, it will sit idle for a minute and give me the message "The connection has timed out. An error has occurred trying to connect to (website.com)." I will sometimes get the following message as well: "Secure connection failed. An error occurred during a connection to www.pbs.org. PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR. Error code: PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR."

Further testing allows wikipedia.org, ebay.com, nytimes.com, duckduckgo.com, netflix.com, hulu.com and amazon.com to load; a seemingly random collection. Google.com will load, and I can search, view images, shopping, etc. However, clicking a link to most websites won't work.

It's strange that some sites work and some sites do not.

Sometimes a security software filter that does a cloud lookup can cause a problem on the first request. In the time-out scenario, if you click the Stop button after 10 seconds and then click the Reload button, does Firefox do any better on the second try? Third try?

The PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR code indicates a problem setting up the SSL handshake, but unfortunately doesn't have a clear diagnosis. Could you modify the proxy setting on the Settings page and see whether this helps:

• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Settings
• type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter to load it

In the very tiny search box at the top of the page, type proxy and Firefox should filter to the "Network Settings" section.

Click the Settings button, select "No Proxy" near the top of the dialog, and click OK near the bottom of the dialog.

Any difference?

You also could checked whether any of the relevant preferences have been modified/customized:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste security.tls and pause while the list is filtered

Firefox should list about 22 rows of preferences with their default values. If any row with a true/false or numeric value is bolded, you can click the left-arching Reset arrow at the right end of the row to restore the default value.

(3) In the search box in the page, type or paste security.ssl and pause while the list is filtered

Firefox should list about 24 rows of preferences with their default values. If any row with a true/false value is bolded, you can click the left-arching Reset arrow at the right end of the row to restore the default value.

Was anything customized there?