Is it the whole Firefox window, or do you still see the toolbars?

See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).

Is the problem still there?

FredMcD said

Is it the whole Firefox window, or do you still see the toolbars?

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See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).

Is the problem still there?

I can see the menu bar (I don't use the bookmark toolbar, and I can see the tabs for websites opened. However everything below that is a black screen. This only happens in Firefox. I can open Excel, Word, Outlook and see the screen then, but once I go back to Firefox, black screen. So I don't know what is causing this issue in Firefox or how to resolve the problem.

FredMcD said

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link}

I have the same problem and can't resolve the problem. I have Windows 10 and Firefox 50.1.0, malwarebytes (no issues), all drivers are updated. This problem only started two weeks ago. Every single day the tabs go to a black screen. I see the menu bar and the tabs, but the rest of the page below is black. I have to close Firefox and reopen. Very frustrating when you are trying to work. Does not affect Excel, Word, Outlook, etc..

Does Firefox / Mozilla not have a contact phone number? This chat room format does not work for me. There is a local computer repair store but they charge $149 and I'll be without my computer for at least 3 days!!! There has to be a better way!

Hi mahttley, could you describe the timing and circumstances in a little more detail? For example:

• black screen while using certain graphical applications like mapping sites
• black screen after several hours of browsing, especially on sites with endless loading of mixed text + image + video content (for example, Facebook)
• randomly even with low memory usage

The first problem can indicate an incompatibility between Firefox and your graphics card/chipset driver software. Fred's suggested to start in Firefox's Safe Mode would test whether that was the most likely explanation.

There might also be a different issue with some Nvidia drivers. Please see the following thread for more information on that: Graphical Glitches even with Hardware Acceleration off.

The second problem can indicate Firefox has reached a point of unsustainable memory use. This happens to me when I use FB, maybe because I've got dozens of other tabs open. When the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) shows Firefox using over about 2.3 GB of memory in the "Commit Size" column (optional column you can display on Windows 7, and probably on Windows 10's Task Manager's Details tab), Firefox tends to become sluggish and have 10-30 second blackouts. So I exit Firefox and restart Firefox (sometimes it crashes during shutdown). There's probably a better way to flush that memory, but I haven't taken the time to research it.

The third problem would be something to investigate in more detail: are there particular sites involved? Is Firefox being redirected to an unexpected address? Do any add-ons that filter/block content possibly affecting how the page renders? (Fred's suggested Safe Mode test would help rule out extensions as an issue.)

mahttley said

Does Firefox / Mozilla not have a contact phone number? This chat room format does not work for me.

Mozilla relies on volunteers for support. You can call support companies who advertise on search engines, but I wouldn't trust them with remote access to my computer so I don't recommend them for you.

Thank you for your assistance. I have never heard of a company that relies solely on volunteers to resolve their product, bizarre! And only chat room format. I am more old school and like to talk to the person. Saves a lot of endless back & forth email tag and misinterpretation. Not happy!

I haven't paid attention to any particular site that causes this black screen. I suspect similar to FB. I usually have 3-5 tabs open at one time. I do not play video games. Task Manager says: CPU 3%, Memory 3.8/7.9 48%, disk & network 0%.

I have had this computer for 6 months, why all of the sudden these problems. Other than the automated updates (windows, firefox, etc), I haven't changed anything else. I use the strategy don't fix it unless it is broke.

Not sure what else you need or I show do.

mahttley said

I haven't paid attention to any particular site that causes this black screen. I suspect similar to FB. I usually have 3-5 tabs open at one time. I do not play video games. Task Manager says: CPU 3%, Memory 3.8/7.9 48%, disk & network 0%.

Next time you get the black screen, check the Task Manager and find the tab showing how much memory Firefox itself (may be listed as firefox.exe) is using.

Multiprocess (e10s)

One of the headline changes in Firefox 48+ is e10s, which separates the browser interface process from the page content process. More and more users are gradually having this multiprocess feature switched on. The performance impact of this can vary a lot between systems: many users find it faster, some find it slower, for many it's neutral. But it does use some additional amount of memory.

I don't know whether this is relevant to your experience, so let's check.

Are you using e10s?

You can confirm you have this feature turned on as follows. Either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, check the row for "Multiprocess Windows" and see whether the number on the left side of the fraction is greater than zero. If so, you are using e10s.

If you are using e10s:

If you think Firefox is not performing well or is using an unreasonable amount of resources now, you could evaluate whether e10s is causing this problem by turning it off as follows:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste autos and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 preference to switch the value from true to false

Note: the exact name of the preference may vary, but it will start with browser.tabs.remote.autostart

At your next Firefox startup, it should run in the traditional way. Any difference?

hello, could you go to the firefox menu ≡ > help ? > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

mahttley said

Does Firefox / Mozilla not have a contact phone number? This chat room format does not work for me.

mahttley said

Thank you for your assistance. I have never heard of a company that relies solely on volunteers to resolve their product, bizarre! And only chat room format. I am more old school and like to talk to the person. Saves a lot of endless back & forth email tag and misinterpretation. Not happy!

This is a forum and not a chat room.

Companies that do provide one on one support by instant chat or phone tend to be for products you Pay for.

Mozilla's products and projects are free and open source and Firefox is their main product. Mozilla does not charge.

There is also irc.mozilla.org with channels like #sumo, #firefox but how active people are in answering questions there depends on how active people are in the channel at the time since some are in channel all day even when they are not.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/IRC https://search.mibbit.com/channels/Mozilla

If you do not have a IRC client then this can be a option in web browser. https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.mozilla.org/