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Firefox always starts with Crash Report, then Safe Mode and (usually) hangs - what to do?

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  • 9 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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My Firefox seems to be in a Crash Confused Safe Mode Hanging state... I have tried a few things from the tips on you site, but I still am not able to fix it. If you could be so kind as to read the following and then telling me what I might do:

Everytime I open Firefox I get a Crash Report saying it has crashed (even if I closed it completely the last time), and when I press the "restart Firefox"-button, I automatically get a window saying I have to start it in Safe Mode. I have tried to reset Firefox, but that just ends in another Crash Report, and after restarting the computer (to see if the reset works) it is the same old thing all over again. (Have off course tried resetting after starting Safe Mode as well with the same results)

I have uninstalled Firefox and then installed it again, and it is version 20.0.1 which is the newest version I found on your site. The same thing still happens; Crash Report and then Safe Mode.

Obviously Firefox won't work optimally in Safe Mode because it is not meant for everday use, but it does suddenly hang quite often (usually after I've used it for a while) and it has been like this for about a month. It hasn't crashed, it just hangs and then I have to force it to close.

Do you have any hints?

My Firefox seems to be in a Crash Confused Safe Mode Hanging state... I have tried a few things from the tips on you site, but I still am not able to fix it. If you could be so kind as to read the following and then telling me what I might do: Everytime I open Firefox I get a Crash Report saying it has crashed (even if I closed it completely the last time), and when I press the "restart Firefox"-button, I automatically get a window saying I have to start it in Safe Mode. I have tried to reset Firefox, but that just ends in another Crash Report, and after restarting the computer (to see if the reset works) it is the same old thing all over again. (Have off course tried resetting after starting Safe Mode as well with the same results) I have uninstalled Firefox and then installed it again, and it is version 20.0.1 which is the newest version I found on your site. The same thing still happens; Crash Report and then Safe Mode. Obviously Firefox won't work optimally in Safe Mode because it is not meant for everday use, but it does suddenly hang quite often (usually after I've used it for a while) and it has been like this for about a month. It hasn't crashed, it just hangs and then I have to force it to close. Do you have any hints?

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We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it. Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.

  1. Press the following shortcut to get a Run window: [Windows] + [R]. This should bring up a window that contains a text field.
  2. In that text field, enter %APPDATA% and press Enter. An explorer window should open.
  3. From that explorer window, double-click on the Mozilla folder, then double-click on Firefox and then on Crash reports. Double-click on submitted.
  4. Now, you should see a list of files that contain reports. Go to View > Arrange Icons by > Modified to get the most recent files at the top of the window.
  5. Open the most recent 5 files with a text editor and copy the IDs.
  6. Paste each ID with bp- into the reply window on the forums.

Thanks in advance!

You can find more information and troubleshooting steps in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

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Do you mean that you can start Firefox in Safe Mode or do you only get the Safe mode pop-up with the two choices (Safe Mode or Reset) and Firefox crashed with either?

In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:

  • all extensions are disabled
  • the default theme is used (no persona)
  • userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored
  • the default toolbar layout is used (localstore-safe.rdf)
  • the Javascript JIT compiler is disabled
  • hardware acceleration is disabled
  • plugins are not affected
  • preferences are not affected