Hello,

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:

• Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
• In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
• In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
• 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:

• Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems

• Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Thanks for your reply, I have unchecked the 'use hardware' box...no difference, I will try resetting firefox.

This was reported with Firefox 21 by several people. Does it still occur in Firefox 22?

Although the exact cause wasn't clear last time I checked, it seems that Firefox might be "catching up" on activities it was instructed to perform by scripts in the pages you had open, and that this can take a very long time (i.e., if enough time passes Firefox becomes responsive again), perhaps proportional to the length of time Windows was in sleep mode.

Past threads:

• How do I fix very slow response after waking up computer from Sleep mode? - solved by disabling hardware acceleration
• FF 21.0 Unresponsive after Sleep - Windows 7.0 - possible workaround is to minimize all Firefox windows before sleep

I have tried re-setting & even uninstalling then reinstalling firefox but it still does not work after sleep mode ????

Hi bobbob455, I don't have any updates to the above two threads. Do either of those suggestions help?

I have tried minimising FF prior to closing the laptop lid, still no difference. I have decided to just use Internet Explorer instead, thanks for the help anyway.

FF22 still fails in the same way. I downloaded it this morning in hopes that the sleep/fail mode would be eliminated. I left my computer for a few hours, then revived it and tried 1) opening something in a new tab, 2) refreshing something in an old tab (a blog), and 3) reading the three other tabs without reloading them (scrolling up and down, for ex). After 21 minutes, the page I am trying to open in a new tab, and the page I'm trying to reload, are still doing their little eternal-circling thing. This does not sound like a problem with updating the opened tabs. The tabs that were open and I did not ask to reload function fine for reading - I can scroll and stuff. I really hope this failure mode can be corrected - I have been using FF as my default browser but I can't tolerate it failing every time my computer gets bored!

Here's another factoid for you: If I close and reopen FF, then use "restore previous session," it brings back my tabs fine. Pain in the neck, but it works if I really want the session restored. HOWEVER, FF seems to have a lot of trouble closing up. I click the little x in the upper right corner, it asks if I really want to close 5 tabs (or 21, or whatever) and I say yes, I do (now that I have found the restore previous session command).

Then I wait a bit, and click the FF icon in the tray, but what I routinely get is "FF is running but not responding" and an admonition to close it. Resrt to Task Manager: FF does not appear in the "applications" tab for the task manager, but under "processes," it says it's still using 160k or something. So I close it in the "processes" tab of Task Manager and then I can use the tray icon to open the program, restore the previous session, and all is well. But really, that is not how a functional program works!

July 19, 2013

I finally fixed the Firefox freeze problem today. Had FF 22, Windows 7. So damn tired of the damn Firefox freeze because if I had tabs open I'd have to X out and lose them. The checkbox for hardware acceleration makes no difference.

The fix was very simple. Uninstall Java. Uninstall FF. Restart computer. Find and download Firefox 20 Beta 4. Go to java dot com and re-install Java and the problem is fixed.

Done. Tired of screwing around with this and having to set my computer never to sleep, because I'm a busy guy and glad I fixed it.

P.S. - When you uninstall Firefox, make sure you don't check the box that erases your personal data. It'll be obvious during the wizard so it's foolproof.

Hi bayouboogie, why do you recommend an early beta version of Firefox 20 instead of the last released version? Why do you think there is the connection with the Java plugin??

Before going back to a vulnerable version of Firefox, it would make sense to try the beta of Firefox 23, which others have confirmed to work for them in another thread.

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

I advocated the FF 20 Beta 4 because it worked perfectly the first time I invented the fix and tried it. I remembered specifically that the problem started with FF21 and so I decided at last to go back to the last version that I KNEW worked. I was 100% on the mark, in my case at least.

I tried everything, and I am quite methodical about what I do. The FF 20 Beta 4 fix works perfectly for me. The hardware acceleration checkbox does nothing for the problem.

I put up with this major pain in the butt for too long and finally solved it for myself. I am a happy camper now with my fix.

That said, are you telling me that FF 23 has fixed the bug? That would be great!

I am very busy right now, but when I get a chance, I will try it and post back my results.

Anyone else trying the beta 23, please report back.

As to your Java question, I'm not sure there is a connection at all. I just decided that if I was going to do a clean FF 20 b4 install, I wanted Java stripped out and reinstalled too. Let me say that I stripped out Java several times in the last couple months to address the freeze, but it didn't help.

IMO, Firefox itself was the problem

FF20b4 - no problem, and I'm happy as a clam now.

My response has just been to quit using Firefox. I eagerly await word on whether this failure mode has been fixed in 23, or whether a later version finally corrects it. I will replace the failed FF version with a good one when I read the magic version number. For now, the FF sleep-failure mode has finally given me the push to learn all about Chrome...

Hello to all, CONFIRM the bug (Bug 873110 - When OS Windows 7 wakes up after sleep Firefox doesn't respond to actions) FIXED in the next 23.0 stable version 2013-08-06, or try the beta Firefox 23, as jscher2000 correct said above.

thank you

After installing new NVIDIA drivers and GeForce Experience software for my 9600GT video card, this problem suddenly appeared in a previously stable Firefox 26.0 installation. Watching in TaskManager I could see the Firefox thread disappearing in 2-3 seconds after launch. Several other programs, including Thunderbird and Outlook would also no longer launch after sleep.

Removal of GeForce Experience and a reboot solved the restart after sleep issue. However Firefox would then crash 6-8 seconds later, starting only in Safe Mode. Disabling the hardware acceleration option fixed the crash issue.

• Win7x64 Pro and Ultimate (dual boot)
• 9600 GT video, 16 GB DDR3