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Tried all suggestions -Formatting is missing all web pages other browsers render fine

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 43 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I closed FF, turned off laptop, next morning turned on laptop and started my FF browser as usual. Absolutely nothing was changed from turning off to turning on. No updates/anything. When FF opens it’s not displaying web pages correctly. The graphics are limited and the formatting is gone and it looks like just plain text but page structure is recognizable. All other browsers work fine. I have attached a screen shot of IE and FF side by side. After searching for help for many hours over several days and trying many Mozilla troubleshooting suggestions the problem remains.

I am running Win 7 Pro and have been using FF24. But after problems started I updated to FF 38.01 ESR (ESR for the stability)  Please don’t judge. I haven't upgraded until now because some favorite extensions are not compatible and I have customized it for my visual needs. I have difficulty using IE and Chrome and prefer FF.

So far I have :

• updated, disabled all add-ons and plug ins, then enabled suggested ones like java and flash, the default theme is selected. • I have tried all suggestions from this page that are applicable to FFv38: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-problems-images-not-show - In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. Find browser.display.use_document_colors in the list of preferences. It should be set to true by default. Right-click on the preference if its value has been set to false and select Reset. It was set to false and reset did not change to true so I modified to true. No change – should I change it back? • Clear cookies and cache, Check image permissions for a specific websites, checked Security software • Followed solutions to these links from the page above Images load the first time but not later Images load but look wrong Other reasons why images may not load Images still do not load correctly

• Drivers are all up to date for graphics cards (Hybrid graphics has been both enabled and disabled and no difference). My NVIDIA driver was out of date and I updated it after problem began but no help • turning off/on hardware acceleration doesn’t work • start in Firefox Safe Mode no change • Scanned multiple times with malaware Bytes and Avast

I’m willing to follow very specific instructions but I do much better talking with someone. Every service in my area wants to keep my laptop for at least a week and that would be a great hardship for my work. Again, please don’t judge, I wish this all came more naturally but it doesn’t. I am not very tech savvy and have not had much success in the past backing up and restoring profiles etc. in the past so I’m trying to avoid that. But if it is absolutely essential I will do it w/ very specific instructions. Would someone please please please help out? I just want my FF to work. THANK YOU!

I closed FF, turned off laptop, next morning turned on laptop and started my FF browser as usual. Absolutely nothing was changed from turning off to turning on. No updates/anything. When FF opens it’s not displaying web pages correctly. The graphics are limited and the formatting is gone and it looks like just plain text but page structure is recognizable. All other browsers work fine. I have attached a screen shot of IE and FF side by side. After searching for help for many hours over several days and trying many Mozilla troubleshooting suggestions the problem remains. I am running Win 7 Pro and have been using FF24. But after problems started I updated to FF 38.01 ESR (ESR for the stability)  Please don’t judge. I haven't upgraded until now because some favorite extensions are not compatible and I have customized it for my visual needs. I have difficulty using IE and Chrome and prefer FF. So far I have : • updated, disabled all add-ons and plug ins, then enabled suggested ones like java and flash, the default theme is selected. • I have tried all suggestions from this page that are applicable to FFv38: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-problems-images-not-show - In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. Find browser.display.use_document_colors in the list of preferences. It should be set to true by default. Right-click on the preference if its value has been set to false and select Reset. It was set to false and reset did not change to true so I modified to true. No change – should I change it back? • Clear cookies and cache, Check image permissions for a specific websites, checked Security software • Followed solutions to these links from the page above Images load the first time but not later Images load but look wrong Other reasons why images may not load Images still do not load correctly • Drivers are all up to date for graphics cards (Hybrid graphics has been both enabled and disabled and no difference). My NVIDIA driver was out of date and I updated it after problem began but no help • turning off/on hardware acceleration doesn’t work • start in Firefox Safe Mode no change • Scanned multiple times with malaware Bytes and Avast I’m willing to follow very specific instructions but I do much better talking with someone. Every service in my area wants to keep my laptop for at least a week and that would be a great hardship for my work. Again, please don’t judge, I wish this all came more naturally but it doesn’t. I am not very tech savvy and have not had much success in the past backing up and restoring profiles etc. in the past so I’m trying to avoid that. But if it is absolutely essential I will do it w/ very specific instructions. Would someone please please please help out? I just want my FF to work. THANK YOU!
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

Make sure that you haven't enabled a High Contrast theme in the Windows/Mac Accessibility settings.

Make sure that you allow pages to choose their own colors.

  • Tools > Options > Content : Fonts & Colors > Colors : Override the colors specified by the page with my selections above

Try "Never" if the default "Only with High Contrast themes" isn't working.

This setting affects background images.

See also:

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (3)

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Chosen Solution

Make sure that you haven't enabled a High Contrast theme in the Windows/Mac Accessibility settings.

Make sure that you allow pages to choose their own colors.

  • Tools > Options > Content : Fonts & Colors > Colors : Override the colors specified by the page with my selections above

Try "Never" if the default "Only with High Contrast themes" isn't working.

This setting affects background images.

See also:

Modified by cor-el

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OMG! IT WORKED!! Thank you! You are a lifesaver! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help. I have spent many hours looking for this answer. It didn't occur to me to search for colors being wrong. The most important aspect to me was the formatting and fonts were displaying incorrectly so that's what I searched for (over and over). An unfortunate issue seems to be that what I think are obvious search words are not obvious to the good folks who work so hard developing FF. No offense, really. It must be me!

Hopefully this will help someone else now that it's posted.

I'm trying to understand how these things work. Would you be kind enough to give me some idea of how this could have happened without any changes being made by me? And how/why it has a greater impact on FF and not the other browsers? In general of course :-) Since it was the only browser to not render correctly I would never have thought of it as a Windows setting issue.

I personalized my desktop long ago with my own photo of a still life and standard background color. Nothing elaborate or High contrast.

Thanks again for your commitment to helping out..

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You're welcome.