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Dropdowns, menu bar, and close button stop working in v53.0.3

  • 4 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, and after having Firefox open a short time, the menu bar, minimize/close buttons, and all dropdown menus stop working (I can still click on a dropdown and scroll through the entries with the arrow keys). I have to force quit Firefox via the Task Manager each time. I have tried running Firefox in Safe Mode and the same thing happens. I also did Firefox Refresh and it didn't solve the problem. Initially I had accidentally downloaded the 32-bit version of Firefox, and that's when the problem started. After uninstalling that and installing the 64-bit version, the problem persisted.

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, and after having Firefox open a short time, the menu bar, minimize/close buttons, and all dropdown menus stop working (I can still click on a dropdown and scroll through the entries with the arrow keys). I have to force quit Firefox via the Task Manager each time. I have tried running Firefox in Safe Mode and the same thing happens. I also did Firefox Refresh and it didn't solve the problem. Initially I had accidentally downloaded the 32-bit version of Firefox, and that's when the problem started. After uninstalling that and installing the 64-bit version, the problem persisted.

All Replies (4)

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Create a new profile to test if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.


Do a clean reinstall of the current Firefox release and delete the Firefox program folder before installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.

If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows Registry and settings in security software.

  • do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall the current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including data in profiles created by other Firefox versions

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

  • (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
  • (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"

Your personal data like bookmarks is stored in the Firefox profile folder, so you won't lose personal data when you uninstall and reinstall or update Firefox, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.


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I tried all of the above and it's still happening.

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UPDATE: A couple other things I notice aren't working are right-clicking (no menu pops up) and using the arrow/page keys to scroll. Everything works fine when I open a fresh instance of Firefox, but after browsing for a short time, these things as well as the things in my original post stop working. I tried each of the options posted by cor-el above and none of them solved the problem.

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Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.