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Firefox hangs at download, when in the Options menu and you select either the General or Applications tabs.

  • 5 replies
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  • Last reply by kobe

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Firefox hangs at random times and during certain actions. It consistently hangs when I open the Options box and select either the 'General' or 'Applications' tabs. It hangs before downloads start.

I have removed my profile and reinstalled firefox, but it continues to hang.

I note that it is a similar problem to the one described here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=587903

However, I don't have tortoisecvs installed.

No crash reports seem to be filed in about:crashes

Firefox hangs at random times and during certain actions. It consistently hangs when I open the Options box and select either the 'General' or 'Applications' tabs. It hangs before downloads start. I have removed my profile and reinstalled firefox, but it continues to hang. I note that it is a similar problem to the one described here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=587903 However, I don't have tortoisecvs installed. No crash reports seem to be filed in about:crashes

All Replies (5)

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Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. 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 Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in 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.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

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Hi SMO. Thanks for your reply. The problem still occurs in exactly the same fashion while in safe mode.

Best, Richard

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Still happening with the newest version. Been about a year since I could last use firefox on this computer.

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Try to delete the mimeTypes.rdf file in the Firefox profile folder to reset all file actions.

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

You can check for problems with preferences.
Rename or delete the prefs.js file and possible numbered prefs-##.js files and a possible user.js file to reset all prefs to the default value.

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Hello,

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

You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Then perform these steps:

  • Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
  • In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
  • In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  • Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.

Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:

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

Thank you.