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gmail does not open although it works fine in chrome

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When going to gmail in firefox I get a white screen where the gmail content would normally be. When I use Chrome it works fine. the URL I go to in both is the same:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox

Firefox says it is up to date when I check under "about"

When going to gmail in firefox I get a white screen where the gmail content would normally be. When I use Chrome it works fine. the URL I go to in both is the same: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox Firefox says it is up to date when I check under "about"

Chosen solution

As an alternate test for bypassing cache and cookies, you could try Gmail in a private window. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > New Private Window
  • Ctrl+Shift+p
  • right-click a link to Gmail > Open Link in New Private Window
  • right-click a bookmark to Gmail > Open in a New Private Window

Any difference?

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (15)

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Are you sure the security software isn't blocking it. Cause that would be why you get a white screen as it is blocking all the other stuff from loading.

Modified by WestEnd

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Hi marilynmcvoy, did this work normally before, it suddenly stopped working recently?

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally:

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Content Blocking feature and extensions that counter ads and tracking may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).

(A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: What happened to Tracking Protection?.

(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

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.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

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marilynmcvoy said

When going to gMail in Firefox I get a white screen where the gMail content would normally be. When I use Chrome it works fine. the URL I go to in both is the same:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox



What if you try this link:

<center>https://mail.google.com</center>


~Pj

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same problem still there

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WestEnd said

Are you sure the security software isn't blocking it. Cause that would be why you get a white screen as it is blocking all the other stuff from loading.
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we don't know if we have security software or if we do what it is

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jscher2000 said

Hi marilynmcvoy, did this work normally before, it suddenly stopped working recently? If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally: Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Content Blocking feature and extensions that counter ads and tracking may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server). (A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: What happened to Tracking Protection?. (B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site. Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site. (1) Clear Firefox's Cache See: How to clear the Firefox cache If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. (2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:
  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button
In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites. Then try reloading the page. Does that help? Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem. 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.) If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:
  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
and OK the restart. Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh). Any improvement?
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there is no shield icon

did the restart in safe mode and same problem still there

we sell on amazon and are afraid to delete cookies for fear it will mess up amazon somehow.

is there any way to have someone connect to our computer and fix this for us? Biggest problem is we are not very computer literate and may be just doing something wrong without understanding

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Chosen Solution

As an alternate test for bypassing cache and cookies, you could try Gmail in a private window. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > New Private Window
  • Ctrl+Shift+p
  • right-click a link to Gmail > Open Link in New Private Window
  • right-click a bookmark to Gmail > Open in a New Private Window

Any difference?

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Thank you for helping. I would have never figured it out.

      Marilyn
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Just sharing this here as maybe it will save someone else from resetting their firefox to ground zero to fix their gmail problem.

---

GMail for me just stopped working, it hangs almost at the end of the progressbar and stayed that way forever, and in the konsole there was only few 503 responses from some gmail api.

What did I do that did not resolve the problem: - disabled the buildin blocker - cleared cookie - globally cleared cache/storage from settings (without cookies as those was removed using different menu and without "active logins" whatever that is as i would not like to get logged out from other pages) - opened gmail in different "Multi-Account container" - run firefox without extensions

What did work was to open gmail in whole different firefox profile (as I had multiple from time before using containers), but I would not be happy to reset my firefox to default, what I figured out that there is probably something that does skip/miss, so there is a possibility that clearing global history (without Cookies and Aktive loggins) does not clear all cached data, my guess would be service workers, but could not find those in Inspector...

But i found a code snipset that did help and fixed the problem:

 caches.keys().then(function (cachesNames) {
   console.log("Delete " + document.defaultView.location.origin + " caches");
   return Promise.all(cachesNames.map(function (cacheName) {
     return caches.delete(cacheName).then(function () {
       console.log("Cache with name " + cacheName + " is deleted");
     });
   }))
 }).then(function () {
   console.log("All " + document.defaultView.location.origin + " caches are deleted");
 });

For now it's not totally clear what does that do, but after running it on gmail page did redirect me to some gmail welcome (not logging page like usual), where i could click on "Login" button, and after logging in everything worked!

Modified by kolorafa

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kolorafa said

Just sharing this here as maybe it will save someone else from resetting their Firefox to ground zero to fix their Gmail problem.
---
GMail for me just stopped working, it hangs almost at the end of the progress bar and stayed that way forever, and in the console there was only few 503 responses from some Gmail API...

I have some problems at times, if I open FF where I last sat on gMail. So, I make sure not to start FF with gMail last in view. The few times gMail is 'stuck', I usually type-in https://mail.google.com and it will load. Holding the SHIFT key and click Reload (or Control-SHIFT-R) seems to be better than just plain Reloading.

Also, it could be a DNS issue. Try different ones.

Otherwise, for me, gMail works on loading about 98% of the time just fine.


~Pj

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Pj said

Holding the SHIFT key and click Reload (or Control-SHIFT-R) seems to be better than just plain Reloading.

That prevents Firefox from using cached files and forces a fresh retrieval, which probably is necessary for complex web applications.

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Pj said

kolorafa said
Just sharing this here as maybe it will save someone else from resetting their Firefox to ground zero to fix their Gmail problem.
---
GMail for me just stopped working, it hangs almost at the end of the progress bar and stayed that way forever, and in the console there was only few 503 responses from some Gmail API...

I have some problems at times, if I open FF where I last sat on gMail. So, I make sure not to start FF with gMail last in view. The few times gMail is 'stuck', I usually type-in https://mail.google.com and it will load. Holding the SHIFT key and click Reload (or Control-SHIFT-R) seems to be better than just plain Reloading.

Also, it could be a DNS issue. Try different ones.

Otherwise, for me, gMail works on loading about 98% of the time just fine.


~Pj


Thank you for the advice about holding the shift key down and reloading to get firefox to open gmail. This has worked for me.

My questions are i) Why does this work ie what does holding the shift key do ii) Does this mean that forever from now on everytime i want to open gmail in firefox i need to do this  ?

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Hi ukgopher, holding Shift when you reload instructs Firefox not to use cached files and to re-request all needed files from the server. That can solve problems with mixing old cached files with new files from the server which occasionally are incompatible. I suggest you use it when you need it. If you need it often, perhaps there is an issue with your Firefox holding on to old files too long, or some process corrupting your Firefox cache. ??

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer