Make sure that the pref dom.storage.enabled is set to true on the about:config page.

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/about%3Aconfig

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Perfect fix — succinct and spot on...

All is well, where do I send the brownies?

For some reason it's got fixed automatically, may be a reboot effect.

About the Config, I have my about.config set as follow dom.storage.enabled;true dom.storage.default_quota;5120

But the followings are of false value. Not sure if these contributed to the initial cause of Gmail and Youtube malfunction or not.

extensions.firebug.showDOMConstants;false extensions.firebug.DBG_DOMPLATE;false extensions.firebug.clearDomplate;false extensions.firebug.showDOMFuncs;false

That are settings (extensions.firebug.*) that apply to the Firebug extension (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions).

Be aware that Firebug is listed as a problematic extension and cause problems on web pages.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions (list is not complete)

I already had dom.storage.enabled set to true - but still had hang / hour-glass when opening a gmail tab to my account and then clicking on a message to open.

Found a fix in about:config - I haven't tuned the final value, but adding a zero to dom.storage.default_quota default value:

From:

dom.storage.default_quota;5120

to:

dom.storage.default_quota;51200

stopped the hang / hour-glass; pretty snappy performance now :-)

Scott

Under Windows 7:

Actually it looks like the dom.storage.default_quota wasn't the fix, it was how I started the browser.

If I start Firefox from the program icon / shortcut / taskbar icon, I get the hangs even with dom.storage.default_quota value increased.

Starting firefox via a .bat file I use to run more than one Firefox instance stops the hang / hour-glass:

@echo off set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firefox\firefox.exe" -ProfileManager set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0

This works with dom.storage.default_quota at default 5120

To run more than one instance of Firefox you need multiple copies/installs of Firefox - you can't run multiple instances of the same .exe/install at the same time.

For this problem, just run the .bat on your single install of Firefox.

It looks like there is a command-line switch for this now, like -ProfileManager

-no-remote

That can simply be set in your shortcut:

Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -ProfileManager

-no-remote

I haven't checked to see if this problem /fix is needed under Linux / Mac OSX

Scott

Odd, the .bat using MOZ_NO_REMOTE causes the problem to go away, but adding the -no-remote on the shortcut doesn't help - still get the hangs.

For now using the .bat is a usable work around, but a better solution is needed.

Scott

Yup, creating a .bat file without the MOZ_NO_REMOTE also works to start a single instance of Firefox that doesn't hang in gmail:

@echo off start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firefox\firefox.exe" -ProfileManager

Must be some initialization difference starting from .bat that fixes the problem.

Scott