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FF hangs/won't load upon startup

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by bygabyga

nnad
nnad
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Hello, Simply put, I cannot get Firefox to load. In fact, the FF window opens as usual and the FF process appears in Task Manager, but the mouse cursor wheel just keeps spinning forever and there's no way to make FF actually work. In the end, I have to manually kill the FF process in Task Manager. I've tried all sorts of things: - reinstalled three times, including the clean reinstall suggested here: https://support.mozilla.org/sk/questions/1099489 - deleted places.sqlite - did TWO Windows recoveries (i.e. I used TWO restore points) and went back in time to 1) early today and to 2) several days ago (when FF worked flawlessly) - deleted my FF profile and created a new one - disabled AV software (ESET Smart Security Premium)

None of that has helped. Creating a new profile actually did help, but after I closed and re-opened FF, the browser 'went back to its dysfunctional self'. I'm at my wits' end really, looks like I'll have to unsintall FF for good. :/ Any suggestions? Thank you

Hello, Simply put, I cannot get Firefox to load. In fact, the FF window opens as usual and the FF process appears in Task Manager, but the mouse cursor wheel just keeps spinning forever and there's no way to make FF actually work. In the end, I have to manually kill the FF process in Task Manager. I've tried all sorts of things: - reinstalled three times, including the clean reinstall suggested here: https://support.mozilla.org/sk/questions/1099489 - deleted places.sqlite - did TWO Windows recoveries (i.e. I used TWO restore points) and went back in time to 1) early today and to 2) several days ago (when FF worked flawlessly) - deleted my FF profile and created a new one - disabled AV software (ESET Smart Security Premium) None of that has helped. Creating a new profile actually did help, but after I closed and re-opened FF, the browser 'went back to its dysfunctional self'. I'm at my wits' end really, looks like I'll have to unsintall FF for good. :/ Any suggestions? Thank you

Modified by nnad

All Replies (2)

nnad
nnad Question owner
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Oh, just to add: - I deleted the cache, history, etc after each uninstallation of FF by running CCleaner - starting FF in Safe Mode, I've also unchecked "Enable Adobe Flash protected mode" - this didn't help either

Could it be that it has something to do with my uninstallation of Adobe Acrobat Reader earlier today and installing Sumatra PDF instead? I've since uninstalled Sumatra and installed Adobe Acrobat Reader again, so technically I'm back to where I was. Oh well, this makes no sense.

ESET hasn't detected any malware on my PC, so that shouldn't be a problem either.

Modified by nnad

bygabyga
bygabyga
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nnad said

Oh, just to add: - I deleted the cache, history, etc after each uninstallation of FF by running CCleaner

I can tell you this, it's your set up, not firefox.

Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache. In order to try to fix these problems, the first step is to clear both cookies and the cache. Note: This will temporarily log you out of all sites you're logged in to. To clear cache and cookies do the following:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu, choose History, and then "Clear Recent History...".
  2. Under "Time range to clear", select "Everything".
  3. Now, click the arrow next to Details to toggle the Details list active.
  4. From the details list, check Cache and Cookies and uncheck everything else.
  5. Now click the "Clear Now" button.

Further information can be found in the Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox article.


Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.

To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu New Fx Menu and click the close button Close 29).
  3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.