Recent answers to As of Version 33, Firefox comes up with a blank gray screen and ....https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/10386272014-12-29T21:32:07-08:00Thanks, Jscher2000, giving that a try.
2014-12-29T21:32:07-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670793<p>Thanks, Jscher2000, giving that a try.
</p>Firefox 33 introduced a new layout component that might be having a compatibility problem with your 2014-12-29T15:09:57-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670725<p>Firefox 33 introduced a new layout component that might be having a compatibility problem with your systerm. You could try turning it off:
</p><p>(1) In a new tab, type or paste <strong>about:config</strong> in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
</p><p>(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste <strong>layers</strong> and pause while the list is filtered
</p><p>(3) Double-click the <strong>layers.offmainthreadcomposition.enabled</strong> preference to switch it from true to false.
</p><p>I think you might need to exit Firefox and start it up again before that takes effect.
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also, the next time you get the gray screen, could you try opening a new window using Ctrl+n to see whether that one displays correctly?
</p>The stub installer for Windows is certainly not a new thing as claimed above as it has been availabl2014-12-29T14:50:14-08:00Jameshttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670718<p>The stub installer for Windows is certainly not a new thing as claimed above as it has been available ever since Firefox 18.0 was released back in early Jan 2013 so almost two years now. It is new compared to the full setup yes.
</p>hogwaump said
I ask in all seriousness: is it time to abandon Firefox and work with Chrome or Int2014-12-29T04:05:28-08:00user1068417https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670464<p><em>hogwaump <a href="#question-1038627" rel="nofollow">said</a></em>
</p>
<blockquote>
I ask in all seriousness: is it time to abandon Firefox and work with Chrome or Internet Explorer instead?
</blockquote>
<p>I would like to go on record saying that Google Chrome has had a surprising drop in performance since they started supported Windows 8.1, and although IE 11 is good, it will never be as customizable as people need.
</p><p><em>hogwaump <a href="#question-1038627" rel="nofollow">said</a></em>
</p>
<blockquote>
To add insult to injury, Mozilla now wants you to use a crap downloader stub to get a new copy, and does not save what has been downloaded in case you need to try again.
</blockquote>
<p>Downloader stubs are the new thing. They allow you to quickly download an installation for later use without waiting for some huge download to complete (even though the stub itself downloads the rest of the installation).
</p><p>However, not to worry. A full, offline installer still exists for Firefox. Just go to <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/" rel="nofollow">https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/</a> and you can find actual installers for all languages and OS.
</p>Unfortunately, soon after I started this dialogue, a (yet another) restart brought FF to life. I wil2014-12-29T01:21:11-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670393<p>Unfortunately, soon after I started this dialogue, a (yet another) restart brought FF to life. I will report back when the problem can be replicated. Thanks, GamerFreak, for taking time to look into this with me.
</p>Try disabling all your plugins and see if it loads. If so activate your plugins one by one to see wh2014-12-29T01:08:03-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670386<p>Try disabling all your plugins and see if it loads. If so activate your plugins one by one to see what works and what doesn't. If this does not work at all please report back.
</p>All my screenshot tools are FF addons, so I have no way to do it easily. I can describe the window f2014-12-29T00:59:04-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670381<p>All my screenshot tools are FF addons, so I have no way to do it easily. I can describe the window fairly accurately though: It is more or less a standard Windows affair, with a toolbar space allocated at the top. Both the window and the toolbar are essentially empty, just a solid gray color -- brightish gray, not a grayed-out kind of gray. As I recall, the only things visible are the usual 3 Windows buttons at top right for closing the window or minimizing, or maximizing. In this state, clicking on the X will seem to close the app, but on checking with Process Explorer I see that FF is still running. It does immediately respond to a Kill request, so it is not hung tightly.
</p>It would help a lot if you could take a screenshot of the grey screen, this would let me see what mi2014-12-29T00:44:12-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670370<p>It would help a lot if you could take a screenshot of the grey screen, this would let me see what might be wrong. If you are unable to let me know and I will try to help you.
</p>All plugins are up to date or disabled.
2014-12-29T00:38:28-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670366<p>All plugins are up to date or disabled.
</p>I have disabled the plugins that I rarely use. This problem is sporadic, so it will be time consumin2014-12-29T00:35:08-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670363<p>I have disabled the plugins that I rarely use. This problem is sporadic, so it will be time consuming to eliminate suspicion of all plugins. It seems to happen upon restart of FF after an incremental update is received.
</p>Please check if all your plugins are up-to-date. To do this, go to the Plugin Check site.
Once you'2014-12-29T00:32:48-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670360<p>Please check if all your plugins are up-to-date. To do this, go to the <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/plugincheck/" rel="nofollow">Plugin Check site</a>.
