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

Sometimes Firefoz stops working and has an hourglass on screen for several minutes, how can I speed this up?

  • 7 iimpendulo
  • 1 inayo le ngxaki
  • 304 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu FredMcD

more options

On some sites....The hourglass keeps flashing on my screen and wont load the pages. It wont even let me scroll down the page. Eventually I get the message... "A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete."

Is there anything I can do?

On some sites....The hourglass keeps flashing on my screen and wont load the pages. It wont even let me scroll down the page. Eventually I get the message... "A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete." Is there anything I can do?

Isisombulu esikhethiweyo

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.

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

Then perform these steps:

  • Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
  • In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
  • In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  • Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.

Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Funda le mpendulo kwimeko leyo 👍 0

All Replies (7)

more options

You are able to see the messagebox with this error, just notice title of the messagebox, you will find out which add on is creating problem, try fix that add on. Try out this thing and let us know if it works

more options

Hi, it doesn't always display a message box. Thanks for trying. It wont let me click on the top "X" to close the page, either.

more options

The hour-glass is from Windows telling you that the system is working on something. There are two things that you can try. The first: Start Firefox in safe mode. Second; If you still have the problem, reboot your computer in safe mode with internet. Let us know what happens.

=======================

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.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

more options

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 to us!

more options

Tried it all ,but no success. Thank you for your time.

more options

I have Kasperky, CCleaner and Spyhunter...All these can't fix the errors. The other users on the computer have no problems, it is just my site.

more options

Isisombululo esiKhethiweyo

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.

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

Then perform these steps:

  • Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
  • In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
  • In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  • Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.

Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.