Odd problem upon starting FF

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
Post Reply
Bruce L.
Posts: 226
Joined: August 3rd, 2006, 4:36 am

Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by Bruce L. »

I've been using FF for 15 years and I've never seen this problem before: Upon starting FF, none of my extensions will work for several minutes, then, suddenly they all take off and all is fine. Not a huge problem -- I just have to wait a few minutes -- but it is annoying.

Don't know if this is related or not, but if I try to open some websites the tab will just churn away and do nothing. Once the extensions start working, the tab will load.

It's been doing this for several weeks and I was going to wait for the next FF update to see it the problem went away. It updated yesterday but the problem remains. Extensions are all on auto-update.
User avatar
DanRaisch
Moderator
Posts: 127187
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by DanRaisch »

Does Firefox perform properly if you launch the application in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
Try disabling all extensions but one and then close and restart the program. (Disable them by using menu path Tools->Addons->Extensions->click on "Disable" for every extension but one.) See if the problem is present. If not, enable an additional extension and close and restart the application. Repeat this procedure until the problem reappears. The last enabled extension will be the cause of the problem.
Bruce L.
Posts: 226
Joined: August 3rd, 2006, 4:36 am

Re: Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by Bruce L. »

Hmm, today I did a thorough spyware/temp file cleaning of FF and it seems to be okay. I never even thought of trying that as a solution, it is just the routine I do every 7-10 days.

I will see what happens in the next few days. If it comes back I will try your suggestion, Dan.
Bruce L.
Posts: 226
Joined: August 3rd, 2006, 4:36 am

Re: Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by Bruce L. »

Well that didn't last. But I have tracked the problem down to a specific add-on: "Tab Colors." I disabled that and the problem went away.

I've replaced it with "ColorfulTabs" a few days ago and no problems. :mrgreen:
User avatar
DanRaisch
Moderator
Posts: 127187
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by DanRaisch »

Safe Mode would have identified an extension as the likely source of trouble if you had tried that.
Bruce L.
Posts: 226
Joined: August 3rd, 2006, 4:36 am

Re: Odd problem upon starting FF

Post by Bruce L. »

DanRaisch wrote:Safe Mode would have identified an extension as the likely source of trouble if you had tried that.
I like to do that more or less in reverse. Rather than run a bare bones browser for several days (which is kind of annoying) and turning on one extension at a time, I leave it in full mode and disable one extension at a time til the problem disappears.

If the problem is not with an extension, then I would end up in safe mode and would have to work from there. FWIW: The last three problems I've had have been with a specific extension -- as do nearly all problems with FF. 8-)
Post Reply