Firefox shows a black screen or blank screen after updating to 33

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 79560
  • Created:
  • Creator: AliceWyman
  • Comment: added detailed steps on starting in Safe Mode
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: AliceWyman
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
Revision Source
Revision Content
The issue described in this article applies to Windows only.

Firefox version 33 includes a new feature called Off Main Thread Compositing (OMTC) which is a faster way of loading webpages.

The Mozilla community is continually improving this feature and are working hard to fix a known issue: if you are seeing a black or blank screen when you visit some sites, here's what you can do to fix the problem in the meantime:

  1. Close any Firefox windows that may be open.
  2. Press the Shift key while starting Firefox. The Firefox Safe Mode window will open.
  3. Click the Start in Safe Mode button to enter Safe Mode.
  4. If the problem does not occur in Safe Mode, turn off hardware acceleration and then start Firefox in normal mode.