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Bookmars menu disappears or goes crazy

  • 5 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by ChrisMM94

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Since updating to version 18, I have been having odd occurrences of my bookmarks menu when it drops down for me to select something. The box drops down, but bookmarks will be replaced by an image from a web page within the box or list. After clearing the drop-down box and trying again, I had the drop-down box become filled with a shadows or smearing of image or text. Trying again and it was mostly blank. Another time I had the item in my main drop-down menu show up again, or get copied, into a subfolder of other bookmarks replacing the ones already there. Prior to typing this help request, I had a blurry photo image appear in the drop-down box, which cleared after a bit, but then a black and white mess appeared in a subfolder when trying again to go to a bookmarked website. I then closed Firefox and restarted OK. What's going on?

Since updating to version 18, I have been having odd occurrences of my bookmarks menu when it drops down for me to select something. The box drops down, but bookmarks will be replaced by an image from a web page within the box or list. After clearing the drop-down box and trying again, I had the drop-down box become filled with a shadows or smearing of image or text. Trying again and it was mostly blank. Another time I had the item in my main drop-down menu show up again, or get copied, into a subfolder of other bookmarks replacing the ones already there. Prior to typing this help request, I had a blurry photo image appear in the drop-down box, which cleared after a bit, but then a black and white mess appeared in a subfolder when trying again to go to a bookmarked website. I then closed Firefox and restarted OK. What's going on?

All Replies (5)

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Try the Firefox Safe Mode to see how it works there. The Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • You can open the Firefox 4.0+ Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you use the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or use the Help menu item and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Don't select anything right now, just use "'Start in Safe Mode" To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before using the Firefox shortcut (without the Shift key) to open it again. If it is good in the Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one.

Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem. __________________________________________________________________________________ Please create a screenshot of the problem you're seeing by following the guide mentioned at How do I create a screenshot of my problem?.

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box. This will help us to visualize the problem.

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Thank you for replying. I've never had this problem with previous versions of Firefox and have not added any new extensions/add-ons for some time. The other problem is that this issue seems to occur infrequently at this time, so to see if Safe Mode works, I would need to do so for a while before I see the problem, if I even see the problem at all.

One thing I think happens is that the problem occurs if I go to the bookmarks menu while a page is loading or going from one page to another by using the back button on my mouse. In other words, it happens when the browser is actively loading or going to, or back, from a page at the same time I go to use the bookmarks menu. That is why an image, such as a photo, appears within the drop-down box afterwards. It's as though the the browser is copying, or capturing, something from the page I was looking at and pasting it within the drop-down box when I go to use it. Why, as it did one time, it copied the menu itself within another bookmark folder, is anyone's guess. Another thing is that this could involve ebay and their picture service they have for items being sold where you move cursor over the photo to see it larger. This has happened when navigating to their site, but it has also happened on a Hot Wheels wiki site too.

One final thing is that this does not appear to affect other drop-downs such as "File", "Tools", etc. as far as I have noticed.

I'll keep these ideas in mind and try safe mode for a bit and see, if it happens again. I will try to get a screen shot as well. If anything to report, I'll reply back.

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Forgot to add that this may involve tabs as well, as I can have two or three pages going and navigating between them while one, or two, is loading a page can be part of the problem when using bookmarks menu at same time.

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hello, if it works normally in safemode you could then either try updating your graphics driver, or in case there is no new version available at the moment or this doesn't solve the problem disable hardware acceleration in firefox > options > advanced > general (see screenshot).

also: please update your java plugin as soon as possible - your current version is vulnerable & this is widely used on the web to infect systems with malware: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

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Thank you! I've updated Java and Silverlight.

The graphics card has not been updated for a while. At some point, Nvidia's updates seem to go beyond my own requirements or needs and since I have no problems otherwise, I left it where everything worked best for me. Their updates can be tricky sometimes.

I've not yet had the bookmark problem today, but thanks for all the info to address it in the future, if need be. I'll reply, if I figure it out or nothing works.