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whenever i open firefox and open previous sessions, 5 mins into it firefox becomes non responsive..... this is happening to me for more than 15 hours now. Need

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I have 426 tabs opened on 7 windows. I always open my previous sessions when I open firefox. Since last 15 hours, 5 mins into starting firefox, it becomes unresponsive and it is not responding ever since. This is happening every time I restart firefox or the laptop. Using Windows 8.1 I cant lose my sessions and need firefox working again... Please help

I have 426 tabs opened on 7 windows. I always open my previous sessions when I open firefox. Since last 15 hours, 5 mins into starting firefox, it becomes unresponsive and it is not responding ever since. This is happening every time I restart firefox or the laptop. Using Windows 8.1 I cant lose my sessions and need firefox working again... Please help

All Replies (3)

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Hi, what version please as no information came regarding your browser or anything.

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Oops.... It is version 52.7.4

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I assume your Firefox is just loading the 7 active tabs and the inactive tabs are left pending?

I don't think the pending tabs can be the source of the problem, as those pages never load. It's either something in the active tabs (and new pages you opened) or an add-on that is freezing Firefox or your system.

Back up Session History files

Firefox creates numerous session history files, but because session history is only for the immediately previous session, it is unfortunately too easy to lose it. Could you start by making a backup of your existing session history files? Here's how:

Do not exit Firefox, or if you closed it, don't re-open it.

(1) To open your profile folder...

If Firefox is still running:

You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" button to open your profile folder in Windows Explorer.

If Firefox is closed:

Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.

(2) Copy out session history files

In your profile folder, double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location such as your Documents folder. If you don't see a recovery.js file, return up to the main level of the profile folder and back up sessionstore.js as well.

Test in Firefox's Safe Mode

In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Can you get further than 5 minutes?