When firefox opens all I get is a white blank window (on my mac) I just upgraded firefox
On my (very old) mac (os 10.6) there was an auto upgrade of Firefox, and the window that asked if I wanted to upgrade, I clicked yes or restart, whatever it said. So it restarted, but only gave me a completely blank white window, no bars, no tabs, no nothing, just pure whiteness where all of everything should have been in that browser window shape. I tried the pulldown menus to troubleshoot, to contact you, etc. but while it thought it was opening up new tabs, it stayed completely blank and white. Finally I gave up and came over to my pc to see if you can help with this. I prefer Firefox and don't want to have to go to a different browser.
All Replies (3)
Hello,
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
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If Safe Mode doesn't help, try clicking on Refresh Firefox instead.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
I did try Safe Mode but I couldn't find anything to "Refresh Firefox" (the only functioning thing is the dropdown menu). There is just a big white window with the 3 mac buttons in the corner, the dropdown menu, and that's absolutely all. Can I reinstall the older version of Firefox? Is there a place to download it?
Try to remove the Firefox plist file (org.mozilla.firefox.plist).
- http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060606082246983 How .plist files become corrupt and troubleshooting the results
Go to "~/Library/Preferences" and remove the plist file for Firefox (org.mozilla.firefox.plist)
Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.
Try to do a clean reinstall of Firefox.
Download a new copy of the Firefox application and save the disk image file to the desktop
- Firefox 39.0: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
- Trash the current Firefox application (open the Applications folder in the Finder and drag the Firefox application to the Trash) to do a clean (re)install
- Install the new version that you have downloaded
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Installing+Firefox+on+Mac
Your personal data is stored elsewhere in the Firefox profile folder, so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data when you uninstall and (re)install or update Firefox.