</p><p>Once you're there, the site will check if all your plugins have the latest versions.
If you see plugins in the list that have a yellow <em>Update</em> button or a red <em>Update now</em> button, please update these immediately.
</p><p>To do so, please click each yellow or red button. Then you should see a site that allows you to download the latest version. Double-click the downloaded file to start the installation and follow the steps mentioned in the installation procedure.
</p>Application Basics
Name: Firefox
Version: 34.0.5
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; r2014-12-29T00:24:30-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670358<p>Application Basics
</p>
<hr>
<p>Name: Firefox
Version: 34.0.5
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:34.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/34.0
Multiprocess Windows: 0/1
</p><p>Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
</p>
<hr>
<p>All Crash Reports
</p><p>Extensions
</p>
<hr>
<p>Name: Adblock Plus
Version: 2.6.6
Enabled: true
ID: {d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}
</p><p>Name: Classic Theme Restorer
Version: 1.2.8.2
Enabled: true
ID: ClassicThemeRestorer@ArisT2Noia4dev
</p><p>Name: DownloadHelper
Version: 4.9.24
Enabled: true
ID: {b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}
</p><p>Name: Flash and Video Download
Version: 1.64
Enabled: true
ID: {bee6eb20-01e0-ebd1-da83-080329fb9a3a}
</p><p>Name: InlineDisposition
Version: 1.0.2.4
Enabled: true
ID: {123647d5-da43-4344-bfe2-fc093bdf8f5e}
</p><p>Name: NoScript
Version: 2.6.9.10
Enabled: true
ID: {73a6fe31-595d-460b-a920-fcc0f8843232}
</p><p>Name: Password Exporter
Version: 1.2.1
Enabled: true
ID: {B17C1C5A-04B1-11DB-9804-B622A1EF5492}
</p><p>Name: RequestPolicy
Version: 0.5.28
Enabled: true
ID: requestpolicy@requestpolicy.com
</p><p>Name: Troubleshooter
Version: 1.1a
Enabled: true
ID: troubleshooter@mozilla.org
</p><p>Name: WordWeb one-click lookup
Version: 5.0.4406
Enabled: true
ID: wcapturex@deskperience.com
</p><p>Name: WOT
Version: 20131118
Enabled: true
ID: {a0d7ccb3-214d-498b-b4aa-0e8fda9a7bf7}
</p><p>Name: URL Tooltip
Version: 1.2.2
Enabled: false
ID: url-tooltip@timothytate.net
</p><p>Graphics
</p>
<hr>
<p>Adapter Description: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
Adapter Drivers: atiumd64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64
Adapter RAM: 1024
Device ID: 0x9553
DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.2.9200.16492)
Driver Date: 8-17-2009
Driver Version: 8.632.1.2000
GPU #2 Active: false
GPU Accelerated Windows: 0/1 Basic (OMTC)
Subsys ID: 00000000
Vendor ID: 0x1002
WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
windowLayerManagerRemote: true
AzureCanvasBackend: skia
AzureContentBackend: cairo
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
</p><p>Important Modified Preferences
</p>
<hr>
<p>accessibility.typeaheadfind: true
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 4
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7
browser.search.suggest.enabled: false
browser.search.useDBForOrder: true
browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand: false
browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20141126041045
browser.startup.homepage: <a href="http://google.com" rel="nofollow">google.com</a>
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20141126041045
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 34.0.5
browser.tabs.onTop: false
browser.tabs.warnOnClose: false
dom.mozApps.used: true
extensions.lastAppVersion: 34.0.5
font.internaluseonly.changed: false
general.autoScroll: false
gfx.direct2d.disabled: true
layers.acceleration.disabled: true
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1413847813
media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.1
media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1419824799
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
network.dns.disablePrefetch: true
network.prefetch-next: false
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1419790064
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
plugin.importedState: true
plugin.state.npctrl: 2
plugins.notifyMissingFlash: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_bgcolor: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_bgimages: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_colorspace:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_command:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_downloadfonts: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_duplex: 1515870810
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_edge_bottom: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_edge_left: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_edge_right: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_edge_top: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_evenpages: true
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_footercenter:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_footerleft: &amp;PT
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_footerright: &amp;D
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_headercenter:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_headerleft: &amp;T
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_headerright: &amp;U
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_in_color: true
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_margin_bottom: 0.5
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_margin_left: 0.5
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_margin_right: 0.5
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_margin_top: 0.5
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_oddpages: true
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_orientation: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_page_delay: 50
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_data: 1
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_height: 11.00
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_name:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_size_type: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_size_unit: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_paper_width: 8.50
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_plex_name:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_resolution: 1515870810
