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Firefox just stops working and has black screen after using it at random times

  • 9 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 3056 views
  • Last reply by K_A

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Firefox just turns into a black screen and becomes unusable. It has been happening for a long time now and i have checked RAM and CPU usage and they are all fine, as I explored potential causes.

I will be using firefox and it just turns all black on all screens and is completely unusable. To use it again I have to force close all windows and reopen it and it works again.

This is a frequent issue that I have seen

Firefox just turns into a black screen and becomes unusable. It has been happening for a long time now and i have checked RAM and CPU usage and they are all fine, as I explored potential causes. I will be using firefox and it just turns all black on all screens and is completely unusable. To use it again I have to force close all windows and reopen it and it works again. This is a frequent issue that I have seen

Chosen solution

All Replies (9)

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We're sorry to hear that Firefox is crashing. In order to assist you better, please follow the steps below to provide us crash IDs to help us learn more about your crash.

The crash report is several pages of data. We need the report numbers to see the whole report.

  1. Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A list of Submitted/Unsubmitted Crash Reports will appear, similar to the one shown below.
  2. Copy the 5 most recent Submitted Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste those IDs into the "Post a Reply" box.

Note: If a recent Report ID does not start with bp- click on it to submit the report.

(Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the IDs. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like.)

Fx64Beta-aboutcrashes-unsubmitted

Thank you for your help!

More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

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Just to clarify, all Firefox windows just have a black overlay and that’s it. Nothing they says it’s hanging etc Interestingly, when this happens, I can actually press the red X to close the Firefox windows but nothing else on the browser. And just to reiterate, yes the X for closing the browser also is blacked out. The entire Firefox window is blacked out. Does not happen on any other browser

I have read through those articles and it’s definitely different.

I will follow up with the crash report when I am next on my laptop.

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Chosen Solution

Does it still happen with hardware acceleration disabled?

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I have checked about:crashes and there are no items in there except 1. I will attach a screenshot for your reference.

I would like to emphasize that firefox does not seem to crash. It is important to note here that:

  1. Firefox does not crash since all windows are still open
  2. ALL firefox windows turn completely black
  3. It is intermittent, it will work for a number of days, where I will have a combination of Private browser windows + normal browser windows open.
  4. It seems random to me at the moment, however, every firefox window that is open will turn completely black, and unable to interact with any pages- however I am able to press the top right [X] corner of the firefox window to close it (which is also black)
  5. I have noted this time, I did need to update firefox as there was an update bubble on the burger menu, I cant confirm whether this was the same in the last few instances the issue occurred. (I am on the latest Firefox build)

Modified by K_A

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K_A said

In reference to the Hardware acceleration checkbox, it is not available (screenshot attached)

Untick "Use recommended performance settings" and it will be revealed.

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Done and done. (Use hardware acceleration when available has now been unchecked)

Modified by K_A

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Hello,

I am glad to hear that your problem has been resolved. If you haven't already, please select the answer that solves the problem. This will help other users with similar problems find the solution.

Thank you for contacting Mozilla Support.

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After some time testing with hardware acceleration switched off, the error has not occurred. I believe this was the solution unless the browser update resolved it.

Modified by K_A