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When I use the Search Bar on Google the result is a page of random letters and question marks. Why? All other search engines are OK.

  • 7 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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The question does not need to be expanded really.

The screen I see is full of black diamonds with question marks with random letters and numbers.

The question does not need to be expanded really. The screen I see is full of black diamonds with question marks with random letters and numbers.

Chosen solution

First, try to reset Firefox. Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings. This simple step will eliminate many Firefox problems with only one click.

A few other basic trouble shooting things you can try is this: Run all Windows Updates, install all needed service packs, etc.

Update your graphics driver (Firefox uses your graphics card for some rendering, and an out of date graphics card driver can cause problems. Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL

Update all your plugins (Flash, Java, etc.): http://www.mozilla.org/plugincheck/.

Download and Install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, run a full Scan. http://www.malwarebytes.org/. This helps check that there are no viruses on your computer causing issues. You can uninstall this program after you clean off any infections.

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All Replies (7)

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Chosen Solution

First, try to reset Firefox. Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings. This simple step will eliminate many Firefox problems with only one click.

A few other basic trouble shooting things you can try is this: Run all Windows Updates, install all needed service packs, etc.

Update your graphics driver (Firefox uses your graphics card for some rendering, and an out of date graphics card driver can cause problems. Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL

Update all your plugins (Flash, Java, etc.): http://www.mozilla.org/plugincheck/.

Download and Install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, run a full Scan. http://www.malwarebytes.org/. This helps check that there are no viruses on your computer causing issues. You can uninstall this program after you clean off any infections.

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The Reset worked..... and not only that, Firefox is a lot quicker.

Thank you very much - extremely helpful.

Modified by davidjhardie

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Glad it worked.

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Bug filed. Anyone still having this issue, please give us your addons information. I have a feeling this might be related to an extension that has recently updated.

Modified by Matt_G

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Hi Matt G, please see attached a screen shot with all my Plug-ins listed.

Modified by davidjhardie

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This issue can be caused by the value of the network.http.accept-encoding being not standard.

You can check the network.http.* prefs on the about:config page and reset all bold user set network.http prefs to the default value via the right-click context menu -> Reset.

Check at least:

  • network.http.accept-encoding: gzip,deflate

Is the reset doesn't last then see:

Modified by cor-el

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Can you also list your installed extensions?