Websites show a spinning wheel and never finish loading

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 18335
  • Created:
  • Creator: scoobidiver
  • Comment: lowering the max number of HTTP connections fixed in Fx 8 with bug 692260
  • 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

This article explains what to do when specific websites (not all) start to load, but never finish (i.e. the tab displays a spinning wheel and "Connecting..." for several minutes).

If none of the below solutions work, try the methods described in the Basic troubleshooting article to see if they will address your problem.

Search for malware

A variant of the Vundo trojan is known to cause Firefox to have problems loading certain high-traffic sites, including Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, and more. Not all variants of the Vundo trojan can be detected or removed by malware scanners.

However, you should scan your computer for infections first. For detailed instructions, see Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.

Lower the max number of HTTP connections

On slow connections, too many HTTP connections may cause timeouts.

  1. Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
    A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
  2. In the Filter box at the top, type network.http.max-connections.
  3. Double-click on the network.http.max-connections preference, the "Enter integer value" dialog box will open.
  4. In the field, type 30 which was the default value in old versions of Firefox and click OK.

Disable JavaScript

In rare cases, a web page may be using an external JavaScript file which is in the wrong format. Try disabling JavaScript - see JavaScript settings and preferences for interactive web pages. If the page now finishes loading the bad Javascript file may be coming from:

  • a proxy filter that is incorrectly filtering that website's files. If you are running a proxy filter such as Privoxy, try disabling it.
  • the server. Contact the site administrator for that website.