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Drop down menus, context menus and auto fill menus items don't appear!

  • 21 replies
  • 222 have this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by dhelmet

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I have FF4 beta, this started since FF4 beta 7. I work on Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.

The problem is that I can't see drop down menus unless they have alot of items, nor context menus (like highlighting a text then right-clicking it), auto fill bars don't show the auto fill info entered before .. the menu itself appears, kinda. but it's transparent and the I can't see the items, don't know where to click to select the thing I want.

I haven't got this problem before 4.0b7 .. after I got it, I thought it was one of the plugins, so I disabled them all but still have the problem!

An image describing the problem is here, taken now on this page, I highlighted a text, and right-clicked it: here you can see the menu is somehow appearing, surrounded by the red border, but I can't see it!

I have FF4 beta, this started since FF4 beta 7. I work on Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. The problem is that I can't see drop down menus unless they have alot of items, nor context menus (like highlighting a text then right-clicking it), auto fill bars don't show the auto fill info entered before .. the menu itself appears, kinda. but it's transparent and the I can't see the items, don't know where to click to select the thing I want. I haven't got this problem before 4.0b7 .. after I got it, I thought it was one of the plugins, so I disabled them all but still have the problem! An image describing the problem is here, taken now on this page, I highlighted a text, and right-clicked it: [http://imgur.com/e9juh.png here] you can see the menu is somehow appearing, surrounded by the red border, but I can't see it!

Chosen solution

Tools > Options > Advanced

Under Browsing try disabling Use hardware acceleration when available. It shouldn't be affecting contextual menus like that, but who knows with NVDIA adapters.

Read this answer in context 👍 136

All Replies (20)

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Do you have that problem when running in the Firefox SafeMode?
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode
Don't select anything right now, just use "Continue in SafeMode."

If not, see this:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/troubleshooting+extensions+and+theme...

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No, the problem doesn't appear in SafeMode. I'll try this and get back to you, thanks.

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Unfortunately it didn't work :( I even removed the extensions, not just disabled them .. and the problem is still there. But it's not in SafeMode!

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Chosen Solution

Tools > Options > Advanced

Under Browsing try disabling Use hardware acceleration when available. It shouldn't be affecting contextual menus like that, but who knows with NVDIA adapters.

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Actually yes, that was causing the problem :S I disabled it, and everything now works fine .. thanks alot for your help :)

Should I file a bug about it though?

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Help, please. I have the same problem. No drop down menus will come up. When I try to click on them I can see them flicker below for a sec but then disappear. Same with the autofill type things at the top when typing on a web address. They flicker for a quick sec below with every single letter I type.

I've tried rebooting the computer. I used this advice:

"Tools > Options > Advanced Under Browsing try disabling Use hardware acceleration when available. " <p> But, there is no option that says "use hardware acceleration when available" under the Advanced - Browsing tab. Please please help- I am unable to navigate most websites that I use daily because of the drop down menu problem. ( I'm not very computer literate so bear that in mind when answering)

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Hardware accelaration disabled also worked for me. ATI Radeon 4670. Seems the issue isn't set on one type of card. My flicker/vanish only did so on my secondary monitor.

Modified by MaxxJag

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Still having this problem. If I can't find "disable hardware acceleration" how can I disable it? Please, I can not use my banking websites, can't post things in my online store, etc. This flashing, flickering drop down menu thing happens intermittently. Sometimes I can go days with no problems and other times, like now, its been 2 days since I've been able to use a drop down. This sucks. I'm ready to just freaking delete Firefox as I don't have the problem if I use Internet Explorer.

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@kfay Go to Tools > Options. Under General you will see three sections. In Browsing you there is a box that says 'Use hardware acceleration when available'. Disable that. Hope it helps.

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kfay,

Which version of Firefox are you using? Look in Help > About Mozilla Firefox

Firefox 3.6.x versions don't have that preference, it is new to 4.0 beta.

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kfay,

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

  • Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

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Disabling hardware acceleration fixed everything for me. Bug in the code? Running Firefox 4.0 final.

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I am also on a Radeon HD 4670 and it only does it on my second monitor... and only when hardware acceleration is enabled. Interesting.

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I also had this problem with a Geforce 9500 GT, 267.24 drivers. Didn't happen in safe mode, but did sometimes happen on a clean restart (after File->Exit, no extensions) if a significant number of tabs were open before it was closed. Enabling some extensions would always make it happen (including Mozilla's Add-on Compatibility Reporter), others never seemed to trigger it (Adblock Plus was one), and others seemed to have it happen sometimes but not others (an example here would be HTTPS-Everywhere). Menus that fall outside of the Firefox window (a long list of bookmarks in a non-maximized window) would not flicker in the portion outside of Firefox.

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hp notebook pc running Windows 7...follow "deactivate hardware acc" and problem solved. thanks.

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none of these have worked for me. any other suggestions? i even tested my plugins, themes, extensions and toolbars.

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never mind, i found out it was the wireless mouse i was using.

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Disabling the use of hardware acceleration did not fix my problem. We do not have the issue on a Vista desktop.

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I had this type of problem being unable to read menus or drop down menus (no text visible). I have just started using wwindows 7 and Office 2007 which was a big jump and much frustraition for me. However I thought text colour might be the problem and found the following solution solved it. Control panel - Personalisation - Window colour - Advanced appearance settings - In 'Item' dropdown menu select Menu then change font colour in my case to black. I also selected 'Active tool bar' and changed font colour there. Hope this helps. Anne

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I have been struggling with this for ages. I tried uninstalling so many plugins and almost gave up. Following the-edmeister's advice worked a treat.

To recap for those that do not want to scroll up, in version 10.0.2 I did:

Tools > Options

Then under browsing cleared the checkbox against "Use hardware acceleration when available".

I have an ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro card. No idea if that makes a difference, but thought I'd share just in case!

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