Flash repeatedly makes laptop freeze
I use Firefox on a MacBook running OS X Mavericks. Previously, everything ran fine, but in the last two weeks, doing Flash-based things such as watching Netflix, listening to Pandora Radio, etc, all make my computer freeze without warning. Doing something as simple as moving the window makes my computer freeze. I'll get the spinning beach ball for a second, and then it'll seize up, and I have to manually reboot the computer to get it working again. Flash has always been a CPU hogger, but my computer is only 1 1/2 years old, so it should be able to handle the demands. I've had to temporarily switch to Google Chrome just to run these sites without issue, but I'd rather use Firefox. And yes, I did everything suggested in the troubleshooting article and I even ran some maintenance programs on my computer, but it made no difference.
Chosen solution
There are many troubleshooting articles, I just wanted to make sure. Could you please try to run Firefox in safe mode to see if the problem goes away?
Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).
(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
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 to find the cause.
To exit 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 others with the same problem.
Thank you.
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Crashes or other problems with certain multimedia content in Firefox (such as Youtube videos and Flash animations or games) can often be resolved by performing the steps in these Knowledge Base articles:
On Windows Vista and above, you can disable Flash protected mode by following the instructions on these pages:
- http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1018071#TemporaryWorkaround
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash#Disabling_Protected_Mode_in_Flash_11.3
(See this Adobe blog post for technical details about Flash protected mode.)
Please tell us if this helped!
As I mentioned, I did everything suggested in the troubleshooting articles.
Chosen Solution
There are many troubleshooting articles, I just wanted to make sure. Could you please try to run Firefox in safe mode to see if the problem goes away?
Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).
(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
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 to find the cause.
To exit 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 others with the same problem.
Thank you.
It turned out to be the Hola Unblocker extension that was causing the freezing. It seems to be stable on Chrome, so I'll have to switch to that browser when I'm using it (since I'm not willing to uninstall it).
Thank you for your assistance/advice.