hello cjhdancer, can you try launching firefox in safe mode by pressing the shift key while it is starting and see if the issue is occurring there too? maybe a theme or hardware acceleration is interfering here...

if safemode is working, you can try disabling hardware acceleration in firefox > options > advanced > general and or disable addons that might cause the problem. it also would be interesting which graphics hardware (adapter description, driver date & driver version) you are using - you can access this information in firefox > help > troubleshooting information towards the bottom of that page... thank you

Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems

edit: from another user we found out that this might be related to malware, could you see if you have the same addons installed, remove/disable them & run a in-depth scan of your system with security software - see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/940393#answer-377118

I tried your suggestion (launching firefox in safe mode), but got the same results... it starts to load normally, but a second later, I get the blank screen in firefox... no tabs, no menu bars... nothing but the firefox logo on the top left corner and the minimize, full screen/small screen, and close/x buttons on the top left corner.

Any other suggestions?

BTW, I have windows XP, and I'm currently using IE8 to get here, but I want my firefox back... badly!

Whoops... didn't see the update...

You say "could you see if you have the same addons installed." How do I do that, when I can't get it to open with anything but a blank screen?

I added Ghosery and Ad Block Plus... and also something similar to Ghosery, but I can't rememeber the name. I added that first... before Ghosery.

Anyway... if I completely uninstalled and then reinstalled, wouldn't I have to reinstall the add ons later?

And I did run a scan of my system with security software... it didn't find anything.

However, when I uninstalled, it uses a Firefox Uninstall Wizard... and in the wizard, there is an option to "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations," but when you check that, it says, "This will permanently remove your bookmarks, saved passwords, cookies and customizations. You may wish to keep this information if you plan on installing another version of Firefox in the future."

I don't save passwords, don't care about the cookies, but the bookmarks took forever to collect, and I don't want to loose them. Anyway to save or copy the more important bookmarks somewhere else?

Would clicking this option also remove the addons... and maybe that might take care of the possible malware problems that you're talking about?

Did you delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling Firefox?

Note that reinstalling usually only has effect if you make sure that there are no leftover files in the Firefox program folder.

• (32 bit Windows) C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
• (64 bit Windows) C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\

You may have caught an extension that is installed globally in Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_add-ons
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_toolbars

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Adding_Extensions_using_the_Windows_Registry

See this about how to backup your personal data in the Firefox Profile Folder:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Backing+up+your+information

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

cor-el,

Wow... that was way above my head... at least tonight. LOL

After my last post, I did a little searching and figured out how to import my bookmarks to IE8... then I uninstalled firefox again... but this time I did check the "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" in the wizard, which did remove both addons (Ghosery and Ad Block Plus)... the reinstall was different this time, and at first startup of firefox, it asked if I wanted to import my bookmarks from IE, which I did... I've now re-added Ghosery and Ad Block Plus... and so far so good... seems I've gotten it back up and running.

The mention of malware in an addon by madperson was helpful in my solving my own problem.

Thanks for the help...

This is strange, I am having the same exact issue after only a reboot of my computer, I did not install any addons, at the time I was trying to make a UBCD bootable flash. Except with me, I reinstalled firefox AND cleared all personal data twice. I still get the same black screen filling the entire window.

cjhdancer, you said it worked for you and you got to the import wizard, except my import wizard gives the same black filled screen even after reinstall and clearing personal data.

Please help, I hate IE!

wicaed,

I had a blank white screen.

I'm not a techie by any means, but after cor-el & madperson answered, I used some of what they both said and tried my own solution. I did loose a lot of the book marks, which really sucks, but I got firefox back.

I suggest you post your problem as a separate questions, because it's slightly different than mine, and my solution didn't work for you.

Good Luck!