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History doesn't show when typing in address bar, and Enter doesn't work -- until I press, backspace, space, / or #

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

jfcorbett
jfcorbett
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When I type in the address bar, I am used to

  • seeing my history show up as I type; and
  • pressing the Enter or Return key to navigate to the thing I typed.

Now the history doesn't show as I type, and Enter/return has no effect... Until I type one of the following things: backspace, space, / or # (there may be more). Then the history shows up and Enter works again!!

If I type any other character after any of those, then the history disappears and Enter stops working again.

What gives? Is this a bug? Or a setting somewhere?

It's super annoying.

Never seen this before. IT just upgraded my machine to Windows 10, removed my previous Firefox installation, and force-installed the ESR version of Firefox (60.5.2esr (32-bit)).

When I type in the address bar, I am used to * seeing my history show up as I type; and * pressing the Enter or Return key to navigate to the thing I typed. Now the history doesn't show as I type, and Enter/return has no effect... Until I type one of the following things: backspace, space, / or # (there may be more). Then the history shows up and Enter works again!! If I type any other character after any of those, then the history disappears and Enter stops working again. What gives? Is this a bug? Or a setting somewhere? It's super annoying. Never seen this before. IT just upgraded my machine to Windows 10, removed my previous Firefox installation, and force-installed the ESR version of Firefox (60.5.2esr (32-bit)).

Modified by jfcorbett

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite then remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:preferences page.