Troubleshooting Problems with Firefox 3 Crashing or Hanging
With all the fanfare surrounding the release of Firefox 3 and the setting of a new world record for downloads, the fact that many people are having problems with Firefox instability seemed to get lost in the shuffle… so I decided to write up a list of troubleshooting methods that might help solve your problems.
There's a number of reasons for Firefox 3 crashing, which could include any of these, or be something else:
- Incompatible or Buggy Extensions
- Buggy Plugins
- Upgrading an Old 2.x Profile to 3.0 (using a fresh profile works best)
- Spyware/Viruses
- Compatibility Problems with XP
- Video Card Drivers (Make sure you are not using old drivers)
- Tablet PC Incompatibility
- Sneezing loudly
You'll have to read through the article and go through the steps that might apply to you… the last, and potentially best, option is to completely uninstall Firefox and remove all your profile folders, and then install it again, which we've covered below.
Run in Safe Mode
One of the first troubleshooting steps you can do is to run Firefox in Safe Mode, which will run without add-ons or extensions. Just look in your start menu, and you'll see an item for it:
or alternatively, from the command line:
firefox.exe -safe-mode
If Firefox no longer crashes while running in Safe Mode, then you know you have an issue with one of the following:
- Plugins
- Extensions
- Settings
- Profile
If safe mode does not solve your issue, then you should try to use compatibility mode (mentioned below), and do the uninstall completely and reinstall method. You should also check the "Other Known Issues" section below.
Create a New Profile (if Safe Mode Fixes Your Issue)
Open up a command prompt, or simply type in the full path to firefox.exe, and add on the -profilemanager switch at the end to launch the Firefox "Choose User Profile" screen, where you can create a new profile or switch to a different one.
firefox.exe -profilemanager
Creating a new profile will give you a "blank slate", where you might have less issues. You can export your bookmarks from the current profile and then import them into the new profile (covered below).
Note: This method usually solves any problems caused by upgrading an old profile to a new one.
Disable Unnecessary Plugins
One of the quickest ways to crash Firefox (or any browser) is to run with a plugin that is causing problems. Open up Tools \ Add-ons, and then go to the Plugins tab, and disable anything you don't actually use.
For troubleshooting purposes, you could just disable all of them… this is especially helpful when Safe Mode fixes the issue. If Firefox works fine after disabling all the Plugins, then you can enable them one by one until you figure out which one caused the errors.
Note: For me, disabling Silverlight fixed a lot of the crashing issues.
Disable Unnecessary Extensions
In the same screen as above, you can also disable extensions. If running in Safe mode keeps you from crashing, you should go through and disable all your extensions, and then enable them one at a time until you find the one causing the problem.
Clear Out the Caches
There's a known problem with the download history becoming corrupted and causing crashes when trying to download files. You can just open up the Clear Private Data from the tools menu, and clear out all of the junk at once.
This is a good idea to do every so often anyway, and it can't hurt.
XP Users: Run Firefox in Compatibility Mode
Some Windows XP users might experience crashing issues that can be solved by using Compatibility Mode. Just right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties, then the Compatibility tab.
Set the compatibility back to Windows 2000, and it might solve the crashing issues for you. Note that setting compatibility in Vista doesn't seem to help as much in my testing… but your mileage may vary.
Do NOT Use the Tablet PC Input Panel (or OnScreen Keyboard)
I've had crashing problems for the last few months, starting from beta 2 and continuing all the way through the release. The infuriating thing was that I could copy the profile to another machine, and it would work fine. I'd create a blank profile, run in safe mode… and Firefox would crash on me every 2 minutes.
I finally figured out the problem… I've got a Wacom Intuos3 tablet hooked up to my computer, which enables the Tablet PC Input Panel in Vista, which caused the problem even if it was docked in the background.
The second I disabled that panel, Firefox stopped crashing. If you have the same issue, you can test by opening up Services and setting that service to disabled:
You can also remove Tablet PC components from the Add / Remove Windows Components in Control Panel. I've also heard of problems with the standard on-screen keyboard, but I haven't confirmed those.
Note: I tested this out on two machines… same exact issue. It's very frustrating, because I really liked having the tablet components.
Other Known Issues
There are some known issues that have already been solved by the good folks over at Mozilla, including these:
- System Clock is Off
- Particular Plugins or Extensions that are known to be incompatible.
