Firefox 119.0 on Ubuntu 22.04 has started to freeze which requires killing all Firefox processes
My apologies if I am being a numpty, but I have been using Firefox for many years without issue, and recently (possibly after an update, but I cannot be certain), it has started to randomly freeze. I am running Ubuntu 22.04, and Firefox 119.0. I have demonstrated to myself that if I open a web page with links (but not always), and click on the link, I may still scroll up and down the page, but the mouse cursor never seemed to recognise the hotlink, and doesn't jump to it. The links will work on Chromium. I initially tried resetting the browser, thereby losing all my open pages, but that didn't work. That also removed all extensions ("all" two of them) and that didn't work. Firefox is now pretty much unusable. Any help to resolve this would be appreciated, as I cannot find any solutions online, and it seems I am not alone with this issue! Many thanks,
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Is this with the default snap package? Are there any errors in the Browser Console (Ctrl+Shfit+J) when it happens?
Does it still happen with hardware acceleration disabled?
Many thanks for the help.
I disabled hardware acceleration, but I cannot click on any link, although the mouse cursor is now "set" as the cursor one sees when hovering over a hyperlink.
I can scroll up and down a web page, just not do anything.
I tried <CTRL><SHIFT>-J and nothing happened, as I think Firefox now needs killing and restarting!
Many thanks for the suggestion re: flatpak.
I installed the flatpak version, but cannot access any local html files that Chromium (sorry for using that swear word!) or "normal" Firefox work with.
I rebooted my laptop this morning, and the issue remains (links in the common sites don't change the behaviour of the cursor, so cannot be clicked on, and the sites look as though they are trying to load.
Looking at the processes running "owned" by Firefox, and I suspect there may be an increase in Firefox related processes when it has a problem, and this may be related to the problem. I don't know enough (i.e. anything!) about these to know if this is a related symptom, but mention it in case it helps.
Firefox that I use was loaded using apt install, so isn't a snap either.
I haven't spent enough time with the flatpak version to see if it does have similar problems.
Many thanks,
trevortmanson said
Firefox that I use was loaded using apt install, so isn't a snap either.
The default apt install firefox on Ubuntu 22.04 will install the snap version. You can try reinstalling it:
sudo snap remove firefox sudo snap install firefox
To restore profile settings:
snap saved sudo snap restore <ID>
You may get better results by running in native Wayland by setting the environment variable MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1.
Many thanks for the help. The problem seemed to start after (I surmise) an "update". I have tried the snap install and after maybe 20-30 minutes the images on a website hasn't loaded - at least - in Chromium, after seconds, the full website had been rendered. In the past, the difference between Firefox and Chromium was negligible, but I prefer Firefox, yet still cannot use. Any other guidance? And if it is me, why am I seeing this behaviour (and more importantly, how to avoid it!!). Many thanks,
Try changing secure DNS over HTTPS (DoH) to "Off" or "Increased Protection" and in Connection Settings change "Use system proxy settings" to "No proxy".
Many thanks - but the settings were as you suggested.
The flatpak version seemed to have different issues.
Is there something that might have changed in a recent release that may be causing the issues I am seeing?
My frustration is that I can compare results against Chromium (which I don't like), and I would rather stay with Firefox, but if it isn't stable/ working for me, then I may have to bite the bullet as I need a stable browser :-(
Any help will be most appreciated.
Kind Regards,
What are the issues with flatpak?
You can test older versions of with mozregression to see if it worked previously and what caused it to stop working.
Many thanks for your help.
The issues with the flatpak version include tabs crashing randomly and very regularly - not all tabs, but one that is very susceptible is flightradar24.com (sorry for sounding like a child!).
Another issue is that it won't let me load local files (I can open a local file in Chromium or the Aptitude instance of Firefox, and paste the link in the flatpak version, there is an error saying the page cannot be found, yet displays perfectly well in the Aptitude cersion and Chromium!
Does this help identify the issue?
I have seen a recommendation to revert to an earlier version, but I wouldn't have a clue as to which would not exhibit the issue, for whilst I try to update regularly, I am human!
Many thanks,
With the aptitude version, which was my default, it is so bad, that today it "updated", and after the, "update" now will not load any web page! I think one can safely say that is broken - for a web browser to be unable to load any web page! If the aptitude version installs the snap version, then it should work as well as the snap version - shouldn't it?! Many thanks
I would try reverting to a previous version, but a) that would invalidate any security updates; b) I wouldn't know which version to revert to; and c) would only be a "fix" for a brief time - and no clue as to when it would start working again.
I have retested the aptitude version, and it remains unusable, and the snap version seems very flaky.
Please let me know if more details, but it would be nice to be confident about using Firefox again.