This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

FF displays gibberish b4 and after upgrade to 8

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by lakc

more options

FF recently started to display jibberish characters on 3.6.17 and after upgrade to 8, it continued on. In both cases the end result was the same.

While IE does not show any problems with the results or repsonse of any site.

The scenarios were as follows: 1. When I type a site in the address bar it displays gibberish (some sites do display its content correctly like epsncricinfo.com, bing.com) but other sites like wordpress.com show jibberish text.

screenshot of result after entering google.co.uk in address bar

[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPMGQyYjFhOTUtZWF...]

screenshot of result after entering google.lk in address bar [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPNjY5YWViZDktYjI...]

2. When typing a keyword in the top right corner, in the browser search dropdown box, its results displays gibberish in google, bing, yahoo.

Screenshot of result displayed after typing keyword "cars" in Yahoo search box in top right

[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPOTUzNzc4YjAtZjU...]

3.When Google button on the google toolbar is pressed, it displays the address [[https://www.google.com/webhp]] Is this NORMAL in FF 8.0 ????

screenshot after upgrade showing the addrs as google.com/webhp. this was the same b4 upgrade to 8.0 [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPNGY3NGY2MTAtMTl...]

4. As result of scenario #3, the results are displayed in clear form of readable and understandable default English.

Screenshot after setting home page to restore to default in 8.0 was the same in 3.6.17 [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPMWFlOTNhZWItYzl...]

I tried changing character encodings through troubleshooting, but no effect on it.

Some sites do work in whole like espncricinfo.com all links also work normal.

bbc.co.uk home page itself is gibberish

cnn.com displays home page but some links show jibberish either trying to open in new window/tab/same window.

huffingtonpost.com, dailymail.co.uk displays home pg gibberish.

Most importanly is it SAFE to use https://www.google.com/webhp

Anxiously waiting for reply.

FF recently started to display jibberish characters''' on 3.6.17 and after upgrade to 8''', it continued on. In both cases the end result was the same. While IE does not show any problems with the results or repsonse of any site. The scenarios were as follows: 1. When I type a site in the address bar it displays gibberish (some sites do display its content correctly like epsncricinfo.com, bing.com) but other sites like wordpress.com show jibberish text. screenshot of result after entering google.co.uk in address bar [[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPMGQyYjFhOTUtZWFlOS00YzQyLThkMTctOTU5YmI4MDA3NjYx ]] screenshot of result after entering google.lk in address bar [[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPNjY5YWViZDktYjI3ZS00OTdjLTk3ZjYtYjJkNDI2YWQ1YTI1]] 2. When typing a keyword in the top right corner, in the browser search dropdown box, its results displays gibberish in google, bing, yahoo. Screenshot of result displayed after typing keyword "cars" in Yahoo search box in top right [[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPOTUzNzc4YjAtZjU1MS00MDQ4LWIzYTAtZjM0MTFlNmNlMzBh]] 3.When Google button on the google toolbar is pressed, it displays the address [['''https://www.google.com/webhp''']] Is this NORMAL in FF 8.0 ???? screenshot after upgrade showing the addrs as google.com/webhp. this was the same b4 upgrade to 8.0 [[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPNGY3NGY2MTAtMTllOC00ZmY0LTg3M2EtYTViY2I5MzFlOTVh]] 4. As result of scenario #3, the results are displayed in clear form of readable and understandable default English. Screenshot after setting home page to restore to default in 8.0 was the same in 3.6.17 [[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6Jcv8-YCoIPMWFlOTNhZWItYzlkNS00ZTljLTg4ZDQtNDNjNjhlZDNlYWEy]] I tried changing character encodings through troubleshooting, but no effect on it. Some sites do work in whole like espncricinfo.com all links also work normal. bbc.co.uk home page itself is gibberish cnn.com displays home page but some links show jibberish either trying to open in new window/tab/same window. huffingtonpost.com, dailymail.co.uk displays home pg gibberish. '''Most importanly is it SAFE to use''' https://www.google.com/webhp Anxiously waiting for reply.

All Replies (3)

more options

Does it help if you disable compression by setting the network.http.accept-encoding pref to and empty string on the about:config page?


A possible cause is security software (firewall) that 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 from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

more options

Sorry, will try in other forums

more options

The Aftermath...follow the link and check post from iceuser.

[http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forum.../topic427695.html]

Thank you all for the help. May u continue to help others in good faith.