- Old versions of Google Desktop
- Corrupted Downloads cache (solved above)
- Crashes viewing Yahoo! Mail (solution)
For more information, you can always check the mozillaZine page and the Firefox support page covering crashing issues.
Completely Uninstall, then Reinstall Firefox
This is the last, but best option. What we'll do is completely uninstall Firefox, and then even clear out the profile folders to make sure there are no traces of any old or broken installations, and then we'll reinstall.
The first thing you want to do, of course, is make sure that you have backups of everything… so keep reading.
Manually Backup Your Bookmarks and Saved Passwords
I always like to manually backup the two things I'm worried about: my saved passwords and my bookmarks. We can easily backup the bookmarks from Firefox directly, but to backup the passwords we'll need to first install the Password Exporter extension (provided that Firefox doesn't crash too soon)
Once you've installed it, open the Add-ons window and click the Options button on the extension.
Now you can simply export the passwords using the button (and encrypt if you so choose).
To backup the bookmarks, open up the Organized Bookmarks item on the menu, and choose Backup from the "Import and Backup" button/menu.
Make sure to save both of the files out to a safe place before continuing.
Backing Up with MozBackup
You can also backup your entire profile using the MozBackup utility, which I highly recommend, since you can make sure that you have a total backup of everything in your profile. It's a simple matter of choosing Firefox in the first screen…
Then choose which profile to backup, if you have more than one… note that the default save location appears to be under "Documents"
Then choose what you actually want to backup… I'd recommend just backing everything up.
Note that if you use this to restore later, there's some chance that the problem would re-appear because the issue is in a setting. Thankfully we can choose exactly which settings to restore from the file, so there's no harm in backing everything up.
Uninstall Firefox
Depending on your operating system, you'll either have to go into Add/Remove programs or "Uninstall Programs", then find Mozilla Firefox in the list, and choose Uninstall.
Now you'll want to get rid of any saved profiles, since the problem could likely be there. In XP or Vista, you can find your Profile folder by typing the following into the location bar (other operating systems can check here)
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\
Now what you'll want to do is either just move that folder somewhere else, or you could outright delete it if you were so bold. I prefer to move it somewhere else in case I need the files again.
Install Firefox Again
Now you can simply install Firefox again, and start over with a completely clean slate. To import your passwords or bookmarks, just use the same menus that you used above to backup, but choose the restore options instead.
Hopefully one of these solves your problem… if you have another solution, be sure to leave it in the comments to help others that might be experiencing something you've solved.
FF3.0 crashed a couple of times shortly after installing it, both in Vista and in XP. Then it stayed away, non-compatible plugins and extensions were disabled automatically. I'm sad to see the fairly new AVG Free 8.0 linkscanner not being compatible, I found it quite usefull to be honest. Great article, again!
I can't believe it - the tablet input panel was causing the crashing. Thanks!
Upgrading from Firefox 2 to 3 is the big problem - if you do a clean install with a new profile there are a lot less problems.
Good article, though.
Thanks for the article on FF…I have had problems with the 3.0 release, however my issue seems to be related to FF directly. When I launch FF, after a few seconds, the CPU and memory usage severely increases. CPU usage goes as high as 60% (quite a bit on my AMD) and memory goes as high 150-170 MB (looks like its leaking somewhere). Normally FF memory usage for me is about 28-45 MB. While these two parameters steadily rise out of hand, FF is hanging. I have gone through numerous steps (the ones listed here as well as other "fixes") and nothing seems to help…the problem is still there even after uninstall/reinstall and running in Safe Mode. I have done everything I can find to try to fix without rewriting FF's code (which I don't know how to do anyway). FF is my preferred browser, but this problem is quite ridiculous. I'm afraid I may be forced to use IE or Safari (both I consider second rate compared to FF), but this browser version is just plain broken. Any thoughts, suggestions, please feel free to shout.
TY,
Phil
RE: TabletPC Input Panel.
Running FireFox 3 on an actual TabletPC I notice mine works fine. Just a heads up to those with Tablets that it may not be this.
The only problem I have had is that Windows Live Mail no longer works and switches to the classic interface. The only way around it I have found is an extension called IE Tab.
I'm Shocked, The Geek…u r Great
thanks 
@Steve:
Thanks for that note… are you running Vista or XP? (I'll update the post to mention it)
Interesting that people are having problems with this.
I upgraded my Firefox 2.x profile to Firefox 3 and Firefox 3 has been more stable for me. I haven't seen any crashes or hangs yet with Firefox 3.
