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firefox not responding

  • 9 replies
  • 29 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by LexieMac

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firefox was workign fine yesterday, i closed it, went to lunch, came back to open it and nothing. restarted PC, opened mozilla and it worked fine. tried to close and open it again to see if i could replicate the problem and it wont open. uninstalled and re installed opened it first time works fine. open the 2nd time and it freezes. above the address bar it has a message saying mozilla firefox (not responding) anyone got any ideas? running windows 7 incase that helps

firefox was workign fine yesterday, i closed it, went to lunch, came back to open it and nothing. restarted PC, opened mozilla and it worked fine. tried to close and open it again to see if i could replicate the problem and it wont open. uninstalled and re installed opened it first time works fine. open the 2nd time and it freezes. above the address bar it has a message saying mozilla firefox (not responding) anyone got any ideas? running windows 7 incase that helps

All Replies (9)

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Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

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It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

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it wont even open now! i click the icon and it tries for 2-3 seconds then nothing

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Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
  3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back to see if this helped you!

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Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

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no to both.....thanks for yoru help though

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Hello,

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:

  1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
  2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
  3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
  4. 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.

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This happened to me this evening, suddenly. I had signed on the Firefox successfully many times today; then suddenly, I could not get on ("not responding"). This fixed it for me: start in safe mode (hold down shift key while starting Firefox), bring up the extensions, and disable yahoo community toolbar. I have no idea why this extension caused Firefox to suddenly crash, as I assume that it had been there a long time; but now, after disabling it, Firefox works.

Of course, I had to disable all the extensions and then bring them back one by one, and this toolbar was just about the last on the list ("y" is at the end of the alphabet).

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Norton showed a pop up yesterday that Yahoo toolbar was updating and this morning Firefox wouldn't respond but I could see the new Yahoo toolbar so figured that was the problem.

I had to open Firefox in safemode and disable the Yahoo toolbar. Firefox opens normally now.