Firefox locks up constantly and the only fix is to reinstall it
Starting 3-4 weeks ago, Firefox started slowing down drastically, until it eventually locks up. Web pages load slower and slower. After a few hours, pages take 1-2 minutes to load and switching between tabs has the same delay. When it finally locks up, the only way to kill it is by ending the firefox process. After that, it's unusable. If you launch it normally, it instantly locks up. If you launch it in Safe Mode, it instantly locks up. A reboot doesn’t help. The only way to get it working again is to reinstall it. Then it will work for a few hours, gradually slowing down and locking up again. I have run Firefox with and without extensions enabled. It makes no difference. I have gone through the Firefox Reset process and nothing changed. It still locks up. I’ve ran extensive drive security scans and found nothing that could be adversely affecting it. No other apps are behaving like this. Chrome and IE work fine, no lockups, regardless of how many tabs I have open. Firefox locks up with 5 or 25 tabs open. I'm at my wits end because I love Firefox, but I can't keep going through all this crap every single day. I'm running Firefox v 21.0, WIndows 7 x64, 16GB RAM, Intel i7 3770k CPU, ATI Radeon 5450 graphics w/ latest drivers.
All Replies (4)
What is Firefox memory usage: about:memory
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window or otherwise make changes.
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.
Excuse me! The response is to go back to the default settings? Seriously.
What then may I ask, do you think doing a fresh install is?
I've experienced the inexplicable lockups either with Firefox itself or a total OS lockup due to using Firefox.
Before looking to the forums / internet for a solution I uninstalled completely as I thought that using the development channel there was a nasty bug.
I then did a fresh install, using the stable (release) channel and experienced lockups before installing any addons.
Clearly Firefox has problems running on Windows 7 at present, which needs to be addressed.
For now I'm running Google Chrome, while periodically checking to see if an update for Firefox is available.
Unfortunately no real solution is in sight.
No that was not a response by cor-el to go back to the defualt settings, Safe mode is a troubleshooting mode. You should ask a new question as it gives info about your configuration (addons, plugins, firefox version) and there is a better chance of getting your problem solved.
If the OS is locking up then you have a problem with other software (firewall or anti-virus or other services or drivers) that runs at kernel level. Firefox runs at user level and can't lock up the OS directly.
Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.