firefox smooth scrolling is sloppy
So I updated to the latest version, which is 33 iirc. A few days since, I've been getting the reoccurring issue of smooth scrolling being sloppy. It doesn't lag at all, but it is noticeably not as smooth. Only way to revert back is to click on my mouse wheel to scroll up or down with, or open a new tab. But it's only temporary and soon goes back to being sloppy.
I've had issues like this in the past with previous versions of FF. Also, whenever I put my PC in sleep mode, wake it up and start up FF, it'll perform the same way as well.
It didn't used to do that before, so I'm confused as to why it's doing this. I very rarely install extensions or add-ons.
It's kind of hard to explain since I can't obviously show anyone exactly what it's doing, but it's still kind of annoying.
Thanks for the help!
Opaite Mbohovái (15)
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:
- Open Firefox Options window (Preferences on Mac or Linux) as follows:
- Click the menu button
and select Options for Windows or Preferences on Mac or Linux.
- Click the menu button
- In the Firefox Options (or Preferences) 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.
I turned off hardware acceleration and restarted FF, seems to be okay right now. Smooth scrolling wasn't always choppy without the quick fixes, but it has been happening more frequently.
Will FF still perform fast and fine as usual with it off? With it off, will I start experiencing slowdown or lag?
If the problem persist I'll go ahead and update my NVIDIA GPU drivers. I don't know if the Mozilla devs read these threads, but if they do, hopefully topics like this will let them know that there are still some glitches with hardware acceleration or whatever else causes gltiches like these.
I'll report back if the problem continues to persist, which I hope it doesn't.
Hello,
It depends on the computer, but Firefox should run fine without hardware acceleration. If you have outdated drivers you may experience more issues with hardware acceleration enabled.
The developers do not usually monitor these threads as this is mainly a support forum.
Moambuepyre CoryMH rupive
Which outdated drivers? Like, system drivers? I usually try to keep my software/drivers up to date, but I don't bother going into device management and trying to see if I need to upgrade any system drivers manually.
This issue would just be related to your graphics drivers - to be honest you probably don't need to look for updated drivers for them until you start experiencing problems in applications you commonly use. Sometimes these updates also show up as part of a Windows Update anyways. However, since you are having problems with Firefox's hardware acceleration and you want to use it, you may want to check NVIDIA's website to see if there are updated drivers that would allow your computer to do so.
Hi, I got an update. So I decided to update my graphics drivers after putting my PC into sleep mode, waking it up, only to see that it was getting choppy again. Turning hardware accel on and off didn't seem to help, so I restarted the PC, and it's still doing it on and off.
FF released an update just today and I downloaded it, so I'm not sure what else is causing it.
Try to increase the value of the general.smoothScroll.mouseWheel.durationMaxMS pref on the about:config page a higher value like 1000 to see if that makes a difference with smooth scrolling enabled.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
I set it to a thousand and I'm not seeing a difference. Could the recent update have caused this? Maybe there is something on my PC that is conflicting with FF, somehow?
Again, I updated my GPU drivers to the newest version that is available for my graphics card, so I don't know if that's the issue anymore. Although, I did see a notice that said FF doesn't recognize the new driver until the next day?
Also, the original value is 400, right?
If you right click the preference you changed, you can reset it to its original value by selecting "Reset".
Firefox 33.0.1 is available now, hopefully it addresses your issue. You can upgrade your current version by going to:
- Help (or >
) > About Firefox
Or download a new copy at:
Well, flash forward to 2015, just updated to FF 35 yesterday. Today I'm now getting the same problem. Smooth scrolling is choppy, I've tried updating my GPU driver, doesn't seem to help this time, turn hardware accel off, then back on. Nothing.
I'm honestly not sure what is causing this. Whether it's a Firefox glitch or something on my computer.
Try to increase the value of the general.smoothScroll.mouseWheel.durationMaxMS pref on the about:config page a higher value like 1000 to see if that makes a difference with smooth scrolling enabled.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
I did, does the same thing. It'll be fine for a minute or two, than go back to being not as smooth.
This happens on and off for me whenever after I update Firefox. Sometimes I'll update my GPU driver or something, after a day it'll go back to being normal and smooth. Until the next update rolls by, I update it, and sometimes this seems to happen.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
Safe mode wasn't much better. Matter of fact it wasn't smooth from the get-go.