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Why does Firefox freeze and a rectangular white box come up on the screen of my Mac after the computer goes into sleep mode?

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  • Last reply by GamerFreak

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Why do I find Firefox forzen and a rectangular white box on the screen of my MacPro after the computer goes into into screen saver mode and I come back to type again? I have to Force-Quit Firefox and restart my tabs from scratch.

It got so annoying that I switched to Chrome for a while, but Chrome is a power grabber that would not let me upload to Amazon the cover images for print books I write. I want to switch back to Firefox, but the only way to keep it from dying on me is to keep the screen saver and the eco-saver sleep modes completely off. This only started happening after I installed the new Yosemite OS, so maybe there's an incompatibility of some sort.

Here is a screen shot of how the white box looks on the frozen Firefox screen. Well, hmm. Looks like this image won't upload either! Oh well!

Anybody know what's wrong or how to fix it?

Why do I find Firefox forzen and a rectangular white box on the screen of my MacPro after the computer goes into into screen saver mode and I come back to type again? I have to Force-Quit Firefox and restart my tabs from scratch. It got so annoying that I switched to Chrome for a while, but Chrome is a power grabber that would not let me upload to Amazon the cover images for print books I write. I want to switch back to Firefox, but the only way to keep it from dying on me is to keep the screen saver and the eco-saver sleep modes completely off. This only started happening after I installed the new Yosemite OS, so maybe there's an incompatibility of some sort. Here is a screen shot of how the white box looks on the frozen Firefox screen. Well, hmm. Looks like this image won't upload either! Oh well! Anybody know what's wrong or how to fix it?

Chosen solution

Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

  • On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
  • On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
    (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

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Chosen Solution

Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

  • On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
  • On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
    (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.