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Firefox failed to load Gmail last week and now fails to load Slack, But a private window works.

garylaverysr
garylaverysr
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OK - "be nice". This is directed to Firefox as an organization. I DEPEND on Firefox. I have 90 - 100 tabs open in multiple accounts, I bought into "if it doesn't run in the browser" - I don't want it. Last week, Firefox stopped loading Gmail. Not Gmail Contacts or Calendar - just Gmail. But Gmail worked in if opened in a private window, After much anguish for days, I learned that Right Clicking on a working web page (in the Private Window) allowed me to delete Cache and Cookies FOR JUST GOOGLE. I did it and signed in and whuddaya know, Gmail works again. OK - a blip in the force. Now Slack doesn't work. Exact same symptoms - just non responsive to slack.com. Ah Ha I said. Firefox 74 is NFG. Let's just reinstall 73. Ooooh - the miracle minds at Firefox NO LONGER ALLOW DOWNGRADING - BECAUSE (wait for it) - "most of these problems are not due to an upgrade". Really? Most? This is not about being polite. This is about allowing a user to revert to a working version when a problem hits. Firefox is losing market share and if you want to know why. Well - here it is. It's unreliable. BTW: I was able to revert Gmail because I had other tabs signed in. I only have 1 Slack tab. I tried using the Private Window tab - nope. I USE Firefox to (1) make my life easier and (2) be more productive than my cohorts. Fail on 1 of those: not good. Fail on both: hello Chrome or any other browser that just works. P.S. I've been using Firefox for...hmmm I'm 70 and its unlikely there was a whole decimal digit in front of my starting version. C'mon guys.

OK - "be nice". This is directed to Firefox as an organization. I DEPEND on Firefox. I have 90 - 100 tabs open in multiple accounts, I bought into "if it doesn't run in the browser" - I don't want it. Last week, Firefox stopped loading Gmail. Not Gmail Contacts or Calendar - just Gmail. But Gmail worked in if opened in a private window, After much anguish for days, I learned that Right Clicking on a working web page (in the Private Window) allowed me to delete Cache and Cookies FOR JUST GOOGLE. I did it and signed in and whuddaya know, Gmail works again. OK - a blip in the force. Now Slack doesn't work. Exact same symptoms - just non responsive to slack.com. Ah Ha I said. Firefox 74 is NFG. Let's just reinstall 73. Ooooh - the miracle minds at Firefox NO LONGER ALLOW DOWNGRADING - BECAUSE (wait for it) - "most of these problems are not due to an upgrade". Really? Most? This is not about being polite. This is about allowing a user to revert to a working version when a problem hits. Firefox is losing market share and if you want to know why. Well - here it is. It's unreliable. BTW: I was able to revert Gmail because I had other tabs signed in. I only have 1 Slack tab. I tried using the Private Window tab - nope. I USE Firefox to (1) make my life easier and (2) be more productive than my cohorts. Fail on 1 of those: not good. Fail on both: hello Chrome or any other browser that just works. P.S. I've been using Firefox for...hmmm I'm 70 and its unlikely there was a whole decimal digit in front of my starting version. C'mon guys.

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Hi garylaverysr, some Firefox 74 users have had problems with websites that require certain types of local storage such as Gmail and Twitter.

The sites won't load in regular windows, but will load in private windows because private windows use memory-based storage and don't need to access the disk-based storage files used in regular windows.

These users also have failures on the second through fourth tests on this page:

https://firefox-storage-test.glitch.me/

If that matches the problem you're having:

Past advice related to that diagnostic result was as follows:

(1) Next Gen Storage Setting

This setting is normally false (off) but in case it somehow got turned on, see the steps in the following article: Some pages or page elements fail to load after updating to Firefox 70.

If that doesn't fix it (after a restart, perhaps):

(2) Have Firefox Generate New Storage Folders

This will cause loss of some data saved locally by websites and add-ons.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows/File Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause briefly while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then right-click the storage folder and Rename to something like storageOLD -- the purpose of renaming instead of deleting is the possibility of reinstating the old folder or mining it for essential data.

Start Firefox back up again. Do sites work again?

garylaverysr
garylaverysr Question owner
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Thanks for the reply jscher2000. I took a quick look at dom.storage.next_gen and it is false. As far as the next suggestion (creating new storage folders, etc) and renaming instead of deleting to "mine essential data"...that's not for me. I'm old enough to recognize when the solution is potentially worse than the problem and potentially catastrophic. I also have work to do so I'll use Slack in another browser.

How about Mozilla fixing the problem as a solution?

I really do appreciate your response though - thank you.