Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with firefox and troubleshooting

Google's services don't work in a specific way

msbrauer — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:30:10 -0800

Why aren't most google services working for me and why do the error pages look identical in firefox, chrome, and IE8? For about a week most google services have stopped working for me. Oddly, I get identical error messages that look like this in all three browsers on my computer (firefox, chrome, and IE8 in Windows Vista) as well as on Mac with Safari in OSX. By identical, I mean that the layout, font, and wording is exactly the same. I am in China, so this may be related to the Great Firewall, but I don't think so. As a comparison, here's an image of the error page I get when trying to view youtube (which is currently blocked in China): firefox, chrome, IE8. While the error is the same in those 3 screenshots, the browsers display them differently.

This behavior happens with all www.google.com/* services that I can remember, but gmail (www.gmail.com redirecting to mail.gmail.com) doesn't exhibit the problem.

Fixing Google Desktop links

Aanidaani — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:27:02 -0800

I like Google Desktop but there is one minor annoyance that has been bugging me. Whenever I click on a link in a sidebar gadget, that link loads in IE7, even though my default browser is Firefox. Is there a solution to this? I'm on Windows Vista, if that helps (or hurts).

Black lines across my Firefox browser

desjardins — Wed, 09 May 2007 08:24:51 -0800

I'm seeing black lines on my screen when I use Firefox. Make it stop! I'm using version 2.0.0.3 on a Windows PC running XP Pro. The lines will randomly appear when I scroll down a page. I can switch windows, and the lines will disappear when I switch back, only to reappear for no apparent reason. Also, sometimes while typing in a text box, my text appears underlined (like right now). When I hover over a link, it's underlined with a black line.

I've checked for virii, spyware, etc. I've disabled all my add-ons. I've checked to make sure I have the latest FF updates.

I can't bear the thought of switching back to IE, but I'm going to have to because I can't even read a full page of text with all these lines going through it.

Control-click stopped working in Firefox

gsh — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 12:52:56 -0800

Control-click for tabs stopped working on Firefox 1.5 Windows -- how do I fix it? I noticed today that when I go to control-click on Firefox tab to close it, all it does is highlight the tab title with a dotted line -- no little helper menu appears. I have to right click in order to close a tab. How can I get back the control-click power?

Firefox stalls on certain sites and Opera 8 font-rendering bug

Frankieist — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 02:28:34 -0800

I'm having major problems with both Firefox (my browser of choice) and Opera 8. Firefox stalls consistently for a considerable amount of time (1 min - 5 mins) on specific sites (for instance del.icio.us/popular/) and Opera has a font-rendering bug on most sites (for instance, again, del.icio.us/popular/). Regarding the firefox problem (screenshot):
- oddly, during the time that firefox is not responding, the CPU usage is only between 0% and 2%.
- if, in the same session, I visit the site again or refresh it, it loads just fine. However, the problem can present itself for different sites multiple times in one session.
- I have Firefox 1.5, though I've had the problem since at least 1.0.4
- I've tried deleting my profile and creating a new one. No luck.
- I don't have any extensions installed, other than the Talkbalk one that comes with firefox.
- I've tried uninstalling the current version and reinstalling to a different directory. Again, no luck.

As far as the Opera 8 rendering bug is concerned (screenshot) , even when the website's css specifies a font that it should use to render the page, it will instead render the page with regular Bauer Bodoni LT in some instances and Bauer Bodoni LT RomanSC in others. It makes Opera completely unusable, since I can't tolerate reading long amounts of text in small caps. Maybe this will provide a clue: about a month ago wikipedia used to be displayed in Bauer Bodoni LT RomanSC, but now it shows up with a sans-serif font. Please help!

Fix my Firefox...

ruwan — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 09:27:06 -0800

Firefox 1.5-Filter... I just installed Firefox 1.5, and now when I open it up there's this huge grey toolbar-like space at the bottom of the window with a small red upwards pointing arrow on the left [screenshot]. How do I get rid of it? If it helps, I have the following extensions installed: Talkback 1.5, Linky 2.7.1, Forecast Fox 0.8.2.5, TargetAlert 0.8.9.5, Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.8.7, DownloadThemAll 0.9.8, Greasemonkey 0.6.4, Redirect Remover 1.1. According to the update manager, they are all up to date.

Firefox and Ie both won't go to amazon.com. help?

stavx — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 14:12:58 -0800

I am on a w2k pc at work. I use firefox primarily and hit tons of web sites a day. Yesterday I noticed I was getting the "connection refused" message in Firefox when attempting to go to Amazon.com only. I only get this message w/ amazon---- I have clicked all of the hundreds of bookmarks and they all go through successfully. The same amazon blockage happens in IE. I have done a cubicle shout out and my coworkers just feet away all connect successfully. My lone overworked IT guy is too busy with bigger fish to fry than with a site that i probably shouldn't spend any work time worrying about, but he did say that no changes have been done to the firewall. I've played with a lot of the internet options settings--even putting amazon.com in my trusted sites and lowering the slider from high security to low. I'm accepting all cookies. I'd say i'm an advanced surfer and moderate pc troubleshooter. Not uber geek by a long shot, but not grandma trying out the intrweb nets for the first time either.

Help me stop crying...

gren — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 12:28:43 -0800

Hi all, for some unknown reason (I haven't changed anything) Firefox 1.0.2 (windows xp) suddenly stopped responding to my ctrl/shift-clicks (the keys are working fine outside of FF). This has made me *very* sad...I have tried pretty much everything and look to this great pool of knowledge to furthur my troubleshooting...maybe someone else has run into this? Is there an extension that could force the issue?

Firefox Extension and Themes Don't Show Up Post-Install

fenriq — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 11:07:15 -0800

FireFoxExtension/Theme Filter
I have been using FireFox for a while now and prefer it to other browser offerings but am having a recurring issue that I can't seem to find any help on. Everytime I try to download and install a new theme or extension, it downloads, FireFox asks me if I want to install it, it appears to install it but the extension or theme never shows up in the relevant window. Did I change some setting to break the extensions? (MI) Somehow, some of the extensions actually seem to be usable, like the BugMeNot one. But it still doesn't show up in the window. And none of the themes show up at all ever.

Also, somehow, FireFox is no longer digesting Java properly even with all the requisite check boxes checked. I've tried reinstalling it but it doesn't make any difference.

Firefox at Work

Tin Man — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 07:16:32 -0800

I really love using Firefox instead of IE as my browser, but I'm having problems with Firefox at work. About half the time I try to use it at work, it won't load anything. It tells me that the page timed out. Whenever this happens, I have to browse with IE instead until Firefox starts working again, several minutes later. I have no problems with Firefox at home. I've heard this is a firewall-related issue, but I don't really understand. Is there a way to fix this?