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Firefox freezes PC permanently at unpredictable times, forcing me to force-restart pc

  • 5 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 1828 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

At random times, sometimes minutes, sometimes hours apart from eachother, firefox seem to freeze my pc. I've tried googling the issue, but I couldn't find anything helpful anywhere.

At random times, sometimes minutes, sometimes hours apart from eachother, firefox seem to freeze my pc. I've tried googling the issue, but I couldn't find anything helpful anywhere.

Chosen solution

cottor said

The moment it froze was the moment I pressed play on a video player.

Okay, let's try this out;

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  3. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  4. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

In Firefox 55 and above:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the General panel.
  3. Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
    Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  5. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

Thank you.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (5)

cottor said

sometimes minutes, sometimes hours apart

Normally I would have you try Safe Mode. But hours apart may not help.

Let’s do a full clean re-install;

Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}

Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86)

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it. See Install Firefox on Linux; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux

If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory. http://www.mozilla.org/firefox#desktop ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Look for, and remove any Mozilla or Firefox program folders. Do not remove the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

Do Not remove the profiles folder.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode This shows how to Start all Computers in Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia

Thank you for this response. I waited a long time to respond, because I needed to make sure if this did indeed work. It didn't.

I followed your guide by first downloading the firefox.exe file. Afterwards I removed any mozilla/firefox folders I had and made sure I didn't delete my "profiles" folder and Mozilla Thunderbird.

I rebooted my computer but did not run a registry scanner, because I don't have one. I then ran the installer and installed firefox without any problems.

It had been problem free up until this moment. The moment it froze was the moment I pressed play on a video player.

Chosen Solution

cottor said

The moment it froze was the moment I pressed play on a video player.

Okay, let's try this out;

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  3. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  4. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

In Firefox 55 and above:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  2. Select the General panel.
  3. Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
    Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  5. Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

Thank you.

The problem seemed to have been hardware acceleration, as you pointed out. Thanks! I think I can safely say that the problem has been solved, since it has been more than a week since my last freeze. What a relief.

Glad to help. Safe Surfing.