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_resolution_name:
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_reversed: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_scaling: 1.00
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_shrink_to_fit: true
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_to_file: false
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
print.printer_HP_Deskjet_3840_Series_(LiDiL).print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true
storage.vacuum.last.index: 1
storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1417850903
</p><p>Important Locked Preferences
</p>
<hr>
<p>JavaScript
</p>
<hr>
<p>Incremental GC: true
</p><p>Accessibility
</p>
<hr>
<p>Activated: false
Prevent Accessibility: 0
</p><p>Library Versions
</p>
<hr>
<p>NSPR
Expected minimum version: 4.10.7
Version in use: 4.10.7
</p><p>NSS
Expected minimum version: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
</p><p>NSSSMIME
Expected minimum version: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
</p><p>NSSSSL
Expected minimum version: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
Version in use: 3.17.2 Basic ECC
</p><p>NSSUTIL
Expected minimum version: 3.17.2
Version in use: 3.17.2
</p><p>Experimental Features
</p>
<hr>If you have a lot of plugins one of them may be the problem. Safe mode does not effect plugins so pl2014-12-29T00:17:29-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670354<p>If you have a lot of plugins one of them may be the problem. Safe mode does not effect plugins so please refer to this page and see if this helps, if not please report back and I will see what I can do
<a href="https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+plugins" rel="nofollow">https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+plugins</a>
</p>To find the correct solution to your problem, we need some more non-personal information from you. 2014-12-29T00:08:28-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670352<p>To find the correct solution to your problem, we need some more non-personal information from you. Please do the following:
</p>
<ol><li> Use ONE of these methods to open the Firefox Troubleshooting Information page:
<ul><li> Click the menu button <img class="wiki-image frameless" src="https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2014-01-10-13-08-08-f52b8c.png" alt="New Fx Menu" title="">, click on help <img class="wiki-image frameless" src="https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2014-01-10-13-10-08-eaa722.png" alt="Help-29" title=""> and select <em>Troubleshooting Information</em>.
</li><li> Type <strong>about:support</strong> into the Firefox address bar and press the enter key.
</li></ul>
</li><li> At the top of the Troubleshooting Information page that comes up, you should see a button that says "Copy text to clipboard". Click it.
</li><li>Now, go back to your forum post, right-click in the reply box and select <strong>Paste</strong> from the context menu (or else click inside the reply box and press the Ctrl+V keys) to paste all the information you copied into the forum post.
</li></ol>
<p>If you need further information about the Troubleshooting information page, please read the article <a href="/en-US/kb/use-troubleshooting-information-page-fix-firefox" rel="nofollow">Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues</a>.
</p><p>Thanks in advance for your help!
</p>I hesitate to reset Firefox because I have it so heavily customized. I would have to rebuild all my 2014-12-28T21:27:21-08:00hogwaumphttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670323<p>I hesitate to reset Firefox because I have it so heavily customized. I would have to rebuild all my permissions for noscript and such. But I don't think it would do any good. When this gray-screen happens, it is persistent, but after enough resets or power down/up cycles I can get it back. There is something very flawed about version 33+ on this particular hardware.
</p>Hello,
The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default sta2014-12-28T12:09:13-08:00GamerFreakhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670245<p>Hello,
</p><p>The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information.
</p><p><em><strong>Note:</strong> After resetting Firefox, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences.</em> See the <a href="/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings" rel="nofollow">Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings</a> article for more information.
</p><p>To Reset Firefox:
</p>
<ol><li> Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
<ul><li>Click the menu button <img class="wiki-image frameless" src="https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2014-01-10-13-08-08-f52b8c.png" alt="New Fx Menu" title="">, click help <img class="wiki-image frameless" src="https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2014-01-10-13-10-08-eaa722.png" alt="Help-29" title=""> and select <em>Troubleshooting Information</em>. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
</li><li>If you're unable to access the Help menu, type <strong>about:support</strong> in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
</li></ul>
</li><li>At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Reset Firefox" that looks like this: <img class="wiki-image frameless" src="https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2014-05-19-12-51-13-44a50f.png" alt="Button reset" title="">. Click on it.
</li><li>Firefox will close and reset. After it is done, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
</li><li>Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.
</li></ol>
<p>Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!
</p><p>Thank you.
</p>What i like about firefox is the addons and bookmarks and toolbars ,that type of customizability. I 2014-12-28T12:09:13-08:00shadyzhttps://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1038627#answer-670244<p>What i like about firefox is the addons and bookmarks and toolbars ,that type of customizability. I too like a less-buggy software like anyone else and I don't mind rapid updates, if they give us a better product. I'm not sure i understand the reason for the new backwards and forwards buttons on the right click menu though.
</p>