NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service disabled makes Firefox Startup Slow (even if related plugin is set to Never Activate)
The issue I am experiencing is that I disabled the "NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service" from my msconfig setup. After a restart when I started Firefox there is a huge delay (2-3 seconds) showing a white screen (indicating a wait for a timeout).
Now before pointing at NVIDIA (which I am also pointing fingers at here), I would like to clarify, yes there is a plugin installed in Firefox (NVIDIA 3D VISION), but it has been set to (disabled - never activate). So I am wondering why would a disabled plugin that is set to never start be trying to communicate and causing a such timeout at startup, this makes little sense to me.
Chosen solution
Hi TaohRihze, I am not sure however does this also happen when you have the hardware acceleration disabled? And is that a required extension for your graphics card?
Instructions below:
Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.
You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
Then perform these steps:
- Open Firefox Options window (Preferences on Mac or Linux) as follows:
- In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button
and select Options for Windows or Preferences on Mac or Linux.
- In Firefox 28.0 and previous versions, click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
- In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button
- In the Firefox Options (or Preferences) window, click the Advanced tab, then select General.
- In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
- Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.
Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (4)
Chosen Solution
Hi TaohRihze, I am not sure however does this also happen when you have the hardware acceleration disabled? And is that a required extension for your graphics card?
Instructions below:
Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.
You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
Then perform these steps:
- Open Firefox Options window (Preferences on Mac or Linux) as follows:
- In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button and select Options for Windows or Preferences on Mac or Linux.
- In Firefox 28.0 and previous versions, click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
- In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button
- In the Firefox Options (or Preferences) window, click the Advanced tab, then select General.
- In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
- Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.
Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.
Thanks guigs2, I fixed the problem by uninstalling the graphic drivers and reinstalling it without this part.
This support ticket were more directed at the browser trying to communicate externally to a program even if the related plugin is set to never activate (something is loaded and activated, as well as communicating). I do not know the code well enough to know if this is a security issue, bug or working as intended, but it seemed strange to me.
As these plugins are installed by external tools during their install without the option in Firefox to uninstall these or prevent this (you can choose to not start them), this to me seems as an issue if there is still a required communication to a such source during startup of Firefox.
I agree that since the plugins have a required communication during start up this is a bit of an issue. However plugins do go through a review before each Firefox update: see here form more policy details. Was this a plugin that was installed from a third party site?
It was a plugin that was installed with my NVIDIA graphics drivers, so my solution was to uninstall these drivers, and reinstall without the 3D feature. (which I do not use).
I noticed this as I had disabled a few services starting on my computer at startup, and noticed the relation between the slowdown and the 3D drivers with the Plugin setup, and found it strange, considering it was disabled plugins.