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can't connect to some websites after update

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  • Last reply by helpful55

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pc working fine and after going to the store and restarting I cannot connect to my gmail accounts and a few other websites. Other pc's are fine. I could be wrong but I think I allowed a ffox update to 74.0 which would have installed with that restart. Pages are 100% white. I can go to gmail and sign in but it goes to the same blank page. I tried clearing cache and cookies, no go. Restated ffox and even the whole pc. I do not want to possibly mess up things worse with my browser. Could this be caused by the update and how do I fix it without making a mess?

pc working fine and after going to the store and restarting I cannot connect to my gmail accounts and a few other websites. Other pc's are fine. I could be wrong but I think I allowed a ffox update to 74.0 which would have installed with that restart. Pages are 100% white. I can go to gmail and sign in but it goes to the same blank page. I tried clearing cache and cookies, no go. Restated ffox and even the whole pc. I do not want to possibly mess up things worse with my browser. Could this be caused by the update and how do I fix it without making a mess?

Chosen solution

Past advice related to that diagnostic result was as follows:

(1) Next Gen Storage Setting

This setting is normally false (off) but in case it somehow got turned on, see the steps in the following article: Some pages or page elements fail to load after updating to Firefox 70.

If that doesn't fix it (after a restart, perhaps):

(2) Have Firefox Generate New Storage Folders

This will cause loss of some data saved locally by websites and add-ons.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows/File Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause briefly while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then right-click the storage folder and Rename to something like storageOLD -- the purpose of renaming instead of deleting is the possibility of reinstating the old folder or mining it for essential data.

Start Firefox back up again. Do sites work?

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All Replies (14)

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I cannot get through to any of my gmail accounts. It had a problem signing in to my google voice at first, although that may be because I cleared cache. It is now signed in there. Also cannot open weather.com. These all go to "new tab" on the tab when I click the bookmark or other ways of selecting them. Attempting to search gmail then sign in that way just gives an endless process and never signs in.

Modified by helpful55

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Anyone have any ideas? I have tried disabling firewall, AV and turning off proxies. All no help.

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Some Firefox 74 users are having problems with websites that require certain types of local storage. The sites won't load in regular windows, but will load in private windows because private windows use memory-based storage and don't need to access the disk-based storage files used in regular windows.

To confirm that you are having that issue, could you check this test page:

https://firefox-storage-test.glitch.me/

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Yes a problem, results:

Overview: Storage is broken. This is your first visit or all storage was automatically cleared. Specific Subsystem Statuses:

LocalStorage

   Good: Totally Working. (fullyOperational)

QuotaManager

   Bad: Totally Broken. (fullyBroken)

IndexedDB

   Bad: Totally Broken. (fullyBroken)

Cache API

   Bad: Totally Broken. (fullyBroken)

Sorry to be a little impatient but I am more than sick of todays technology. It is always something and costs me lots of time and trouble along with me being blamed many times for what was not my fault. I appreciate the help and I am looking into this more as I see there are reports of this. I am hoping for a solution where I don't have to possibly mess my whole setup up. I am going to see if I can do the private window to be able to go on for now. Thanks. Fred

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Chosen Solution

Past advice related to that diagnostic result was as follows:

(1) Next Gen Storage Setting

This setting is normally false (off) but in case it somehow got turned on, see the steps in the following article: Some pages or page elements fail to load after updating to Firefox 70.

If that doesn't fix it (after a restart, perhaps):

(2) Have Firefox Generate New Storage Folders

This will cause loss of some data saved locally by websites and add-ons.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows/File Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause briefly while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then right-click the storage folder and Rename to something like storageOLD -- the purpose of renaming instead of deleting is the possibility of reinstating the old folder or mining it for essential data.

Start Firefox back up again. Do sites work?

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From searching around I found how a private window can work. I tried that and it did, so for now and without too much hassle I can go over to that for email etc. I looked and the storage is set to false. I can do what else you say which sounds like it will not cause much problem, but do you know if ffox will be doing an update to fix this issue soon, it sounds like it is affecting more than one user. Thanks for all of your help. Fred

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Hi Fred, I've probably seen 10 reports, but I don't know whether it can be fixed with a software patch or once a problem occurs with those folders they are no good any more. Probably more news by Monday.

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In Private Browsing mode local storage in the profile folder is not used and instead an in memory database is used. Renaming storage to storageOLD in the profile folder like suggested above should force Firefox to create a new storage folder.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

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Ok guys, that did it and it appears it caused me no other problems. One recommendation I found was to uninstall and reinstall ffox (which apparently would have fixed it as it would have set up a whole new file system). But even with saving and moving profile stuff I worried about messing me all up and I am glad it did not involve that.

I suppose I could ask for more specifics on what this was all about but hopefully it was just a glitch in my and the few others, which I can understand. I have been a ffox user for about 7 or 8 years and I hope it does not ever have a demise. One thing I have liked about it, and what partially ran me off of chrome is the good help for users here compared to there. Thank you both. Fred

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This was a problem with the profile folder and reinstalling Firefox wouldn't have helped as this doesn't affect the profile folder that is in a separate location in "AppData\Roaming".

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That was just some of typical advice you can find on the net. Before I learned much about pc's if I listened to some I would be reinstalling windows every month to fix simple issues. I work pretty hard to learn how to fix things even if it is hard to find out how. I can't see buying a new car when the old one just needs new spark plugs.

I am assuming you mean with an uninstall first. I know a lot of programs leave behind things like that. So if like you say wouldn't that have made me pretty unhappy with no help anyway after that.

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There are two kinds of problems, some are caused by a problem with the Firefox installation and others are caused by a problem with the profile folder. Sometimes issues with the profile folder are solved by a reinstall because this might have triggered a profile reset, but this isn't guaranteed.

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I had the same problem (connecting to certain websites results in PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR even though they work in private mode and in other browsers), and the above solutions did not work, but did point me in the right direction. I restarted firefox between tries each time.

  • Toggling dom.storage.next_gen did not help
  • Disabling all addons did not help
  • Private browsing mode connects, but that's obviously not an ideal long-term solution
  • Opening the profile folder (via about:support) and renaming storage did not work
  • Clearing the startup cache (via about:support) did not work
  • However what did fix the issue in the end: In options (specifically about:preferences#privacy), pressing the Clear Data button (and choosing both cache and cookies). I'll have to sign in again everywhere, but eh, that's OK.
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Thanks for that eamon1. Always helpful to get ideas that may work for some, and glad you got it figured out. So frustrating when simple things won't work.