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Firefox constantly locking up Windows 8

  • 7 replies
  • 52 have this problem
  • 22 views
  • Last reply by tittiger

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Hello,

I have been having constant problems with Firefox and Windows 8. What will happen is that Firefox will lock up my entire computer piece by piece until I am unable to interact with anything, after 1 - 2 minutes, the system will work again. Checking event logs shows nothing. The system does not crash but simply slows everything down until no movement is possible then it works. I honestly do not know how to fix this and any advice from anyone will be helpful. Below is a list of everything that I have done. It will happen with one tab or multiple tabs. It will happen on ANY site.

Specs: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit AMD FX 8120 CPU 16GB DDR3 1066 120GB SSD Boot Drive 6870 2GB Video Card


Completely reinstalled Windows. - One of the first applications (after drivers of course) was FF. Started happening almost immediately. Upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1 - No Change Disabled HW acceleration - No change Enabled HW acceleration - No Change Changed Flash to click to enable - No change Updated BIOS - No Change Updated video card drivers - No Change Set FF to run as admin - No Change Disabled C State in my CPU - No Change Ran FF in comparability mode - No Change Updated sequentially to other FF versions - No Change

This is pretty infuriating when I am trying to work. I love FF and although I am OK using IE, and have no issues there.

Please help!

Hello, I have been having constant problems with Firefox and Windows 8. What will happen is that Firefox will lock up my entire computer piece by piece until I am unable to interact with anything, after 1 - 2 minutes, the system will work again. Checking event logs shows nothing. The system does not crash but simply slows everything down until no movement is possible then it works. I honestly do not know how to fix this and any advice from anyone will be helpful. Below is a list of everything that I have done. It will happen with one tab or multiple tabs. It will happen on ANY site. Specs: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit AMD FX 8120 CPU 16GB DDR3 1066 120GB SSD Boot Drive 6870 2GB Video Card Completely reinstalled Windows. - One of the first applications (after drivers of course) was FF. Started happening almost immediately. Upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1 - No Change Disabled HW acceleration - No change Enabled HW acceleration - No Change Changed Flash to click to enable - No change Updated BIOS - No Change Updated video card drivers - No Change Set FF to run as admin - No Change Disabled C State in my CPU - No Change Ran FF in comparability mode - No Change Updated sequentially to other FF versions - No Change This is pretty infuriating when I am trying to work. I love FF and although I am OK using IE, and have no issues there. Please help!

All Replies (7)

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Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back soon.

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Not sure why you would recommend MSE when I said I have Windows 8. Also, we can rule out infections as I stated in my post that I have already completely reinstalled Windows.

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Reinstalling the Windows operating system does not free the computer of all infections.
Please try a malware scan.


Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • On Windows you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • On Mac you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the option key while starting Firefox.
  • On Linux you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by quitting Firefox and then going to your Terminal and running: firefox -safe-mode (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

FirefoxSafeMode

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode" Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

Please report back soon.

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The problem still occurs with firefox in Safe mode and it occurs right after a complete format and reinstall in windows with nothing but Drivers and FF installed.

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Have you installed Flash? Flash is causing freezes for me in Windows 8.1. See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/977465#answer-501779 for more details.

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I have this problem on multiple computers running Windows 7. It goes back years that this has been happening. So it seems to be either a Firefox or xmarks issue.

Sometimes (but not now) trying to synch 10 or 20 times will finally get the job done. Now it never completes.

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How does safe mode help when it disables Xmarks? ie How can I try to sync xmarks in safe mode?