Sometimes the tab bar disappears when there is still 2 tabs open.
Sometimes the tab bar disappears when there is still 2 tabs open. If I open a new tab (from the File menu) then it reappears showing 3 tabs. If I close any of the 3, it disappears again. If I exit Firefox it asks me whether to save the tabs or not. Restarting Firefox solves the problem, but it's can be quite annoying.
On one occasion when this happened I ticked Tools/Options/Tabs Always show the tab bar and tried to close one of the 2 remaining tabs. Firefox crashed.
It happens randomly, couple of times a month. I think it already started with the latest FF3 version but present with FF4 as well.
All Replies (5)
Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).
- Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
- https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.
- Use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window to disable all extensions.
- Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")
In Firefox 4 you can use one of these to start in Safe mode:
- Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
- Hold down the Shift key while double clicking the Firefox desktop shortcut (Windows)
Well, as I said, restarting FF (even in normal mode!!!) solves the problem. So I don't really understand what is the point restarting in Safe mode.
The problem occurs randomly, only a few times a month.
That point is the first logical trouble shooting step in attempting to diagnose your problem, but if it occurs that randomly and so infrequently, it is going to be very difficult to diagnose at begin with. That's not a common problem that we have seen mentioned before, although cor-el is better at remembering the "less common" problems that I am.
The only thing that I can think of is for you to disable any un-needed extensions, that aren't already disabled. The first one to start with is the JavaConsole 6.0.04 extension, as it is really only needed by users who do Java development. Strange that it even appears in the list of installed extensions, because it seems that you have the Java Runtime Environment plugin disabled. But I would be surprised if that was the culprit with the disappearing tabs.
I understand that if it was a regular and easily reproducable problem than Safe mode would help. But in this case it is random and it occurs after a time (like hours after FF was started) and restarting solves it.
I have "Always show the tab bar" unticked. It seems like the counter for the tabs would have the wrong value (1 less) occasionally and therefore it hides the tab bar. But I don't know what event could result with that...
I can start removing some of the unused or hardly used addons and monitor whether or not this problem occurs again.
You can try to disable tab related extensions like ColorfulTabs to see if it still happens.