Every time I start Firefox the very first character I type is dropped.
When Firefox is first started and boots up, after it has loaded and is ready to go I have found that the very FIRST character I type from the keyboard gets dropped. This happens every single time, but only the first time. After that Firefox works properly. If I close Firefox and then reopen it again later, the same problem comes back. Firefox drops the first typed character after starting. Also, when I am saving a file and I want to give it a new file name, when I hit the shift key for a capital letter I get lower case instead. This also happens just once. After that hitting the shift key gives me caps as it should. No, the caps lock is not on. This problem occurs ONLY with Firefox and no other program. I have tried other keyboards with Firefox and they do the same thing. All keyboards work perfectly with other programs. This problem just started with recent updates to Firefox. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit with Firefox version 37.0.2.
All Replies (6)
Hello,
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
The issue still happens even with Safe Mode. What I would like to do is download an older version of Firefox, say 3 updates ago, and test it again. I can't seem to locate older versions. Tomorrow I will try it again using a USB keyboard rather than the purple keyboard jack on the rear of the pc.
I have completely uninstalled all Firefox products and rebooted the pc. Then I unplugged the keyboard and deleted all the drivers and hardware for keyboards under device manager. I rebooted the pc again without a keyboard installed or plugged in. Then I plugged the keyboard back into the pc and let Windows find and install the hardware. Then I re-installed Firefox again from scratch - but the problem still persists. That is why I am interested in obtaining and older version of Firefox. This never used to happen until recently!
You can find installers for any version of Firefox here: http://download.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/
Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test.
When I boot Windows 7 Ultimate in Safe Mode with Networking, the problem does not appear. I tried opening and closing Firefox several times and restarting it. It works normally when Windows is in Safe Mode with Networking. I also noticed that in Safe mode the Firefox icon does not have the little shield with it. It does have the shield when Windows boots normally.
So, where do we go from here?
What security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?
It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to install for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See: