All drop-down menus do not show and right-click does nothing after a period of time
This problem started for me around 4ish months ago, but I couldn't tell you the version number I was on at the time. I'm having the exact same issue on two different physical computers both running Windows 7 Pro x64, while I do not have this issue on my work computer running Windows 10 Pro x64.
The Problem:
After a period of time, sometimes 6-8 hours, sometimes 48 hours, I am no longer given any context menu's when I right-click in FireFox, either on a webpage or on the toolbar areas. This typically happens when leaving FireFox open and idle over night, then I see the problem in the morning, or some mornings it works fine and continues to throughout the day, but then stops the following day. So, for example, I am unable to Pin or Unpin tabs when this happens, nor can I right-click anywhere. Also, when I click on the Menu or Bookmarks button, nothing pops down. The button changes colors to a darker shade like it is de-pressed but the menu does not appear. This happens in drop-down menu's on websites as well - they do not appear. I am able to use the up and down arrows, or letter keys, to move around them but the drop-down is gone completely.
This is all fixed if I close FireFox and re-open it. Seemingly a timer is reset and everything works again for a while.
What I've done:
I started with simple things like unpinning my tabs, closing tabs and removing extensions but non of that worked. I then backed up and deleted my entire Firefox profile under AppData - Local but it started happening on my new profile also. Earlier this week I completely uninstalled FireFox and the update service, and deleted everything Mozilla from all three AppData folders as well as ProgramData. I rebooted and then re-installed FireFox using Ninite. I did not import any data, pin any tabs, install any add-ons or save any passwords. I was trying to be as vanilla as possible, but the problem was happening again the next morning. Yesterday I started FireFox in Safe Mode and am having the same problem running in Safe Mode.
This effort so far has been concentrated on one of my two machines experiencing this problem, as I was hoping to solve it on one and then apply the solution to the other, but I am at a loss. I can't imagine that additional Windows programs would cause this but there are a few overlapping programs between the two.
I have Microsoft Security Essentials and MalwareBytes Premium installed on this primary machine having the issues, whereas I do not have MalwareBytes installed on the other machine also having this issue. I thought the Web Protection may be interfering but I don't believe so now.
One other similarity is that both computers are non-domain and the primary account used on both is a non-admin account purposely (I try not to run as admin unless absolutely necessary, for obvious reasons). I'm wondering if possibly not running as an admin is causing an issue somehow? I will try temporarily making myself an admin tonight and leave FireFox in Safe Mode idle again to see if anything has changed.
Other than that, would you have any ideas or things I may be able to try? I'm open to anything at this point, I just want this fixed! I don't want to move to Chrome. :(
الحل المُختار
I tend to disagree - Firefox 59 should be able to run on Win 7 on a 5-year old machine without visual artifacts, even the 32-bit version.
Since your graphics card seems to be blocked for 2D either because of an unknown vendor or the video graphics driver not being as up to date as possible, I would recommend updating your graphics card driver, as well as disabling hardware acceleration, which is (partly) enabled by default and may need to be disabled on such a setup. You could try the latter first.
See Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL for more info.
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Hello again. Currently, you are running Firefox 59.0.1
Many have reported issues using the 64bit Firefox. Install the 32bit version from; Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}
FredMcD said
Hello again. Currently, you are running Firefox 59.0.1 Many have reported issues using the 64bit Firefox. Install the 32bit version from; Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}
Thanks for super fast response Fred! I just got the x86 version installed and I'll give it a day or two to see if it repeats itself and report back. Thank you!
Hi, if this is Solved please mark the Solution that did so, so others can find it.
Hi there, the problem is recurring. I'm on the x86 version of 59.0.1 and Firefox sat idle for about 72 hours and then the problem occurred. I'm not sure if it happened sooner or not because I didn't use it until then. Any more thoughts?
You have a older system, with little ram, a unknown video card or chip, you are at end of life if is 5yrs old or more.
You have so many errors in the Video Card drivers and these will be the problem causing your lockup in the UI. featureLog: {u'fallbacks': [], u'features': [{u'status': u'available', u'description': u'Compositing', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}], u'name': u'HW_COMPOSITING'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'description': u'Direct3D11 Compositing', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'message': u'#BLOCKLIST_FEATURE_FAILURE_UNKNOWN_DEVICE_VENDOR', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'D3D11_COMPOSITING'}, {u'status': u'unavailable', u'description': u'Direct2D', u'log': [{u'status': u'unavailable', u'message': u'Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing', u'type': u'default'}], u'name': u'DIRECT2D'}, {u'status': u'disabled', u'description': u'Direct3D11 hardware ANGLE', u'log': [{u'status': u'unavailable', u'message': u'D3D11 compositing is disabled', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'disabled', u'message': u'D3D11 compositing is disabled', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'D3D11_HW_ANGLE'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'description': u'GPU Process', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'message': u'#BLOCKLIST_FEATURE_FAILURE_UNKNOWN_DEVICE_VENDOR', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'GPU_PROCESS'}, {u'status': u'unavailable', u'description': u'WebRender
Please download and run this software please, it should Identify your chipset and video card chip, the maybe a combined chip. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Post the information about your Video Card Chip/Chipset or go to INTEL as I think it is a INTEL board. Run the software 1st to determine if is please run download and run this : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html and install what it offers.