@jd2066
Yeah, that's the infuriating thing about it… my laptop has no issues at all, nor does my Mac… but my other machine was crashing constantly even in safe mode, until I disabled the tablet input panel.
One of the guys at work tried all of these steps today, and still had crashing problems… it just seems to be random.
Question: which is better - mozbackup or FEBE?
Thanks you so much for this article! I am a huge Firefox fan and was experiencing a lot of crashes, especially when in Gmail. Thank you so much for solving my problem. I couldn't bear the thought of abandoning Firefox. I knew there had to be a solution.
Quicktime seems to be a big problem. Try uninstalling that too.
i installed ff3 on my computer.(xp2000) & the stupid browser looses the bookmarks & homepage.
this happens every 10th or so opening of the homepage & I get a "another firefox is running" message when nothing is open…When I reboot it works for a while.Firefox does not appear in add/remove programs & I use norton 360 which the firewall is set at "allow" for ff..I tryed to reinstall ff2 but that won't allow a web conction & ff says I have to close application???….Why did they try to fix something that wasn't broke?.I think this ff3 was developed by the vista & new coke people!!!
Hell I even tryed to restore the computer back to a couple weeks ago but that doen't work as i believe theres something in ff3 installation to block ff2!!!
This rebooting is becoming tiering & the Mrs is mad at me for installing firefox 3 in the 1st place!
I noticed firefox doesn't have a direct contact link either!!!.Cowards!
if you have any suggestions to repair this please forward any comment & self help links to me .I'd appreciate That!.Thanks
Removing Silverlight fixed all the problems for me, thanks!
Geeks, people may make fun of them when there young but they are the ones who turn out to be multi-millionaires, not the ones who are working in a car wash!
Phil, you said:
"When I launch FF, after a few seconds, the CPU and memory usage severely increases. CPU usage goes as high as 60%…."
I had the same problem as well, it was because I have a lots of livebookmark and they were updating at once when Firefox starts, and because Mozilla team had the bookmark structure changed since firefox 2.
I solved it by using Google Reader instead of Firefox, so there is no more livebookmark locally for me.
I also realize Google Reader is far better at handling RSS feeds, since it shows me what I have not read.
Hope it helps.
hoodmulti,
you rock…that did solve my problem…I never really thought about that aspect and I did have about 40 feeds loading at FF startup…that just never occurred to me…TYVM for the insight…
Phil
Installed FF3 and when I tried to open it up could not get any kind of website what so ever..Had to do a system restore to get FF2 back..
FF3 is unable to detect JVM. Have to use IE for the time being for certain applications. Any thoughts would be appreciated!!!
THANKS! Great article!
Although this article does cover mostly everything, mine still errors constantly, even when I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it. It constantly comes up that it can't detect the connection. Can anyone think of what the problem might be?
Thank you for your suggestions! Since upgrading to Firefox 3 my Notebook running on VISTA I have experienced the browser as well as Skype to malfunction and crash. One further problem was that I was unable to open a new window in Firefox.
I have thus run Firefox in safe mode and disabled add-ons, finding that some were not compatible with Firefox. These were namely: AVG Security Toolbar & Realplayer Save Video Add-on. A pity as both were quite useful.
I have a Tablet, the Dell Latitude XT, and the constant crashing in FF 3 was a real problem. The fix above regarding disabling the Tablet input worked for me. I've just updated FF to 3.0.1 and I'm hoping the issue has been fixed as there's not much point having a tablet pc if you can't use pen or touch!
There is also bug with this tablet and FF where you have to click some links twice, a fix for this can be found here.
http://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/.....t-fix.aspx
FF3 has been so difficult to deal with. You article was very comprehensive and helpful. I'm in safe mode now and most issues have been resolved.
Thanks for your help, I love Geeks, mwah!
Thanks for the article. I gave up on FF and had to revert to IE since I bought a new computer and it had Vista on it. I installed FF3, but it continually hung and only a reboot would release the memory it used.
On seeing the non-compatibility list (doesn't seem to be compatible with most of the things most users use, eg zonealarm, avast, avg, norton, skype, and many others) I couldn't remove everything else, and just had to remove FF3. I daren't even go back to FF2, even though I've uninstalled it and manually deleted it's directories and run around regedit and removed most of the Mozilla entries, I no longer have the confidence of any version of FF to work with anything I need to use including Vista.
wow, thank you for this great article. after being told I had a virus on my computer as the only reason why firefox was hanging and couldn't be fixed I went back to IE, but after reading this excellently laid out, easy to read, comprehensive article I actually braved reinstalling firefox (after completely cleaning it from the computer as per your instructions) and it seems to be working fine again.
