Why is Firefox so Unstable?
With every update, Firefox becomes more and more unusable. It's been 20 minutes so far on this morning's session, but the tab won't open. And Options won't let me clear data as those tabs are dark. It's hard to be nice when I read these same complaints in forums all over the internet. It's only getting worse, and the recommendations are always the same -- clear your cache, remove extensions, blah, blah, blah. No, nothing works! It's time to blow it up and start over. Not to mention that it's always crashing or not responding. It's just about as useless as Edge and Chrome. What a pity. (Oh, I just noticed -- 27 minutes later -- that the Clear Cache tab is now active. Better late than never, I suppose.)
All Replies (11)
Hi, This could help you https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
phonyaddress said
recommendations are always the same -- clear your cache, remove extensions, blah, blah, blah. No, nothing works! It's time to blow it up and start over.
So you have done "Refresh" from the troubleshooting page?
phonyaddress said
Not to mention that it's always crashing or not responding.
Crashing with a basically new profile could indicate a problem with your OS or hardware. What are your crash IDs? (see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-crashes-asking-support)
Refresh doesn't work. It only resets the default settings. When I reconfigure my preferences (such as High Contrast Mode) the issues reappear like black bars hiding photos and links. I have low vision and can't see the screen without High Contrast, but Firefox does not perform well in that mode. It wasn't always so, but with each successive update it becomes worse. This is the second post of this reply because a technical glitch prevented the first attempt. Does anything work at Firefox?
hello phony,
Perhaps the FF profile has become unstable.
Launch the FF profile manager and log in to the default profile to see if it works.
Windows start > search (or run) > firefox -p
It sounds to me more like a graphics issue. It will help us if you post your crash IDs here, by copying them from Help > Troubleshooting (scroll just a couple screens until you see "Crash reports")
There are plenty of "high contrast" bug reports https://mzl.la/3a77MD3 but only a few are marked as regression https://mzl.la/2QdTedQ ... When would you say your problem started happening? (which month or version?)
The problem with the black bars hiding photos and links began a year ago. Until then, I didn't have any issues with Firefox. It was after an update and successive updates that the browser has become more unstable. I submitted the crash reports for the past year. Chrome and Edge work reasonably well in High Contrast Mode. At first, I was told to tweak a setting in config, but every new update simply restores the default settings and the issue reappears.
Report ID Date Submitted bp-30fe65bf-8ce7-4f29-84b0-65bde0210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-c0ee6a85-9fcd-454c-a24d-b53320210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-9021e901-e67a-4554-a8d3-94ded0210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-3198c6aa-97f3-452d-8e04-89a760210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-def10b7c-bd41-45e9-8ccb-f32200210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-ddbc7e62-c363-4139-ae40-c9e2a0210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-7968f7e4-3f09-4f5f-8245-a7fa30210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-594ff257-3e91-4328-920f-7d1b60210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-30c297da-9c02-4aa9-9618-4bd740210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM View bp-ea9e98d8-8c2f-418b-9c29-e74bd0210413 4/12/2021, 7:31 PM
Your earliest support post https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1281791 talks about Firefox version 73 - so your problems are related to Bug 1539212 - implement readability backplate for high contrast mode - per https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1281791 https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/73.0/releasenotes/
All your crash reports bp-3198c6aa-97f3-452d-8e04-89a760210413 <unknown in igd10iumd64.dll> | CContext::TID3D11DeviceContext_OMSetBlendState_<T> bp-9021e901-e67a-4554-a8d3-94ded0210413 @0x0 | <unknown in igd11dxva64.dll> | CVideoProcessor::CLS::FinalConstruct the more common signatures ... bp-c0ee6a85-9fcd-454c-a24d-b53320210413 <unknown in igd10iumd64.dll> | CContext::TID3D11DeviceContext_ClearView_<T> bp-ddbc7e62-c363-4139-ae40-c9e2a0210413 <unknown in igd11dxva64.dll> | <unknown in igd10iumd64.dll> | NDXGI::CDevice::TrimNotificationCallback bp-def10b7c-bd41-45e9-8ccb-f32200210413 <unknown in igd10iumd64.dll> | CContext::UMQueryOM_DepthState_
point to crash in the Intel graphics driver https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1678367
It appears you have the most recent graphics driver. So it is unclear what the next step might be. Let's see if someone comments in the bug report.
"It appears you have the most recent graphics driver. So it is unclear what the next step might be. Let's see if someone comments in the bug report."
Wayne, that is the most honest response I have ever gotten from any Help Desk. Microsoft, for example, never provides a straight answer. Most of the time it seems like they don't even read the question. Their solution is always a scripted response ... "Clear the cache, reset this, reboot that ..." Needless to say, they have many unhappy, dissatisfied users.
Do you have the Nvidia GPU? Try to use it with Firefox.
TyDraniu said
Do you have the Nvidia GPU? Try to use it with Firefox.
Were you able to do this? And are you still crashing?
Intel HD Graphics 620 is the display adapter. Spending money to fix the problem is currently not an option. Firefox has been my default browser for years, and I never had any issues with this computer. An update within the past year has created a conflict of some sort.