Firefox 5 itself should work without problems, it is a minor change with fixes and security fixes from firefox 4 which had 77 Million users. I have Firefox 5 installed and working on an XP.

Please try using firefox from safe mode do not make changes in the Dialogue Window you first see (Can you confirm that you do see that list) just click on continue.

If you are getting definite crashes, you should be able to obtain a crash signature.

• see
  • firefox crashes
  • Crash Report
• freezes are covered in the article firefox hangs
• more extensive troubleshooting info is here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_%28Firefox%29

As this problem is likely to be unique to each user with problems it is best to start your own thread, unless you think all the system details, plugins and symptoms are the same as Madjack's (you could always link from here to your own thread or the other way round)

Well, I surely get crashes that freezes the whole computer, until my graphic card "gives" up, and gives me blue screen, unless I hit the restart button first. Not even the crash error screen appears, and no report filed.

Haven't had these freezes before the update to Firefox 5 (My comp. doesn't freeze using IE or Chrome)

Only surefire thing I have noticed, is that the crashes always appears when I am watching a youtube movie, and then opening yet another flash app or flash based webpage.

I therefore went ahead updating Java, Flash player / Plugin, graphic driver. The whole rumble. It stills crashes when other flash based app's / webpages are opened while already having one running.

Have tried the usual stuff, safemode, no addons etc.

I sincerely hope a update or a solution is found, as I love Firefox as browser, and it have been my mainstay browser for many years. But I also use my computer for work, and it is annoying to get these interruptions.

I have spent hours since Firefox 5 came out trying to understand all the FireFox freeze/crashes on my XP machine. As a very busy person I don't mind spending time to tweak my machine, do all the updates etc (which I do faithfully). I do mind spending the equivalent of a full workday trying to get Firefox 5 to work like Firefox 4 did for me (and 3 before it). Sadly, the reason I left Internet Explorer back then was to avoid what I'm experiencing now. So, as much as I love Firefox, I'm just going to have to use IE, which doesn't crash at all for me. So when FF5 is cleaned up can you just let us know? Please tell me it will be soon.

Danak,
As I mentioned above Firefox 5 works ok for me on an XP. Possibly you should be looking at reasons your XP is itself crashing, or if it only crashes with Firefox then

• consider using Firefox 3.6 (whilst it is still supported)
• try basic troubleshooting and Firefox's safe mode
• consider looking at linked articles regarding crashes and freezes (see posts above)

Problem as above, intermitant and very hard to pin point why. My fix is Open

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html

Set memory ( I use 10K ) and "delete all sites", and very important right click on the tab and "pin as app tab" this tab, MUST stay open.

for some reason Memory jump's back to zero on refreash but not important becuase right click-> settings on flash player shows correct value.

On a new session's you will sometimes, have to click this app tab and refresh it, will then be slow one time but then will be fine after that.

If this tab closes problem will come back. After short period of time.

Had problem on all FF versions from 4 on. including Namoroka 64 and all flash versions 32 and 64bit up to and including 11.0.1.60.

My settup Win 64bit OS FF5 with flash 11.0.1.60. NOW very stable and very fast.

Would have hated to stop using FF after so many good years. Thank you FF developer's.

I had this same freezing problem with firefox 3.6 ,4 and 5. I've already disabled ALL add-ons. Clearly, Firefox will disappear from the scene soon.

I too have the same problem with Firefox 5.0 as explained by 'Werk' and did all the twekings known from here and of mozillazine.,but still it won't load Yahoo or Youtube etc..When these sites are taken, Firefox freezes and it will not close also.The Task Manager 'end process' also does not close the Process and I have to restart the pc to close Firefox.A new process 'Plugin-Container.exe' appears in Task Manager everytime I open a tab in Firefox.Now ,I am unable to use Firefox,which is my mainstay default-browser for many years.I request Mozilla developers to please set right the errors causing to Firefox 5.0,so that the users can continue with Firefox(this I am typing with another browser).Thanks

This advice is similar to the first answer from John99 but in thread after thread people are ignoring the advice.

If you really want help, please ask your own question with your own system details. Some of you will have problems with genuine, useful extensions like Firebug(disable when not in use) and rubbish troublemakers like Fun Web Products, MyWebSearch, Conduit Engine and ones that might be reasonable but cause clashes like the Ask toolbar. Google these for advice and help in getting rid of them.

The standard first steps are some troubleshooting(Firefox Safe Mode, Problematic Extensions, Hardware Acceleration etc) - in default theme -

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting%20extensions%20and%20themes

By all means give these a try but if you aren't making progress ask your own question with full details. And remember you are talking to volunteer helpers who are users like yourself and who have their Firefox running perfectly.

I have solved the issues of my Firefox 5.0 as follows:-(I use WinXP SP3) 1)Uninstalled my existing Firefox(builtup by updates from Firefox2,3,4to5) from Program files without removing the personal files,from personal files I deleted all files except Bookmarks.html.I use two Profiles which I kept intact in my Documents&settings>ApplicationData>Mozilla>Firefox- folder. 2)Downloaded the latest Firefox 5.0.1 from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/ and installed in the Programs folder afresh. 3)Updated Java and Flash plugins.( http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/ ) Restarted both Firefox Profiles and both are running fine now. Only problem with my Firefox5.0.1 is its heavy memory usage:- When Yahoo and Youtube are opened in two tabs, the mem.usage is Firefox. exe=148900K a)Plugin-Container.exe=10000K b)Plugin-Container.exe=45950K(there are 2 instances of Plugin-container.exe opened alongwith Firefox.exe) So,total 204850K. Anyway,my Firefox 5.0.1 at present seems ok.,as my default browser. (I tested Google- Chrome,opening Yahoo and Youtube,its memory usage is 151300K).

After experimenting in safe mode and trying various things on various sites, I've come to the conclusion that the FF5 freezes (5-30 secs) I'm experiencing are related to sites that use a lot of javascript, especially periodic AJAX refreshes (eg. huffpost), or js actions related to window resizing.

It seems that FF5, while having faster javascript execution, does not run tabs in separate OS processes (like chrome) or do as good a job of threading as IE9. The current FF approach may conserve some memory, but can make for choppy performance when several tabs to rich pages are open.

As an aside readers of this thread may be interested to know that Firefox developers are working on changes in how Firefox handles memory & the diagnostic tools available relating to memory problems. Those interested in the technical details have a look at: http://blog.mozilla.com/nnethercote/category/memshrink/

I have solved the issue of Firefox 5 crashing when it opens in a tab it doesn't like, or when too many tabs are open, or when the sun is shining., thus losing a whole bunch of open tabs, a bit of work, and occasionally crashing my whole computer. The solution is this: close FireFox, a trusty friend for many years, and open IE (an old enemy) or Chrome (a new enemy). Both work without crashing. Please let me know if FireFox 5.1 is released after lots of testing, as opposed to being released in a rush.

Tried all the above , nothing fixes this Firefox 5 problem. I think I too will be going back to IE 8 or maybe google chrome.

Just upgraded to FF6, problem still present. :(