Where did you install Firefox from? Help Mozilla uncover 3rd party websites that offer problematic Firefox installation by taking part in our campaign. There will be swag, and you'll be featured in our blog if you manage to report at least 10 valid reports!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Why do I get a black screen telling me to wait for 40 seconds and then to 'skip ad'?

more options

I installed a Firefox update and since then, when I try to connect to a website, I almost always get a black screen telling me to wait for 40 seconds and then to 'skip ad'. This is very irritating and a waste of time. There are no ads to skip. Why is this happening and how can I stop it?

I installed a Firefox update and since then, when I try to connect to a website, I almost always get a black screen telling me to wait for 40 seconds and then to 'skip ad'. This is very irritating and a waste of time. There are no ads to skip. Why is this happening and how can I stop it?

All Replies (2)

more options

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

You can check the connection settings.

If you do not need to use a proxy to connect to internet then try to select "No Proxy" if "Use the system proxy settings" or one of the others do not work properly.

See "Firefox connection settings":

Modified by cor-el

more options

This happens to me too. There are a couple of sites that I go too that do this. This happened before the Firefox update. I this I only saw an add show up once. A possible way to fix this would be to install adblock plus. This blocks most ads. Even Youtube ads. You may want to know that this is how websites make money. So depending on how many people view the site you may want to put up with it just so they wont stop making content. If it is a major site then you have nothing to worry about.