Thankyou.
Great article. Tried to reinstall FF again, but still no luck.
My Vista FF3 won't load from a dble clk on an URL shortcut. It is fine from dragging shortcut to FF3 icon and dble ck on FF3 icon. Dble clking on URL in Thunderbird (w.o FF3 running) causes the same hang. FF3 just never gets to the select a profile in those cases. After trying a dble clk URL and opening FF3 from icon or draging I get an empty FF3 window with no bookmarks! I've done the normal: uninstall, reinstall, make IE the default, make FF3 the default … all to no avail.
Thank for the above article and comments, all, much appreciated! You have collectively saved my bacon.
Uninstalling Google Desktop did the trick for me - FF3 appears to be running flawlessly now!
Using IE for a couple of days while I was searching/getting round to attempting fixes was cumbersome!
So glad to be back on firefox!
I cannot believe that so many people think that going through the hoops above is acceptable just to get a new version of a program to run! Shouldn't it just run seamlessly w/o all the histrionics? FF3 is CRAP!
After installing FF3 a few days ago i immediately noticed frequent hangs. After reading this article I disabled P2P toolbar and AVG 8.0 security toolbar so let's see if it helps. No problems for the past half hour yet. Before that I restarted FF3 7 times within an hour.
This new browser has ruined my whole computer. I can't run virus protection successfully. Microsoft Word can't shut down. The computer can't shut down. I have deleted the whole program and running IE but it is as slow as dial-up and still having to close programs with freezeups and end-tasks. The same thing has happened to my kids computer exactly at the same time as uploading Firefox 3.0.1. Something bad is wrong with this browser. I won't be uploading again after I get this figured out. I have been trying to find an upload for a older Firefox but I can't find any. They all seem to link you up to 3.0.1. Firefox has some splainning to do. I loved my old Firefox I wish I never upgraded.
Hi, I upgraded FF from 2.x to 3 after Laborday weekend and everything seemed ok. Now it seems I have to revert certain pages to IE!! using the IE Tab addin in order to use them. Specifically several streaming pages one a radio station and one of which I wrote for my homemade mp3s (using embedded objects). I don't understand why the streaming won't work in 3 when it did in 2.x and other plugins seem to function.
I haven't had any crashes (knock on formica) and generally performance has been the same if not slightly better…though I am NOT a fan of the favorites/bookmark stars in the address bar. And Im not too thrilled with the added tab Most Visited…I want THAT functionality in my address bar as per the older versions. Other than that I do not see much difference. Anyone who can tell me how to fix the embeded streaming problem please comment here.
Firefox used to be my favourite browser, but the instability of FF3 has sent me back to using IE7 and Opera 9.52
wow this article really helped me.. thanks a lot
None of you trouble shooting works in my case. Firefox 3 is unquestionably broken. It crashes on about one in four links that I click on. I've tried installing it on an older computer, with and without a clean install and old profiles. I also tried clean installing it on a brand new computer and the issues were exactly the same. The OS also doesn't seem to change anything (if anything, it crashes more with a clean install on a brand new computer running Vista with no plugins or extensions). This program is a piece of crap, and once again, I'm going to have to uninstall it and go back to the old Firefox.
we installed Firefox 3 after firefox 2 refused to allow a gamesite to load & useing IE7 proved to be a slow alternative to ff2….firefox 3 works great , but , every so often when you bring up the webpage I get a blank & if I hit the "Home' icon I get a general "Google" start page?????.So after a reboot it works normally for a few times then looses the homepage & I have to restart!!???
other than that firefox 3 works great…….any ideas how to fix this.The mozilla page has no email links.(like their hiding!!)..I would appreciate any help on how to correct the homepage issue!
Thanks
Paul
well seek & you will find!…..Now I can't refind the link to pass the info along
This site told me to copy/paste a line into start run…It opened up my profile & told me to delete an rdf file
& close that off………saying it would reinstall next time I opened firefox………It works & the homepage sticks now!!!!.I'll keep looking for that link
FF3 crashes all too often when I check stock quotes using google finance. Safe Mode didn't really help. I am going to try Opera for a while.