firefox stalling out on certain websites, necessitating a forced quit
So! After yet another in a string of updates for one thing or another, Firefox has decided that it does not like certain websites, and it expresses its displeasure by eternally pretending to load information; the spinning rainbow circle of wait appears, and would continue to spin into eternity if not for the "force quit" option.
As soon as I try to open one of these websites there is a brief pause where you almost start to think that this time it might actually work, but then, no, everything freezes, the spinning rainbow appears, and I have to force quit. I have force quit, no joke, about 500 times over the past three days. Affected websites include Netflix, a website for school, and the same thing happened when I tried the suggested "reset Firefox" thing.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox, Adobe Flash, and Silverlight. I have tried opening and running Firefox in 32-bit. Nothing has even remotely worked.
This is really, really frustrating, because prior to all of these unnecessary updates which rendered it useless, Firefox was my preferred method of being on the web.
Please advise! Thank you!
All Replies (4)
I'm having a very similar problem although when I updated my plugins that seemed to help a little because after I did that it didn't freeze up until 8 days latter then of course I had to force close FF so now I rolled back to v11 plus I cleared my network cache (tools>options>advanced>network>cached web content) hopefully this will fix it I'll know by the 14th.
Using outdated versions of Firefox is NOT to be recommended.
Security fixes are included, in new versions and publicised. Old versions then become insecure. You put your computer and personal data at increased risk if you use an outdated version of Firefox.
Do not say you have not been warned.
The above article does advise against downgrading but then also includes a link if you still wish to proceed.
Hi highly_annoyed,
I can understand why you chose that name. Unfortunately I do not use Mac's and can only initially offer general advice. The new reset feature should work and in your situation sounds like a good idea.
- see Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings
I am not sure if it would help but you could try following those instructions after you have physically disconnected from the internet
Maybe you could read that article, attempt the reset, and then post back to explain exactly what does or does not happen.
Plugins list and other information
You appear to have had a problem with finding which plugins are installed. The Ask Question prompts suggest copying it from
- Help -> Troubleshooting information
An alternative method to get the same information is to key into the location bar (where you type web addresses) about:support and then use the Return/Enter key or click the arrow.
The page of troubleshooting information even has a button allowing you to easily copy all the information.
Not Loading or hanging
It will probably be worth attempting to use an alternative browser; such as Safari; as a comparative test to see if that also has problems. Then look at these articles
- websites don't load - troubleshoot and fix error messages
- firefox can't load websites but other browsers can
- firefox hangs or is not responding - How to fix
Upddate the OS & Consider the possibility of Malware
This is something Mac users traditionally have not been too concerned about. There were a few worldwide headlines a couple of months back. Please make absolutely certain that you have the latest updates to your Operating System.
Rather than link to the sensational news stories I will link to some recent official advice.
I just made a post I think I might have identified the problem I have a list all of my programs on my PC if you see any that programs that you have on your PC please put it on my post so that the Mozilla team can narrow down the cause for this problem.