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refreshing and then re-installing firefox didn't work... sluggishness and unresponsiveness

  • 2 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 65 views
  • Last reply by kurtbermuda

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Hello. I've been using Firefox for years. I don't remember what I'm about to describe ever happening. As of today Firefox essentially is unresponsive. It only moves/responds/operates intermittently. In other words it's essentially unusable because the screen constantly jumps and/or freezes. I'm on Chrome right now because, well, I was unable to use Firefox to troubleshoot due to the described issues.

I first tried your suggestion of a Firefox refresh. That did not work. Then I uninstalled Firefox and then re-installed it. That did not work.

What's going on?

Hello. I've been using Firefox for years. I don't remember what I'm about to describe ever happening. As of today Firefox essentially is unresponsive. It only moves/responds/operates intermittently. In other words it's essentially unusable because the screen constantly jumps and/or freezes. I'm on Chrome right now because, well, I was unable to use Firefox to troubleshoot due to the described issues. I first tried your suggestion of a Firefox refresh. That did not work. Then I uninstalled Firefox and then re-installed it. That did not work. What's going on?

All Replies (2)

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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:

  1. Open Firefox Options window (Preferences on Mac or Linux) as follows:
    • In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options for Windows or Preferences on Mac or Linux.
  2. In the Firefox Options (or Preferences) window, click the Advanced tab, then select General.
  3. In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  4. 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.

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I've found that Firefox works in "safe mode". I'm still working on this... Thanks for the responses.