It is time to plan for the future. New system with 16gig of ram.
You should also move to Firefox ESR 52.7.3 ESR. It will continue to get security updates until May 2018, and you can download and install it from this page: *https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be deleted or removed in any version update after June 2018. Firefox 52.9.0esr out on June 26 (same time as 60.1.0esr) will be the last major update for Firefox 52 ESR apart from any 52.9.x esr updates for security or allowed stability fixes.
Firefox 60.2.0esr will be out Aug 21 and Firefox 52 ESR will be EOL then. So people will have to upgrade to 60.2.0esr to keep getting security updates if they have not manually upgraded to 60.x.o ESR already. Firefox 60 ESR will require Windows 7, 8, 10.
You should make a backup of your Profile before going back and just because:
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-firefox-bookmarks-to-backup-or-transfer
Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.
Pkshadow said
You have a older system, with little ram, a unknown video card or chip, you are at end of life if is 5yrs old or more. You have so many errors in the Video Card drivers and these will be the problem causing your lockup in the UI. featureLog: {u'fallbacks': [], u'features': [{u'status': u'available', u'description': u'Compositing', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}], u'name': u'HW_COMPOSITING'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'description': u'Direct3D11 Compositing', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'message': u'#BLOCKLIST_FEATURE_FAILURE_UNKNOWN_DEVICE_VENDOR', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'D3D11_COMPOSITING'}, {u'status': u'unavailable', u'description': u'Direct2D', u'log': [{u'status': u'unavailable', u'message': u'Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing', u'type': u'default'}], u'name': u'DIRECT2D'}, {u'status': u'disabled', u'description': u'Direct3D11 hardware ANGLE', u'log': [{u'status': u'unavailable', u'message': u'D3D11 compositing is disabled', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'disabled', u'message': u'D3D11 compositing is disabled', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'D3D11_HW_ANGLE'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'description': u'GPU Process', u'log': [{u'status': u'available', u'type': u'default'}, {u'status': u'blacklisted', u'message': u'#BLOCKLIST_FEATURE_FAILURE_UNKNOWN_DEVICE_VENDOR', u'type': u'env'}], u'name': u'GPU_PROCESS'}, {u'status': u'unavailable', u'description': u'WebRender Please download and run this software please, it should Identify your chipset and video card chip, the maybe a combined chip. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Post the information about your Video Card Chip/Chipset or go to INTEL as I think it is a INTEL board. Run the software 1st to determine if is please run download and run this : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html and install what it offers. It is time to plan for the future. New system with 16gig of ram. You should also move to Firefox ESR 52.7.3 ESR. It will continue to get security updates until May 2018, and you can download and install it from this page: *https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be deleted or removed in any version update after June 2018. Firefox 52.9.0esr out on June 26 (same time as 60.1.0esr) will be the last major update for Firefox 52 ESR apart from any 52.9.x esr updates for security or allowed stability fixes. Firefox 60.2.0esr will be out Aug 21 and Firefox 52 ESR will be EOL then. So people will have to upgrade to 60.2.0esr to keep getting security updates if they have not manually upgraded to 60.x.o ESR already. Firefox 60 ESR will require Windows 7, 8, 10. You should make a backup of your Profile before going back and just because: Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.
Hi PkShadow, thank you for your reply and your diagnostic info on the video card. I believe that is the core problem here as I noticed the same lack of a drop-down menu problem occurred while Firefox was doing it and I was using Adobe Reader trying to print with no drop-down options in Reader! I won't be getting a new machine any time soon though because although it is older, this machine is an HP ProLiant GL320 G6 1U Server. I can put 32GB of RAM in it if I want but I don't currently have the need. I can go ahead and mark it as solved if you'd like as it doesn't appear to strictly be a Firefox problem but the issue isn't actually resolved yet. What do you think?
الحل المُختار
I tend to disagree - Firefox 59 should be able to run on Win 7 on a 5-year old machine without visual artifacts, even the 32-bit version.
Since your graphics card seems to be blocked for 2D either because of an unknown vendor or the video graphics driver not being as up to date as possible, I would recommend updating your graphics card driver, as well as disabling hardware acceleration, which is (partly) enabled by default and may need to be disabled on such a setup. You could try the latter first.
See Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL for more info.