Linux Ubuntu, Firefox 154.0, firefox freezes and I am unable to make it work or quit it.

Hi! What you describe is a Firefox hang, and you shouldn't normally need to power off the entire computer. Mozilla recommends testing Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode because extensions, themes, and hardware acceleration can cause freezes.

If Firefox freezes but Ubuntu is still responsive, you can terminate Firefox without rebooting. Open Terminal and run:

"pkill firefox"

Then start Firefox again.

If the entire desktop becomes unresponsive, try Ctrl + Alt + F3 to switch to a text console, log in, and run:

"pkill firefox"

Then press Ctrl + Alt + F2 (or Ctrl + Alt + F1, depending on Ubuntu) to return to the graphical session.

For troubleshooting, start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode from a terminal with:

"firefox -safe-mode"

If Firefox stops freezing in that mode, an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration is a likely cause.

Because this has been happening for about a month and even caused the whole computer to freeze during a video call, I'd also check that Ubuntu, Firefox and your graphics drivers are fully updated. If it continues even in Troubleshoot Mode, it would be useful to know your Ubuntu version, graphics card/GPU, whether the freeze happens mainly during video calls or video playback, and whether the entire desktop becomes unresponsive or only Firefox.

This looks good. I'll have to check that 'troublieshoot' mode out and see what happens. Thanks a lot.

I have it on safe mode. I was watching a video on youtube and it hit an ad. I clicked on "skip" and it froze. the first ad skipped but the next one froze. Does that mean that the ad skip extension is bad? The other times Firefox froze I wasn't even using youtube. How do I know what is doing it? I mean, just having an ad blocker extension for youtube, does that effect every aspect of how Firefox works? Very confusing.

I just wonder . . . . I start Firefox first thing. I have a number of tabs open all day long... Ventusky (weather radar), Wunderground (general weather information, great graphics), Facebook and Youtube. I have noticed that my whole computer gets sluggish later on in the day. I was thinking it was the Linux OS, but maybe it's Firefox. Is that possible, that having Firefox on all day, something gets filled up and generally clogs up the computer? I wonder if there's a way I can go back to a version of Firefox that was around a couple of years ago. I think maybe all the new bells and whistles might be clogging things up. I just don't think the user should have to be doing a lot of troubleshooting with each new version. I've been using Firefox for over 20 years now, without issue, but this last year or so there have been so many changes, it's making it hard to just be a 'user'. It'd be hard to switch to another browser now.

Hi! Your observation about Firefox becoming slower after being open all day is definitely worth investigating. Tabs such as YouTube, Facebook, Ventusky and Weather Underground can keep scripts, animations and other processes running continuously, which can increase CPU or memory usage over time.

The fact that Firefox also froze when you weren't using YouTube doesn't necessarily mean the YouTube ad-blocking extension is responsible. An extension can affect more than just the website it is designed for, but Troubleshoot Mode disables extensions, so it's a useful way to test this.

Since you experienced another freeze while in Troubleshoot Mode, that makes an extension less likely to be the sole cause. I'd suggest the following:

- When the system starts becoming sluggish, check Firefox's Task Manager with "Shift + Esc" and see whether a particular tab or process is consuming excessive CPU or memory. - Note whether the entire Ubuntu desktop freezes or only Firefox. - If possible, test Firefox with hardware acceleration disabled under Settings → General → Performance. - Keep Ubuntu, Firefox and your graphics drivers updated.

I would not recommend going back several years to an older Firefox release. Older versions don't receive current security fixes and may have problems with modern websites.

If the freezing continues even in Troubleshoot Mode, I'd be particularly interested in your Ubuntu version, graphics card/GPU, amount of RAM, and whether the freezes happen during video playback or completely unrelated activity. Those details could point toward a graphics-driver or system-level issue rather than an extension.

So, I guess what his all means is that when Firefox is updated, it's just a toss up whether or not extensions will muck things up. I'd sure hate to use any browser without extensions because of all the ads. Kind of a big mess, either accept all the ads or be prepared for things to grind to a halt. I do get all current updates to Ubuntu. As to all the graphics/CPU/RAM, etc. I don't really know, but what I do know is that it all worked before for years and now it doesn't. That would mean that the developers of firefox and Ubuntu probably keep doing their development on the latest available computers and don't worry about it being compatable with others. Darn!

One note regarding time travel here. The difference you observe over the decades is mostly the tech that now enables you 5K video HDR streaming & playback, or real–time AV conferencing incl. screen sharing with folks just via a browser. That's something that didn't exist 10 years ago /you had to use specialized thick clients for that/ and another 10 years before that online video was this 320px tiny blurry window thingy… so yes, you probably could go back to tech stack from back then, with no codecs, workers, rtc etc. but you'd have to give up most of what you take for granted online over the years (file storage? docs editing? language translation? etc.)

Yes, I also hate how all of that made "the web" basically the most resource hungry thing on today's devices. Then again… you no longer need anything else, besides "the web" now.

More on topic, no, prolonged use should not make any dent in performance. That however might be separate issue. You mainly seem affected by the system freezes when doing media–heavy AV things. That could really point to system drivers, and might need a good check from a Linux specialist in terms of what's most appropriate for your distribution (that you haven't mentioned in detail or age) or hardware (likewise).