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Gmail & Google Classroom won't load

  • 7 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 19 views
  • Last reply by tcatsninfan

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I'm a longtime Chrome user trying to move away from that browser. I recently downloaded Firefox and it worked fine for a few days, but now I'm having problems.

I keep Gmail and Google Classroom open in tabs throughout the day (I'm a teacher). They worked fine in Firefox for a few days, but now both sites constantly load or time out.

The problem seems to go away anytime I restart Firefox, but I can't constantly be restarting Firefox all day long. Why do the sites work for a few minutes and then stop working a few minutes after restarting?

I had AdBlocker Ultimate enabled before, but my friend uses uBlock so I tried changing. No help.

I had a theme installed from the recommended list. I thought that might be a problem, so I went back to the default Firefox theme. No help.

What I'm running: Firefox 89.0.1 MacOS Catalina

I'm a longtime Chrome user trying to move away from that browser. I recently downloaded Firefox and it worked fine for a few days, but now I'm having problems. I keep Gmail and Google Classroom open in tabs throughout the day (I'm a teacher). They worked fine in Firefox for a few days, but now both sites constantly load or time out. The problem seems to go away anytime I restart Firefox, but I can't constantly be restarting Firefox all day long. Why do the sites work for a few minutes and then stop working a few minutes after restarting? I had AdBlocker Ultimate enabled before, but my friend uses uBlock so I tried changing. No help. I had a theme installed from the recommended list. I thought that might be a problem, so I went back to the default Firefox theme. No help. What I'm running: Firefox 89.0.1 MacOS Catalina

All Replies (7)

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I can confirm that the problem fixes itself for a few minutes after restarting Firefox. 10-15 minutes after restarting, though, Gmail and GC stop loading again...

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Make sure you are not blocking content.

Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode {web link}

A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?


https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop


Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache.

Warning ! ! This will log you out of sites you're logged in to. You may also lose any settings for that website.

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FredMcD said

Make sure you are not blocking content. Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode {web link} A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Troubleshoot(Safe) Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop


Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache.

Warning ! ! This will log you out of sites you're logged in to. You may also lose any settings for that website.

Hi Fred, thanks for your reply. I can update you about these 2 things:

1) I restarted in Troubleshooting Mode as you advised, and just like before Gmail and GC worked for 10-15 minutes and then died.

2) I deleted all cookies and cleared the cache a couple of hours ago, but the problems persisted (Gmail and GC still didn't load).

So, even in Troubleshooting Mode with all cookies deleted and the cache cleared, Gmail and GC stop loading after 10-15 minutes.

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Start your Computer in safe mode with network support. Then start Firefox. Try Secure websites. Is the problem still there?

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode Starting Any Computer In Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia


If the problem goes away with the computer in Safe Mode, the problem is with one of the other programs on the system.

As a test, disable your protection programs.

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FredMcD said

Start your Computer in safe mode with network support. Then start Firefox. Try Secure websites. Is the problem still there? http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode Starting Any Computer In Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia If the problem goes away with the computer in Safe Mode, the problem is with one of the other programs on the system. As a test, disable your protection programs.

I booted in Safe Mode with NOTHING running but Firefox. No firewall, no VPN, no other programs...not even any extensions or themes running in Firefox.

The good thing is that Gmail seemed to be working...but Google Classroom still isn't. Within minutes of logging in, Classroom began to constantly load and never finish just like before. I can't create new assignments or check the assignments that students have submitted to me, which is pretty important.

I can't do anything else. Everything was turned off and I was in Safe Mode. If Google Classroom isn't going to work in that situation, then I don't know what else I could do. Maybe it's because I haven't upgraded to Big Sur. Maybe Google has intentionally made their products like Classroom not work on Firefox. I dunno.

But it's 2021. I wanted to change browsers because I noticed that Chrome is kind of slow, uses a lot of power, and tends to track more personal info than it needs to. But I can't continue to spend hours and hours trying to make a browser work. I definitely can't switch to a browser that doesn't do everything that I need it to do.

I've been using Safari off and on since I had these problems with Firefox, and I guess I'm going to stick with that. It's better than Chrome and it does everything I need it to do, which is more than I can say for Firefox.

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I called for more help.

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FredMcD said

I called for more help.

OK, thank you. Again, I'm running Firefox 89.0.1 on macOS Catalina. I disabled absolutely everything and had no additional programs running. Gmail seems to work only in Safe Mode. Google Classroom won't work at all, not even in Safe Mode.