Did you install Firefox from Mozilla's website or from the Microsoft store? They may behave slightly differently.

I don't want to make your life difficult, but if you could check two things:

(1) When the screen is black, can you get back to the desktop using either of these keyboard shortcuts:

• Windows key + M (minimize all)
• Windows key + D (show desktop)

(2) Does it help to start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode? In that mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates hardware acceleration which can help work around graphics card incompatibilities.

If Firefox is running:

You can restart Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > Help > Troubleshoot Mode... (before Fx88: Restart with Add-ons Disabled)
• (menu bar) Help menu > Troubleshoot Mode... (before Fx88: Restart with Add-ons Disabled)

and OK the restart. A small dialog should appear. Click the Open button (before Fx88: "Start in Safe Mode" button).

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.) A small dialog should appear. Click the Open button (before Fx88: "Start in Safe Mode" button).

Note: Don't use the Refresh without first reviewing this article to understand what will be deleted: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.

Any improvement?

As a probably-unrelated issue, an emergency 106.0.1 release is out today to resolve crashes with older AMD Zen processors. Those were typically tab crashes with a readable error message rather than what you are describing.

Thank you for such a prompt response. I can't remember, but I think I downloaded Firefox from the Microsoft Store.

No, when the screen went black I didn't use either of those Windows key shortcuts. I just tried ctrl-alt-del (can't remember if that worked) and then did a 'restart' from the screen (after I'd managed to exit Firefox).

Thanks also for the suggestions of things to try (restarting Firefox in troubleshoot mode etc). I'll wait until I have the energy to deal with the problem recurring and then I'll use those Windows keys... in the meantime I'm using Edge.

I'm having a similar problem but I use Windows 10, not 11, and at random times, when I scroll on Firefox, the whole screen just goes completely black, and at first I had to do a hard reboot until just today when this issue occurred again, I tried hitting control alt delete and that bought the screen back. so I at least have a temporary workaround, but would like to know what is causing this issue and if anything is being done to fix it. Also forgot to add that this black screen issue also randomly appears when watching offline YouTube videos downloaded from Firefox

Hi Evan, have you seen the response from jscher2000 above? Does what he asks help you?

(I've a lot of issues to deal with at the moment and am not free to focus on the problem, but will do as soon as I can.)

As an addendum to the above... just now when I logged out of this support page my desktop background had gone black! But I could still see my desktop icons. I re-started the laptop and am back to normal. I wonder will it happen again when I log out now.

Hi Evan, have you seen the response from jscher2000 above? Does what he asks help you? (I've a lot of issues to deal with at the moment and am not free to focus on the problem, but will do as soon as I can.)

I haven't tried that yet, but I will

As an update, a friend helped by cleaning up and updating the O.S. and apps, so I'm proceeding cautiously, using Firefox only on those sites that I usually access. I think the problem originally appeared when I initiated a search and followed links to sites that for example had video adverts. I haven't experimented in that direction since the cleanup. No black screens so far. I'll see how it goes.

Click on the “Firefox” menu button and go to “Options” > “Help” > “Restart with Add-ons Disabled”. Now check if you can open websites without the black page problem. If so, then proceed to disable any Add-ons installed that may be installed in Firefox.

Regards, Will

Thanks for this, Will, apologies for delay in responding. Fortunately the problem hasn't recurred in recent weeks, so I'll leave well enough alone for the moment. But I've made a note of your suggestion, in case it does. Helen PS I see above that there's a "thumbs down" emoji next to your reply. I don't know how that got there, if it was my fault it was inadvertent - I'm grateful for all responses.

Looks to me that's a PC/Driver problem. On next black screen (assuming you are on windows), press Win+Ctrl+Shift+B . If the screen came back, update your drivers, specially video.

Thank you.