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thick line through page text Ubuntu 12.04 FF 14.0.1

  • 4 replies
  • 5 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Using Ubuntu 12.04, FireFox 14.0.1 When displaying web pages there is a 'thick line' through page text. Unable to take a snapshot, the distortion disappears. This also happens if I reload the page. If I scroll up/down the distortion comes back.

I uninstalled FF, rebooted and re-installed. The problem is still there.

It appears that not every site displays the problem. Also, I tried Chromium and the problem is not there. Using Chromium is not the answer for me, I would rather continue to use Firefox. I am hoping to get some suggestions or a fix.

Using Ubuntu 12.04, FireFox 14.0.1 When displaying web pages there is a 'thick line' through page text. Unable to take a snapshot, the distortion disappears. This also happens if I reload the page. If I scroll up/down the distortion comes back. I uninstalled FF, rebooted and re-installed. The problem is still there. It appears that not every site displays the problem. Also, I tried Chromium and the problem is not there. Using Chromium is not the answer for me, I would rather continue to use Firefox. I am hoping to get some suggestions or a fix.

Chosen solution

Does it seem related to scrolling? Here are some suggestions for dealing with display aberrations:

Could you try turning off a few Firefox settings. I'm not sure whether you need all of these, but no single one seems to solve the issue for everyone.

You usually need to restart Firefox in order for these changes to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General > "Browsing" section

Uncheck the first 3 boxes:

  1. Use autoscrolling
  2. Use smooth scrolling
  3. Use hardware acceleration when available

If you OK that and restart Firefox, is the issue resolved?

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Chosen Solution

Does it seem related to scrolling? Here are some suggestions for dealing with display aberrations:

Could you try turning off a few Firefox settings. I'm not sure whether you need all of these, but no single one seems to solve the issue for everyone.

You usually need to restart Firefox in order for these changes to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General > "Browsing" section

Uncheck the first 3 boxes:

  1. Use autoscrolling
  2. Use smooth scrolling
  3. Use hardware acceleration when available

If you OK that and restart Firefox, is the issue resolved?

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I did the three changes you suggested, exited Firefox and then opened Firefox again and tested at the web site that was the culprit. That seemed to work! It is good to get things back to normal. I would like to hear what the actual problem was if you will. :-)

Once again, thanks a million for the assist.


OOPS! I saw the problem again at this web site after navigating

           to the forum section (???).

Modified by eightbits

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I'm not sure why smooth scrolling (switched on in Fx13) creates problems for some users; the hardware acceleration issues are glitches with particular graphics card drivers that apparently are hard to debug.

Can you see a pattern to when it happens and maybe post a screen shot (using your OS or a digital camera)?

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).