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

38.0.1 Has Brought My Old Computer To Its Knees

  • 8 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by sivadselim

more options

My desktop computer is really old but has served me well. Unfortunately, Firefox 38.0.1 is unusable. Webpages take forever to load and are all but unnavigable. CPU temperature rises well above what is normal for this computer. Reverting to 37.0.2 fixes any issues.

Athlon XP-M 2600+ 2gb RAM ATi Radeon X800XL Win 7 32-bit

Advice (besides replacement)?

My desktop computer is really old but has served me well. Unfortunately, Firefox 38.0.1 is unusable. Webpages take forever to load and are all but unnavigable. CPU temperature rises well above what is normal for this computer. Reverting to 37.0.2 fixes any issues. Athlon XP-M 2600+ 2gb RAM ATi Radeon X800XL Win 7 32-bit Advice (besides replacement)?

Chosen solution

You said you updated your graphics driver, so the next step is to disable Hardware acceleration.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

more options

Please try the following steps:

more options

Thanks for the reply but, no go. I completely uninstalled Firefox and re-installed 38.0.1 from scratch with the exact same results. It's unusable. And very disappointing. Gonna hafta switch browsers after using Firefox for years.  :-(

more options

Did you try the other steps? I gave you several. Uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox actually doesn't change anything.

more options

Tyler Downer said

Did you try the other steps? I gave you several. Uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox actually doesn't change anything.

My graphics drivers are up-to-date and I have always used hardware acceleration and ( I assume) WebGL. As I said, 37.0.2 runs perfectly fine. The instructions you linked describe turning OFF hardware acceleration and DISABLING WebGL. Is that what you meant for me to try? I do not think that it is.

My Windows7 install is up-to-date.

Refreshing and resetting Firefox isn't necessary with a completely new and clean install from scratch. And navigating to it with 38.0.1 is next impossible, anyway.

Thanks, again.  :-(

more options

Please re-read what I put above, I want you to turn Hardware Acceleration OFF.

A clean re-install doesn't remove the Firefox profile, which is what a refresh does (while saving your personal information).

more options

Tyler Downer said

Please re-read what I put above, I want you to turn Hardware Acceleration OFF.

OK, but "Upgrading my graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration" is NOT turning hardware acceleration OFF. What you linked discusses enabling hardware acceleration and only discusses turning it OFF as a last resort.


Tyler Downer said

A clean re-install doesn't remove the Firefox profile, which is what a refresh does (while saving your personal information).

I deleted everything, including my profile. Yes, from the "user">AppData>Roaming>Mozilla folder.


Again, thanks, and forgive me if I sound frustrated. I am.  :-(

Modified by sivadselim

more options

Chosen Solution

You said you updated your graphics driver, so the next step is to disable Hardware acceleration.

more options

OK, thanks for your patience!

DISABLING hardware acceleration seems to have worked. I disabled WebGL, initially, too, but have since toggled it back on (set webgl.disabled to 'false'). Seems OK with it on (un-disabled).

Thanks, again!