Firefox-caused failure in Mychart systems
Mayo Clinic’s highly trained tech staff, Rochester, MN, confirmed three weeks ago that messaging in their MyChart—and to my experience, all MyChart from University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics to Wash U St. Louis —has been down for at least three weeks in the Firefox browser. The MyChart messages option works in Microsoft Edge and any other browser I have attempted to use. I have appreciated using Firefox over the years but really resent the impossibility of sending Firefox a direct request to address this. Mayo Clinic tech staff said they would immediately request Firefox to fix this but evidently that’s been ignored too. Is this farewell to Firefox ?
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Is MyChart running in Firefox? Or is the problem in an interaction between MyChart and Firefox, such as launching links one direction or the other?
Three weeks doesn't correspond closely to the Firefox release schedule:
- Two weeks: Feb. 20, 2024: 123.0 (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/123.0/releasenotes/) and 115.8.0esr (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/115.8.0/releasenotes/)
- Four weeks: Feb. 6, 2024: 122.0.1 interim release (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/122.0.1/releasenotes/)
If there was a sudden change between releases, it's possible that it's due to a change in a block list, such as an Enhanced Tracking Protection block list or phishing/malware blocklist or add-on blocklist. Firefox downloads those periodically in the background. Some commenting systems including Disqus and Viafoura that tend to be embedded on other sites were recently blocked by an update to the Enhanced Tracking Protection list. Here are some threads on the workarounds for that:
Mozilla Support Questions Search: disqus (past 30 days)
With more information, we might be able to help. Otherwise, Mayo Clinic can submit a bug report on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ to get it directly to the developers.
With proprietary applications that the developers can't access directly, it is helpful if the user can run a Mozregression. That's obviously more work if the application requires authentication, but it helps in tracking down any change in the code of Firefox that might be relevant. See: https://mozilla.github.io/mozregression/
I’m just your average human user reporting to you, so don’t hold me to exact timing or which Firefox update killed MyChart messages. It’s simple to describe what has happened in approximate time: I (and others) have used MyChart accounts with no problem up to approximately mid-January. After that approximate time frame, the messages link to MyChart began to default to an error message. I contacted Mayo Clinic initially to get their help. They entered their own system via Firefox and other browsers and each time they sought to access messages on Firefox the error message appeared, as it did with my (Windows) Firefox. Access to basic password MyChart works on Firefox. The rather essential “Messages” does not. This was not the case in early January. Y’all can take it from there. If Firefox cares about its product it will take the initiative to connect with Mayo technical services or any other MyChart. I don’t think you’re going to get many others to use this condescending one way community notice system. There should be an emergency notice tool that Firefox itself offers.
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Can you attach a screenshot?
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
- use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
You can check for issues with Total Cookie Protection.
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/total-cookie-protection-and-website-breakage-faq
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/introducing-total-cookie-protection-standard-mode
If you use extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) that can block content (Adblock Plus, NoScript, DuckDuckGo PE, Disconnect, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin), always make sure such extensions do not block content.
- make sure your extensions and filters are updated to the latest version
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems
You can try these steps in case of issues with webpages:
You can reload webpage(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.
- hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
- press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
- press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)
Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies for websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Settings), click the padlock icon (Clear cookies and site data) for the domain in the selected tab.
"Remove the Cookies" for websites that cause problems:
- Settings -> Privacy & Security
Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"
"Clear the Cache":
- Settings -> Privacy & Security
Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> [X] Cached Web Content -> Clear
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or if userChrome.css/userContent.css is causing the problem.
- switch to the Default System theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems
You can check for issues with Enhanced Tracking Protection. Firefox shows a purple shield instead of a gray shield at the left end of the location/address bar in case Enhanced Tracking Protection is blocking content.
- click the shield icon for more detail and possibly disable the protection
You can check the Web Console for relevant-looking messages like blocked content.
jdrlabor said
I’m just your average human user reporting to you, so don’t hold me to exact timing or which Firefox update killed MyChart messages. It’s simple to describe what has happened in approximate time: I (and others) have used MyChart accounts with no problem up to approximately mid-January. After that approximate time frame, the messages link to MyChart began to default to an error message. I contacted Mayo Clinic initially to get their help. They entered their own system via Firefox and other browsers and each time they sought to access messages on Firefox the error message appeared, as it did with my (Windows) Firefox. Access to basic password MyChart works on Firefox. The rather essential “Messages” does not. This was not the case in early January.
For context, where is "the messages link to MyChart" -- is that a feature inside MyChart, or something you receive in email, etc.? When you say it doesn't work, does Firefox do nothing, or does it reach an error page, etc.?
Y’all can take it from there. If Firefox cares about its product it will take the initiative to connect with Mayo technical services or any other MyChart. I don’t think you’re going to get many others to use this condescending one way community notice system. There should be an emergency notice tool that Firefox itself offers.
This is a support forum where people come to ask questions about how to fix their Firefox. Hopefully the publisher or a user willing to answer more questions will connect with Mozilla through the bug tracking system.
Very helpful reply. Yes, the “messages” button is within the password-protected MyChart site (and I had the same error message in three different hospital system MyCharts), and it’s really the most important innovation in the Epic Systems/MyChart creation. That’s what enables you to send a message to your doctor and nurses (notably, without charge) and to receive communications directly from them. So you can imagine how frustrating it is to receive an email that you have a message and suddenly to be unable to access it. The Mayo tech I consulted had me try Edge and that provided the initial indication that the problem was Firefox. Then he tried to access his own messages through Firefox and obtained the error message. I will send a screen shot of the error message separately. I am aware and appreciate that this is a user forum—I didn’t mean to denigrate this—just to try to say directly to Firefox that in circumstances like this when medical records become inaccessible there should be a direct email or phone system access to Firefox/Mozilla. I was a little sarcastic because I believe that Mayo tried to fix this three weeks ago by reaching out to Firefox and probably decided it wasn’t worth going through this site. I naively thought it would be fixed by now via biz to biz priority communications.
I signed in to Sutter Health's "My Health Online" based on Epic MyChart and messages seemed to be working normally, at least as far as viewing older conversations and composing/sending a new message. Assuming I get a response tomorrow, I'll check whether the links in the feed works.
I can't tell what version of MyChart is being used on the site, which could be a factor.
Is there a way for me to put the Mayo tech staff member in touch with you? I could contact them and perhaps track down who it was that replicated the error message in their system.