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38.0.1 Has Brought My Old Computer To Its Knees

  • 8 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by sivadselim

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My desktop computer is really old but has served me well. Unfortunately, Firefox 38.0.1 is unusable. Webpages take forever to load and are all but unnavigable. CPU temperature rises well above what is normal for this computer. Reverting to 37.0.2 fixes any issues.

Athlon XP-M 2600+ 2gb RAM ATi Radeon X800XL Win 7 32-bit

Advice (besides replacement)?

My desktop computer is really old but has served me well. Unfortunately, Firefox 38.0.1 is unusable. Webpages take forever to load and are all but unnavigable. CPU temperature rises well above what is normal for this computer. Reverting to 37.0.2 fixes any issues. Athlon XP-M 2600+ 2gb RAM ATi Radeon X800XL Win 7 32-bit Advice (besides replacement)?

Chosen solution

You said you updated your graphics driver, so the next step is to disable Hardware acceleration.

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All Replies (8)

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Please try the following steps:

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Thanks for the reply but, no go. I completely uninstalled Firefox and re-installed 38.0.1 from scratch with the exact same results. It's unusable. And very disappointing. Gonna hafta switch browsers after using Firefox for years.  :-(

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Did you try the other steps? I gave you several. Uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox actually doesn't change anything.

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Tyler Downer said

Did you try the other steps? I gave you several. Uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox actually doesn't change anything.

My graphics drivers are up-to-date and I have always used hardware acceleration and ( I assume) WebGL. As I said, 37.0.2 runs perfectly fine. The instructions you linked describe turning OFF hardware acceleration and DISABLING WebGL. Is that what you meant for me to try? I do not think that it is.

My Windows7 install is up-to-date.

Refreshing and resetting Firefox isn't necessary with a completely new and clean install from scratch. And navigating to it with 38.0.1 is next impossible, anyway.

Thanks, again.  :-(

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Please re-read what I put above, I want you to turn Hardware Acceleration OFF.

A clean re-install doesn't remove the Firefox profile, which is what a refresh does (while saving your personal information).

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Tyler Downer said

Please re-read what I put above, I want you to turn Hardware Acceleration OFF.

OK, but "Upgrading my graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration" is NOT turning hardware acceleration OFF. What you linked discusses enabling hardware acceleration and only discusses turning it OFF as a last resort.


Tyler Downer said

A clean re-install doesn't remove the Firefox profile, which is what a refresh does (while saving your personal information).

I deleted everything, including my profile. Yes, from the "user">AppData>Roaming>Mozilla folder.


Again, thanks, and forgive me if I sound frustrated. I am.  :-(

Modified by sivadselim

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Chosen Solution

You said you updated your graphics driver, so the next step is to disable Hardware acceleration.

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OK, thanks for your patience!

DISABLING hardware acceleration seems to have worked. I disabled WebGL, initially, too, but have since toggled it back on (set webgl.disabled to 'false'). Seems OK with it on (un-disabled).

Thanks, again!