After being open for a while (with several tabs) Firefox becomes generally unresponsive and stops playing sound - videos will still play, but no sound.
This problem has only begun happening recently. I commonly keep my Firefox open overnight with websites like rainymood.com or grooveshark.com playing, as well as several other tabs including but not limited to Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. Sometimes, after several hours/days of not restarting Firefox or my computer, Firefox begins to become unresponsive - that is to say, pages take a long time to load, opening new tabs is difficult for the browser, and videos will take up to 30 seconds to begin playing. In addition to this, sound will stop playing; if I begin a YouTube video, after the initial period of excessive loading, the video will play, but without any audio. Also, websites such as rainymood.com and grooveshark, even Facebook, will stop making sound.
Note that this is different from a flash plugin crash - when flash crashes, both audio and video become inaccessible and a simple refresh or restart of Firefox will solve the problem. But what is happening here is different; if I refresh the tab, nothing changes, and even if I restart Firefox, it opens again the same way until I restart my computer completely.
Also of note: I have had, in the past, this same thing happen but rainymood.com continued playing, however no other tabs would make sound. The problem is sporadic and I'm not sure where to begin. Also, sometimes this is only a Firefox-specific problem, meaning other programs on my computer can make sounds, but sometimes this problem makes my entire computer stop making sounds, except for Ventrilo, which works but is also unresponsive at first.
Modified by koala37
Chosen solution
The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.
To Reset Firefox do the following:
- Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
- Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
- Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
- Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.
Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
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Chosen Solution
The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.
To Reset Firefox do the following:
- Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
- Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
- Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
- Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.
Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you for the speedy response. I have tried restoring my Firefox; I'll reply here later if I experience the problem again.
Again, thanks very much for your help.
You can also check for problems caused by recent Flash updates and try these:
- disable a possible RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin extension for Firefox and update the RealPlayer if installed
- disable protected mode in Flash 11.3 and later
- disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
Just checking in - restoring my Firefox didn't help, and after restoring, restarting, and re-configuring the problem occurred again promptly.
I have since attempted running in safe mode and everything seems to be working so far...so I'm thinking it's one of my add-ons. I'll be looking into it more if everything goes smoothly.
Thanks for the help. :)
You can also try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.
- Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Sorry, I forgot to add that I did that as well.
Hey guys, wanted to check back in. Firefox has been working great for me after disabling most of my add-ons. I ran a safe mode test and it worked well so I ran it normally and disabled most of them and that seemed to do the trick.
Thanks again for all the help you two, I really appreciate it.