Firefox suddenly stopped working - Windows 10 PC
Hey folks, hopefully you can help with this mysterious issue!
I've been running Firefox successfully on my Windows 10 PC for a long while now. Last night, for some reason it simply ceased to work. New windows and tabs would not load any content. I also couldn't access the Settings at all (clicking on Settings in the browser menu produces no results or feedback.)
Yesterday, I had Firefox open all day (I usually have my computer on all day), and it was working fine. Around 8 or 9pm, I first noticed that none of my open tabs were loading any content, and the tabs had the "loading" animation playing. New tabs would also not load any content. I assumed it was an internet issue as I did see my internet connection get disrupted once or twice. I did not see anything (apps, etc) on my PC updating.
This morning I found Firefox was still not loading anything, although my internet connection was fine. I tried opening Chrome, and it ran just fine. Everything else that it is internet or cloud based on my PC is running fine too. So it seems to be an issue just with Firefox.
I have listed my steps to troubleshoot below, but I want to note one weird thing I observed: Even when Firefox is closed, and Task Manager doesn't show any Firefox processes open, my PC seems to think Firefox is running. For ex. while trying to uninstall Firefox or delete certain files, I would get a warning to "close Firefox first" or "can't perform this action while app is running." After seeing these, I would again confirm that Firefox appears closed and Task Manager shows no related tasks.
My PC build: - Windows 10 Home, 64 bit - Version 20H2 at start of issue (updated to 21H2 during troubleshooting) - OS build: 19044.1526
Things I have tried for troubleshooting already: - I have WebRoot on my computer due to my job, and I asked our IT staff if they could see WebRoot blocking anything related to Firefox on their end. They said it was not. - Used "Firefox Refresh" - Uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox - Cleared app cache / app data - Updated Windows from 20H2 to 21H2
Note: This message was sent on a different computer & browser
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Hello,
This has been talked about in the contributor forums here https://support.mozilla.org/forums/contributors/715560
You may have luck installing the beta version that mitigates this issue
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (5)
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Hello,
This has been talked about in the contributor forums here https://support.mozilla.org/forums/contributors/715560
You may have luck installing the beta version that mitigates this issue
Thank you @andmagdo, I downloaded the beta / Firefox Nightly and it works. Hopefully I can use the mainstream one in the future, but that's ok. Thanks!!
Page to download Firefox Nightly in case anyone else is having this issue: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/98.0a1/releasenotes/
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/97.0.1/releasenotes/
Fixed Works around problems with WebRoot SecureAnywhere antivirus rendering Firefox unusable in some situations
Btw the Nightly development channel is meant more for Testers and Devs in mind as it gets checkins and updates twice a day. This can sometimes lead to issues until fixed, finished or reverted.
I had the same problem after a security update, I did a compatibility diagnosis and used recommended settings and it worked fine. Don't forget to save the changes.