Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Whenever I close and then reopen firefox all I get is boxes with numbers in them instead of letters or words I have to reboot to get back to regular firefox.

  • 3 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 48 views
  • Last reply by CMONE

more options

If I leave firefox open and simply minimize everything is fine if I close it and then reopen it even if right away I get the boxes with the numbers instead of letters or numbers.

If I leave firefox open and simply minimize everything is fine if I close it and then reopen it even if right away I get the boxes with the numbers instead of letters or numbers.

Chosen solution

Try to set the pref gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.use_gdi_table_loading to false 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.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold(user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default or changed via the right-click context menu.
Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options

Chosen Solution

Try to set the pref gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.use_gdi_table_loading to false 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.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold(user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default or changed via the right-click context menu.
more options

This helped me understand what is going on, but so many values have been changed ( I did not change them, recent update) I do not know which one is casusing this particular problem.

more options

This did the trick. Thanks very much for your help.