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Firefox 4 conflicts with video driver for nVidia.

  • 10 replies
  • 474 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by BenReed

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I've updated firefox yesterday to firefox 4, and from that moment it was like 4 times that my screen went black for a second or two than back to normal and pop-up message says nVidia driver crashed and then was restored. Thought you should know. I use Windows 7, my video card is nVidia GeForce GT320 1024MB. Maybe problems with some add-on, since update I installed following: Awesome screensot KwiClick Thumbnail Zoom

Other add-ons I've been using with previous firefox version the caused no problems.

I've updated firefox yesterday to firefox 4, and from that moment it was like 4 times that my screen went black for a second or two than back to normal and pop-up message says nVidia driver crashed and then was restored. Thought you should know. I use Windows 7, my video card is nVidia GeForce GT320 1024MB. Maybe problems with some add-on, since update I installed following: Awesome screensot KwiClick Thumbnail Zoom Other add-ons I've been using with previous firefox version the caused no problems.

All Replies (10)

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Same problem... I use XP with nVidia GeForce 5200

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Same issue here... Seven 64 bits with nVidiaDisplay Driver v8.17.12.5912 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 1024MB VRAM)

This Mozilla Wiki states:

We require NVIDIA driver version 257.21 or newer (June 2010), see bug 623338.

Notice that 257.21 is the commercial version number. This corresponds to the last 5 digits in the technical version number, which for instance is 8.17.12.5721 on Windows 7/Vista.

Link: Blocklisting/Blocked Graphics Drivers

So I should be fine with version 259.12 but crash is consistent.

Deactivating graphics acceleration solves the issue for now.

PS. I had no addons issues with Firefox 3.6

Edit April 5, 2011: Geforce.com provides an updated driver (Nvidia Verde for notebooks v267.76 WHQL released on March 24, 2011). Among other things, it touts "Improved compatibility and reliability with GPU-accelerated websites viewed using Internet Explorer 9" for Vista/Seven 32/64 bits, but says absolutely nothing about improved compatibility with Firefox 4. Link: http://fr.download.nvidia.com/Window...ease_Notes.pdf (Toshiba's latest update is version 259.12)

Modified by foldertree

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I'm having the same problem. I downloaded and installed Firefox 4.0 at 8:00 AM this morning, Sunday, April 10. Within the first 2 hours I had Firefox on my machine the screen went black 4 times. I got the following error message: "Display Driver Nvidia Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version 259.26 stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

This is a brand new laptop. Firefox was not installed on this laptop before this time. No Add-ons have been downloaded yet. I have two other browsers installed; Internet Explorer version 8.0.7601.17514, and Google Chrome version 10.0.648.204. No problems with them or with anything else on my machine.

MY SYSTEM SPECS: Samsung RF510-S02 Notebook

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7 Home Premium

PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7-720QM

MEMORY: 4GB DDR3 System Memory

GRAPHICS PROCESSOR: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 1GB DDR3 Graphic Memory

DISPLAY: LED HD

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This is a problem with Firefox 4, not Nvidias driver(s).

It happens to me pretty much 8 out of 10 times whenever I download something (when the download is finished in the download manager window, or even prior).

The screen will flicker, go black two to three times and then tell me that "the Display Driver Nvidia 270.61 has crashed". Howeever, every now and then it simply freezes up instead of "just" crashing, to the point where a hard reset is the only way to interact with the computer.


As this is quite frustrating with perhaps a few other programs opened (i.e. Photoshop) and talking to people on Skype, it has come to the point where I seriously consider switching to another browser.

And since there's no official information regarding this matter, it seems like Mozilla is neglecting it's users which is quite frankly freaking frustrating!

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I'm having this same problem only it doesn't tell me that it crashed. Screen just flickers repeatedly and whenever I pass my cursor over something in a drop down menu everything it passes over is highlighted. The flickering stops when I put it in safe mode but not the highlighting everything part. I'm wishing I had just stuck with firefox 3.6

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I also have this problem. If you've googled your way here, disabling hardware acceleration (under Options->Options->General) resolves (well, works around) the issue. It'd be nice to have working hardware acceleration, so hopefully Mozilla get this resolved eventually.

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I'm having the same problem too. Except I'm using an ATI Radeon HD 6950. I've got the latest drivers and I've reinstalled Firefox 4.0.1. THe reinstall helped a little bit but I still see a flicker when using Firefox. Other browsers like MSIE seem to be working OK. Will try the Hardware Disable option.

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Try to disable "Morphological Filtering" in the Catalyst drivers:

  • Catalyst Control Center > 3D Settings > Disable Morphological Filtering
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Same problem here even after updating to Firefox 5. Often happens when switching tabs.

Nvidia driver 259.26 on a Samsung RF710

Anything under Nvidia control panel for applications I can change?

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Same here, using Firefox 8.0 with NVIDIA GT560 and latest driver 285.62. Windows 7, 64-bit. Crashes several times a session with streaks and specs and then blank screen and message of display driver crashed and has recovered. Similar to dozens of other complaints. Never recall it happening with any other program except Firefox ... has happened through numerous versions of Firefox. Love Firefox but may have to go to Safari if fix is not found. Best news is that it seems to be limited to Firefox.