Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems
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- Revision id: 151536
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- Creator: Caitlin Neiman
- Comment: Added Firefox 57 note
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: AliceWyman
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: Yes
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- Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
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Some problems with Firefox are caused by extensions, themes or hardware acceleration. This article will help you determine whether one of these is causing your problem and, if it is, describe how to make Firefox run normally again.
Table of Contents
Start Firefox in Safe Mode
When you start in Firefox's Safe Mode, all extensions are temporarily disabled, hardware acceleration is turned off and the default theme is used. This will help determine whether one of these is causing your problem.
-
Click the menu button , click
, select and click in the Restart Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode? dialog.Note: You can also start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode by holding down the Shift key while starting Firefox.holding down the option key while starting Firefox.quitting Firefox and then going to your Terminal and running:firefox -safe-mode
You may need to specify the Firefox installation path (e.g. /usr/lib/firefox). - When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, press the button .
After Firefox starts in Safe Mode, test for your problem.
The problem still occurs in Safe Mode
If your problem persists in Safe Mode, it is not being caused by an extension, theme or hardware acceleration. Other possible causes could be plugins or changes made to Firefox preference settings, which are not disabled in Safe Mode. For additional troubleshooting suggestions, see these articles:
- Troubleshoot and diagnose Firefox problems
- Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems
- Reset Firefox preferences to troubleshoot and fix problems
The problem does not occur in Safe Mode
If your problem did not occur in Safe Mode, it is most likely because of an extension, theme or hardware acceleration. Continue following the steps in this article to determine the cause of your problem.
Turn off hardware acceleration
With some graphics processors and graphics driver setups, Firefox may crash or have trouble showing text or objects on pages when using hardware acceleration. You can try turning off hardware acceleration to see if it fixes the problem.
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and then select or , depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
- Select the tab.
- Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
- Click the Firefox menu and select .Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select .Click the Firefox menu and select .
- Start Firefox the way you normally do.
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and then select or , depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
- Under Performance, clear the Use recommended performance settings checkbox.
- Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
- Click the Firefox menu and select .Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select .Click the Firefox menu and select .
- Start Firefox the way you normally do.
If the problem is no longer happening, then hardware acceleration was likely the cause. You can try updating your graphics drivers to see if that fixes it or simply run without hardware acceleration. Otherwise, your problem is likely related to extensions or themes. Continue with the steps in this article to see if they help.
Switch to the default theme
If you are using a theme other than the default Firefox theme:
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- Select the default theme, then click the button, to make Firefox switch to that theme.
- Click if necessary.
If you are using a theme other than the default Firefox theme:
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- Select the default theme, then click the button, to make Firefox switch to that theme.
- Click if necessary.
After you restart Firefox, test for your problem. If it no longer occurs, the theme you were using was causing it. If it still occurs, continue following the steps in this article.
Disable all extensions
To determine whether a faulty extension is causing your problem, you can disable all of your installed extensions:
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- Click the name of an extension in the list to select it.
- Click to disable the selected extension.
- Repeat this for each of the other extensions in the list.
- Click .
After you restart Firefox, all extensions will be disabled. Test for your problem.
If the problem no longer occurs with all extensions disabled, one of your extensions was causing it. To find the extension that was causing your problem, continue as follows:
Test for faulty extensions
To determine which of your disabled extensions was causing your problem, you can re-enable each extension one at a time.
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- Click the name of an extension in the list to select it.
- Click to enable the selected extension.
- Click .
After you restart Firefox, test for your problem. If the problem comes back, the extension you just enabled was causing it.
After you find the extension that was causing your problem, disable or uninstall the faulty extension and re-enable the other extensions in the Add-ons window.
Updating extensions
If an extension was causing your problem, it may have an update available that will fix it:
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- Click .
- If updates are found, install them by clicking .
- When the installation is complete, click .
After Firefox restarts, your extensions will be updated. If the extension that was causing your problem had an update, re-enable it and test for your problem again.
Checking extension settings
Some problems are caused if the settings of an extension override Firefox settings (e.g. problems with toolbars). Therefore you may want to check the extension's settings to see if you can find the option that is causing your problem:
- Click the menu button , click and select .
- For the extension that is causing your problem click the button.
- Click your way through the settings to see if there is an option that may solve your problem.
- If you found a suitable option, click and .