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Why, as of Firefox 54.0 security update, does the National Weather Service radar loop no longer function for any local forecast office?

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  • Last reply by Wxjunkie

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OS: Windows 7 Home premium, with Microsoft updates automatically applied. Mozilla Firefox updates automatically applied. Prior to June 20, 2017, my Firefox browser would display the radar loop for any local forecast office, but this ceased to function when security update 54.0 was applied. Why? (The national radar loop and the Alaska regional radar loop still do function.) The local radar loops can be displayed using Microsoft Internet Explorer [which I would prefer not using!].

Is there something a user of the Mozilla Firefox browser can do to make the radar loop display? Or do we need to get the National Weather Service to change how they provide the radar loop images?

OS: Windows 7 Home premium, with Microsoft updates automatically applied. Mozilla Firefox updates automatically applied. Prior to June 20, 2017, my Firefox browser would display the radar loop for any local forecast office, but this ceased to function when security update 54.0 was applied. Why? (The national radar loop and the Alaska regional radar loop still do function.) The local radar loops can be displayed using Microsoft Internet Explorer [which I would prefer not using!]. Is there something a user of the Mozilla Firefox browser can do to make the radar loop display? Or do we need to get the National Weather Service to change how they provide the radar loop images?

Chosen solution

I looked at this one as an example:

https://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=MUX&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

The first thing I noticed was a gray box to enable Flash, since it have it set to "Ask to Activate". After that, a map loaded and started animating.

Does that one work for you?

You didn't mention what steps you tried, so I'll mention "the usual":

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

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. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(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 > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In 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.

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

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • 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? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

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Hi, Not sure if this still applies but https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-or-remove-add-ons#w_how-to-remove-extensions-and-themes Or if this is what your looking for https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/firefox-bcexplorer/?src=search

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Seçilmiş Həll

I looked at this one as an example:

https://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=MUX&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

The first thing I noticed was a gray box to enable Flash, since it have it set to "Ask to Activate". After that, a map loaded and started animating.

Does that one work for you?

You didn't mention what steps you tried, so I'll mention "the usual":

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

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. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(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 > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In 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.

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

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • 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? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

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One of the main technical changes in Firefox 54 was to enable more individual content processes. In Firefox 48-53, the Firefox multiprocess feature would create one process for the UI and one process for content. Now Firefox will aim for four content processes. Perhaps this is an unexpected side effect of this change??

You could try rolling back the number of content processes to 1. If this doesn't work, you may need to revert to single-process mode. Here's how you can try this:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste ipc and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If the dom.ipc.processCount preference is bolded and "user set" to 4, double-click it and edit the value to 1, then click OK

Presumably that will not take effect until the next startup, at which time you should check it to make sure it hasn't reverted back. Any difference?

Alternately, you can disable multiprocess mode using a different preference:

(4) In the search box above the list, type or paste autos and pause while the list is filtered

(5) Double-click the browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 preference to switch the value from true to false

Note: the exact name of the preference may vary, but it will start with browser.tabs.remote.autostart

At your next Firefox startup, it should run in the traditional way. Any difference?

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I had to reinstall Adobe Flash and then enable it. Now the radar loop displays correctly. Thank you.